Following several years of painstaking research, Kevin McQuinn and Val Mitchell, assisted by others, have produced the ultimate reference guide to the Mayors of Batley.
It is the only book to cover all 72 men and women who served as Mayor on the Borough of Batley Town Council from its incorporation in 1869 through to the 1974, when Batley’s governance was taken over by the newly created Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council.
The book truly has been a labour of love, and the passion of the authors for their subject really does shine through. Running to 152 pages, the A4 wire-bound booklet has a chapter devoted to each Mayor. Besides providing their biographical details, it covers the key civic challenges they faced, and developments for Batley, during their tenure as Mayor.
It means the booklet goes far beyond the lives of these individual men and women. When combined with other chapters describing the history of Batley before incorporation, and key developments introduced in the first 50 years after Batley became a Borough, it gives a unique perspective of the history of the town as seen through the prism of the decisions of the Borough Council.
It demonstrates the civic pride which drove the Borough Council to strive for better infrastructure, housing and public buildings for the town’s residents to improve their lives. It illustrates the rivalry between Batley and Dewsbury, competitiveness which again led to tangible improvements to the town and the lives of its people. It shows how at times of war the townsfolk united in a common purpose, contributing to the war effort. Above all, it shows how much power the Mayors and Borough Council wielded to focus on the things that really mattered to residents at a local level. It really is a window on the lives and times of our Batley ancestors.
Fully illustrated, it is a book to dip in and out of, and will be one to which I will refer for years to come.
Priced at £12.00, plus post and packing, any profit made will be given to Kirkwood Hospice (so, if you can afford to pay more for your copy that would be most welcome). Ordered copies will also be available for collection at Batley Library.
If you are looking for gift ideas for someone interested in Batley’s local history, you can’t go wrong with this. You can even arrange for a personally dedicated copy to make it extra special. Neither will it break the bank, and you’ll be helping Kirkwood hospice too.
To order a copy, please contact either Kevin McQuinn or Val Mitchell on the designated book ordering email at: bhg.mayors@gmail.com
Full disclosure: I normally receive a free copy of a book in return for a honest review. In this case I have had no hesitation in buying my own copy, as I believe this is an invaluable booklet for a Batley local historian, more so given some of the Mayors were Catholics and therefore link to my Batley St. Mary of the Angels One-Place Study. In addition the money being raised from sales is going to a hospice which has provided care for my family, and which relies on the generosity of the community to continue providing its vital services.
November 2025 was a busy month for the Batley St. Mary of the Angels One-Place Study. Four new posts were added, bringing the total number to 419. I also gave two talks about the early history of the Irish in Batley and the parish – one via Zoom to the Society of One-Place Studies; the other in-person to Batley History Group. If you missed them, I will be repeating the Irish and St. Mary’s talk next year with bookings already made for it, along with my other talks.
To start off with, I wrote a light-hearted piece about Buffalo Bill and A Right Royal Celebration for Batley’s Schoolchildren, a celebration in which the children of St Mary of the Angels participated. I describe, and include a photograph, of the special commemorative medal presented to all the schoolchildren, so that if you have one in your family you can identify it and know more about its history.
In a change of tone, with November being the month of Remembrance, one of the new posts was about James Edwards, one of the parishioners commemorated on the parish’s World War One War Memorial.
In the May Queen section I have added a piece about the 1952 ceremony when Patricia Anne Cain was the May Queen (as shown in the photograph to the left). It includes names of many others involved in the procession that day, which was a historic one in terms of its format that year.
The final post for the month was the parish history snippets piece for November 2025. These snippets cover a variety of events and people from the parish from years gone by, and can be found in the Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section. Even if you have seen them on the Bulletin, it is worth checking them here as some have links to more detailed pieces I have written.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* posts, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
Because of work commitments, during October 2025 only one new post was added to the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study, bringing the total number of posts to 415.
This new post was the parish history snippets piece for October 2025. These snippets cover a variety of events and people from the parish from years gone by, and can be found in the Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section. Even if you have seen them on the Bulletin, it is worth checking them here as some have links to more detailed pieces I have written.
One of the reason for the lack of additions this month is because in November and December I’m giving a series of talks to various organisations. These include an online talk on 11 November 2025 to the Society of One-Place Studies about the early history of the Irish in Batley, and the parish of Batley St Mary of the Angels up until around the 1880s. This is restricted to members of the Society. However, on Monday 24 November I will be giving more or less the same talk at the Batley History Group meeting in Batley Town Hall. This starts with refreshments at 7pm, with the talk commencing at 7.30pm. It is open to both members (£2) and non-members (£4). So, perhaps I will see some of you there. More details about this, and Batley History Group’s other meetings in 2025/26 can be found here.
