‘Found Worthy’ A Biographical Dictionary of the Secular Clergy of the Archdiocese of Liverpool (Deceased), 1850-2000 Brian Plumb The North West Catholic History Society exists to promote interest in the Catholic history of the region. It publishes a journal of research and occasional publications, and organises conferences. The annual subscription is £15 (cheques should be made payable to North West Catholic History Society) and should be sent to: The Treasurer North West Catholic History Society 11 Tower Hill Ormskirk Lancashire L39 2EE The illustration on the front cover, a photograph of the statue of Mgr Nugent in St John’s Garden, Liverpool, is from the author’s collection. Found Worthy A Biographical Dictionary of the Secular Clergy of the Archdiocese of Liverpool (Deceased), 1850-2000 Brian Plumb North West Catholic History Society Wigan 2005 First edition 1986 Second, revised edition 2005 The North West Catholic History Society 11 Tower Hill, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 2EE. Copyright Brian Plumb The right of Brian Plumb to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. Printed by Liverpool Hope University ‘Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself’. (Wisdom 3. 5) This work is dedicated with admiration and affection to the memory of the Right Reverend Monsignor Cyril Taylor (1910 - 1979), Priest of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................... 1 Preface to the Second Edition .................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ 11 The Secular Clergy of the Archdiocese of Liverpool (Deceased), 1850-2000 ......... 14 Appendix I: Departures with Permission ................................................................. 173 Appendix II: Inexplicable Departures ...................................................................... 178 Appendix III: Priests ordained for Liverpool and transferred to the new Diocese of Lancaster between 22 November 1924 and 11 February 1925 ................................ 184 FOREWORD by the Editor of North West Catholic History, journal of the North West Catholic History Society. Since its inception in 1850, Liverpool has been the most populous of the English Catholic dioceses, the Lancastrian centre of the English Catholic minority and of the Irish Catholic immigration. Its diocesan clergy, assisted by the regulars, chiefly the Jesuits and the Benedictines, has had the task of teaching the faith and administering the sacraments to the largest single English Catholic community, through the Catholic Revival and Renewal, and during industrial expansion and decline. The clergy were the creators and the creations of that community. This book details the careers of individual priests, and surveys their work. The biographical entries constitute a documented work of reference, and the introduction and appendices provide an analysis. It will be indispensable to local, and invaluable to national historians of Catholicism since 1850. Mr. Brian Plumb's work encapsulates massive learning and sympathetic understanding, and deserves to take its place alongside the volumes of Gillow, Foley, Birt and Anstruther. J.A. Hilton. 1 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION When this book first appeared in 1986 it was produced on a very slender budget and by a method that would now be considered primitive. Despite three proof-readings, a number of imperfections survived, mostly misspellings. But I believe there was only one serious error of fact. That was in the entry on William O’Connor (1880-1919). Another priest of this name was also ordained (but not for Liverpool) in the same year – 1906 – and the two became confused in my original notes. However, this has now been corrected, and a few other priests ordained for Liverpool, but spending little or no time there, have been detected and added, mostly in the appendices. The original format of serving clergy, departures with permission, and departures inexplicable has been retained, but one entry – John Cooke – defies all these categories. His departure was neither with permission nor inexplicable, so he has been included in the general section. The original edition covered the period from John Lingard in 1851 to James Tarrant in 1986. This update extends to include Patrick O’Sullivan of S. Joseph, Birkdale, the last priest of the Archdiocese of Liverpool to die in the twentieth century. Statistics and other estimates in the Introduction have been altered as appropriate. Brian Plumb Warrington 2005 2 INTRODUCTION The diocese of Liverpool was created by Pope Pius IX on 29 September 1850 and elevated to the rank of archdiocese by Pope S. Pius X on 28 October 1911. From its diocesan clergy has arisen the only priest in England to have been deemed worthy of a public statue, one Cardinal, four Bishops of Liverpool, three Archbishops of Liverpool, two Bishops of Salford, one Bishop of