In October 1834, at the suggestion of a friend, the Revd William Dalton (1801–1880), he was appointed to St Jude's Church, Liverpool. The church, which had been built by subscription expressly for Dalton in 1831, could comfortably hold 1,500 people (it was demolished in 1966). At St Jude's, M‘Neile had "a handsome salary" and "a very large and opulent congregation". Once installed at St Jude's, M‘Neile's eloquence attracted the attention of the Bishop of Chester – John Sumner (1780–1862), later Archbishop of Canterbury – who appointed him as an honorary canon of his cathedral. The next Bishop of Chester, John Graham (1794–1865), also held the important and influential ecclesiastical position of Clerk of the Closet to Queen Victoria. Graham was equally impressed with M‘Neile and possibly used his connections to facilitate the conferral of the Incorporate D.D. upon him in 1860.