James Harkin, Batley’s 1st Catholic Mayor
I also have a special thank you this month for someone who has sent me a lovely letter and some photos of James Harkin, Batley’s first Catholic mayor – one of which is included in this piece. I don’t have her contact details to thank her personally, so hopefully she will read my thank you here.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* posts, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
May 2025 marked a milestone for the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study, with it hitting 400 posts during the first week of the month. By the end of May 2025 five posts had been added across a range of topics, bringing the total number of posts in the study to 404.
Below is the complete list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of May 2025, including links to them, with those new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
That milestone 400th post was a description of the parish of St Mary of the Angels in 1950, a post which for some will bring back memories. This is in the Miscellany of Information section.
With May 2025 marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day, I added a new World War Two biography, that of Bernard Stenchion. His death, in June 1945, illustrates that although Victory in Europe was celebrated on 8 May 1945, for some this was not the end of the War, while for many other parishioners the war had already irrevocably changed their lives.
The 1950 May Queen Catherine Heaps (L), with Moya Hill, the 1949 May Queen (R)
It also seems appropriate that in May two new May Queen pieces were added – about the 1923 May Queen Katherine Phillips, and the 1950 May Queen Catherine Heaps.
The fifth new post this month was the parish history snippets pieces from the May 2025 bulletins, and this can be found in the Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Finally this month, I wanted to let you know that I will be giving at the Batley History Group meeting on 23 June 2025 all about the early history of the Irish in Batley and the parish of St Mary’s up to the 1880s. If you want to attend that meeting, it is in the Council Chamber of Batley Town Hall, with refreshments served from 7pm and the talk starting at 7.30pm. All are welcome, and the cost is £2 for members and £4 for non-members. It would be great to see people there.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
April was a particularly busy month for the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study. It included the addition of a new subject heading, along with eight new posts, bringing the total number of posts to 399. One other post was updated.
Below is the complete list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of April 2025, including links to them, with those new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
The May Queens of 1931 and 1932
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
The new section added in April was one about the May Queens of the parish. I am trying to identify as many of them as possible, with a piece dedicated to each year. To date seven years have been added to this section, 1922, 1931-1933, 1939-1941.
The final addition this month is in the Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section. It is the piece covering the parish history snippets included in the parish bulletins during April 2025.
I have also added a further update to the World War Two introduction page.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
The number of posts in the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study creeps ever-closer to the 400 mark. The three new posts added in February 2025 brings it up to 386. One of those posts is a result of my February visit to the Leeds Diocesan Archives, and hopefully in the coming months more pieces will follow on from my finds that day. Two other posts were updated.
Below is the complete list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of February 2025, including links to them, with those new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Batley St Mary of the Angels
The first piece arising from my Diocesan Archives visit is a description of the parish boundaries given by Fr, Lea in 1918. It is interesting because of the changes which have taken place in the intervening period, with streets appearing, and other landmarks vanishing.
The second piece is about the deaths of the husband and wife Smallpox Hospital caretakers within days of each over the Christmas/New Year period of 1921/22. Again there is additional interest here for people who might remember the old Smallpox Hospital, and the separate Infectious Diseases Hospital which later became Oakwell Geriatric Hospital.
The final addition is in the Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section. It is the piece covering the parish history snippets included in the parish bulletins during February 2025. There are some additional links here to fuller pieces I’ve written about some of these snippets.
As for the two updated pieces, one details more parishioners who served in, and survived, the First World War. The other is an update to A St Mary’s Parishioner in the Holy Land, which covers a physical attack he sustained whilst there.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
2025 got off to a great start for the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study, with the addition of five posts which cover a varied mix of the history of the parish and its people. It brings the total number of posts to 383. One other post was updated.
Below is the complete list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of January 2025, including links to them, with those new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Batley St Mary of the Angels
Two new War Memorial biographies were added, those of Harold Gaunt and Thomas Dolan. The former covers a lesser known aspect of military service. The latter includes some cherished photos, used with the family’s permission. I also identified more parishioners who served in, and survived, the First World War. That list has been updated.
The Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section, has one addition. This is the piece covering the parish history snippets which were included in the parish bulletins during January 2025 – one of which may be rather surprising but reflects commonly held initial world attitudes to someone who turned out to be a monster.
It also links to the one of the two new posts in the Miscellany of Information section. One is about a former parishioner who played an unexpected and significant role, bringing him into contact with people across the world. The other post is a topic I never thought would be covered in the St Mary’s One-Place Study. Given this month, on the 27 January, we commemorated World Holocaust Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, it serves as a timely and important reminder.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
As a professionally qualified genealogist, if you would like me to undertake any family, local or house history research for you do please get in touch. More information can be found on my research services page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
The final month of the year brought seven new posts to the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study, bringing the total number to 378. In addition to the seven new posts, four more were updated.