Lancaster, one Bishop of Plymouth, six auxiliary Bishops of Liverpool, and one auxiliary Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. A few have achieved a local distinction sufficient to merit the naming of a street after them, but probably the most renowned of them all was the priest-historian John Lingard (1771-1851) whom one is apt to forget lived long enough to minister in the new diocese. (1) Observed collectively the deceased clergy of the diocese present a remarkable similitude. In the vast majority of cases theirs is the story of the boy from the Catholic home being sent to college or junior seminary, then on to major seminary and reaching ordination in his mid-twenties. Late vocations form a very small proportion, as do converts and men who had previously been married. And great though the Irish contribution has been, with 294 out of 1,012, contrary to popular belief it forms no overwhelming majority. This work is an attempt to account for them all from John Lingard in July 1851 to Patrick O’Sullivan in October 2000. Their places of origin are denoted in the following figures. From Ireland (per county) Antrim 7 Armagh 3 Carlow 4 Cavan 8 Clare 6 Cork 27 Derry 3 Donegal 1 Down 5 Dublin 9 Fermanagh 1 Galway 11 Kerry 29 Kildare 2 Kilkenny 18 Leitrim 2 Leix 1 Limerick 16 Longford 1 Louth 2 Mayo 6 Meath 24 Monaghan 1 3 Offaly 5 Roscommon 11 Sligo 6 Tipperary 31 Tyrone 3 Waterford 18 Westmeath 18 Wexford 3 Wicklow 1 Unknown 11 From Liverpool 220 From the old Lancashire county (except where specified) 157 From Preston 70 From the Fylde (including Fleetwood and Lytham) 66 Elsewhere in England 51 From Bootle (also Litherland and Seaforth) 28 From St. Helens 23 From Lancaster 21 From the Isle of Man 1 From Belgium 12 From Scotland 5 From Germany 4 From Wales 4 From Canada 2 From France 2 From India 1 From U.S.A. 3 From Sicily 1 Unknown 5 In the case of Monsignor John Macmillan, born at Buenos Aires, and Fr. Edwin Rogerson, born at Cape Verde, I have included them with Liverpool and the Fylde respectively as this was where their parents belonged and where they themselves grew up. The history of the diocese begins in territorial dispute. When the Hierarchy was restored in 1850 Propaganda assigned the Hundreds of Blackburn, Leyland and Salford to the new diocese of Salford, and the Hundreds of Amounderness, Lonsdale and West Derby to Liverpool, not realising that a geographical wedge was being driven between the northern and southern portions of Liverpool diocese. A rescript of 27 June 1851 corrected the abnormality by transferring the nine missions in the Leyland Hundred to Liverpool. The Isle of Man was assigned to Liverpool, presumably on account of the daily connection by steamer. (2) Until the formation of the diocese of Lancaster in 1924, Liverpool diocese extended some seventy-six miles from Lake Windermere to the Mersey. Its widest span was, and remains, the twenty-eight miles from Formby Point to Astley. Its northern boundary is now the River Ribble. Originally there were very few Catholics in the far north, but the rise of industry in 4 Barrow and its attendant population explosion brought some amelioration. The County-town of Lancaster contained a very old Catholic community, some of whom were prosperous and respected, and its contribution to the diocesan priesthood throughout the nineteenth century is quite impressive. The Fylde, or Windmill Land as it was often called, with its fifteen Catholic chapels in an area of fifteen miles by ten, had produced priests for the English mission since the time of Cardinal Allen (1532-1594) and continued to do so. It was said at the funeral of Monsignor Gradwell at Claughton on Brock, in 1906, that he had sent from that place twenty prospective priests to college. Preston and the other old Lancashire boroughs presented a picture of an ancient mission controlled by a religious order, soon to be complemented by others opened by the diocesan clergy. Eighty years later several historic parishes were transferred from the religious orders to the diocese, then fifty years on, the scarcity of diocesan priests called for some reversal of this trend with S. Alexander with S. Richard, Bootle, S. Dominic, Huyton, S. Joseph, Leigh and S. Mary, Northwood, Kirkby all being passed to religious orders. Others, such as Our Lady of the Assumption, Gateacre, S. Bede, Widnes and S. Stephen, Orford, Warrington were served by regulars for a time but have now returned to the secular clergy. In a well known work of 1872, Anthony Hewitson, also known as Atticus, gave several pen-portraits of the Catholic clergy in the country areas around Preston. The West Lancashire plain contained a chain of ancient missions like Burscough, Formby, lnce Blundell and Little Crosby, the latter still entirely Catholic. New missions were established among the mining communities around Wigan and Leigh as in the chemical-manufacturing ones of St.