This update contains the list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of 2024, including links to them, with last month’s new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Batley St Mary of the Angels
Two new War Memorial biographies were added, those of James Gavaghan and Michael Hopkins. I also updated Thomas Donlan’s biography as a result of the James Gavaghan research. I identified more parishioners who served in, and survived, the First World War. That list has been updated.
The Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section, has one addition. This is the piece covering the parish history snippets which were included in the parish bulletins during December 2024.
And the final additions for the year are in the During This Week newspaper section, with four new pages added covering the editions of the Batley News published December 1918. I have accordingly updated the surname index to these During This Week newspaper pieces, so you can easily identify newspaper snippets relevant to your family.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
This November has brought eight new posts to the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study, bringing the total number to 371 posts. In addition to the eight new posts, two more were updated.
This update contains the list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of November 2024, including links to them, with last month’s new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Batley St Mary of the Angels
One new War Memorial biography has been added, that of Clement Manning. More parishioners to the list of those who served in, and survived, the First World War section, so this list has been updated.
The Miscellany of Information section has a new post this month, about a huge talent whose promise was never fulfilled. That talent though is memorialised on William Berry’s headstone.
The Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section, has an addition. This is the piece covering the parish history snippets which were included in the parish bulletins during November 2024.
And the other November additions are in the During This Week newspaper section, with five new pages covering the editions of the Batley News published during the month of November 1918. I have accordingly updated the surname index to these During This Week newspaper pieces, so you can easily identify newspaper snippets relevant to your family.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Postscript: I may not be able to thank you personally because of your contact detail confidentiality, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the donations already received to keep this website going. They really and truly do help. Thank you.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
Please click 👉🏻here👈🏻 to be taken to the PayPal donation link. By making a donation you will be helping to keep the website online and freely available for all.
Thank you.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
Despite it being an extremely busy work month during October, I did add five new posts to the Batley St Mary of the Angels One-Place Study, bringing the total number to 363 posts. In addition to the five new posts, a further three were updated.
This update contains the list of all the St Mary’s posts published up to the end of October 2024, including links to them, with last month’s new and updated posts signposted so you can easily locate them.
If you want to know the background, and what is involved in a one-place study, click here. Otherwise read on, to discover a wealth of parish, parishioner and wider local Batley history.
Batley St Mary of the Angels
Yet again no new War Memorial biographies have been added this month. I know I keep saying it, but I really do hope to write some for next month, work permitting. One though, Robert Randerson, was updated. And I have added more parishioners to the list of those who served in, and survived, the First World War section, so this list has been updated too.
The Bulletin for Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick section, has an addition. This is the piece covering the parish history snippets which were included in the parish bulletins during October 2024.
And the other October additions are in the During This Week newspaper section, with four new pages covering the editions of the Batley News published during the month of October 1918. I have accordingly updated the surname index to these During This Week newspaper pieces, so you can easily identify newspaper snippets relevant to your family.
And this month I have a question about the newspaper round-up pieces. I will continue to add the Batley News ones for the First World War period beyond the Armistice date of 11 November 1918. I plan to continue to the end of 1918. My question is, what should I do after that?
Should I continue with the Batley News to June 1919 and the official ending of the war, or should I end at 31 December 1918?
If I end at 31 December 1918, should I then start with the Batley Reporter from August 1914 to December 1918? Whilst there is some overlap between the two newspapers, there are some significant differences too.
Or should I start with the Batley News for the Second World War (September 1939 to September 1945). If that is the preferred option, I may have to edit it down as there will be so much relevant to St Mary’s.
Please do let me know. Either email me at the contact details towards the end of this piece. Or send a comment via the WordPress comments option. Or if you are reading this on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter), just leave a comment there.
Below is the full list of pages to date. I have annotated the *NEW* and *UPDATED* ones, so you can easily pick these out. Click on the link and it will take you straight to the relevant page.
Finally, if you do have any information about, or photos of, parishioners from the period of the First World War please do get in touch. It does not have to be War Memorial men. It could be those who served and survived, or indeed any other men, women and children from the parish.
I would also be interested in information about, and photos of, those parishioners who were killed in World War Two, or others from the parish who undertook any war service and survived. This can be as broad as serving in the military, or work in munitions factories, the Land Army, even taking in refugees. This is an area I’m looking to develop in the future.
Postscript: I want to say a big thank you for the donations already received to keep this website going. They really do help.
The website has always been free to use, and I want to continue this policy in the future. However, it does cost me money to operate – from undertaking the research to website hosting costs. In the current difficult economic climate I do have to regularly consider if I can afford to continue running it as a free resource.
If you have enjoyed reading the various pieces, and would like to make a donation towards keeping the website up and running in its current open access format, it would be very much appreciated.
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Past To Present Genealogy 