There is an amazing headstone in Batley cemetery, linked to the parish of St. Mary of the Angels. It is the first part of the inscription which really gives pause for thought. It reads:
In Memory of
Thomas Halligan1
of Batley, who Died Oct 22nd 1868
Aged 56 Years
Also of Bridget O’Roarke,2
Mother-In-Law of The Above
Who Died Jan 18th 1869,
Aged 105 Years…
Yes, you read that age correctly – 105 years old. This age pointed to farmer’s widow Bridget O’Roarke being born in circa 1763. In fact, her Batley St. Mary’s burial register entry records an even older age – 107. She died at Hume Street, Batley, surprisingly not as a direct result of old age but of bronchitis.
Such an age is remarkable even today. But this was when life expectancy was considerably lower – under 40 years for someone born in 1763.
It was such a remarkable age that the Leeds Mercury reported:
LONGEVITY AT BATLEY. – A few days ago there died, at the house of her daughter, in Batley, Bridget Rourke, whose age is stated to be 105 years. The daughter is a grey-headed old woman, and says that her mother was a native of Ireland, and born in the county Mayo.3
Other newspapers picked it up too.
Although she is not named, the grey-haired daughter in the newspaper piece was Bridget Halligan, widow of the headstone’s Thomas Halligan. A farm labourer, he died on 22 October 1868 as a result of injuries received at work.
According to the 1871 census, when she was living with her son-in-law and daughter John and Mary Leech,4 Bridget Halligan was aged 65, so born in circa 1806.5 Incidentally, between them, John and Mary Leech were licensees for decades at the Foresters’ Arms beer house off Upper Commercial Street, an establishment frequented by the Irish community – but more of them in another post which I will be writing at some point.
In 1871, Bridget Halligan is recorded as a general servant in the Leech household, with her relationship status to them being servant, so nothing to indicate a family link.
A feisty woman, it was not unknown for Bridget Halligan to get involved in brawls involving beer house customers. In July 1870, one such fracas landed her in Batley Borough Court, accused of an assault on Mary McManus by striking her several times about the head and calling her – in Irish – a red whore. She was found guilty and fined 7s. 6d. and costs.
By January 1872 the relationship between Bridget Halligan and her daughter and son-in-law had broken down. No longer living with them, she sued John.
The case, which amongst other things involved three pigs and the Batley cemetery headstone in the photograph, ended up in the Dewsbury County Court.
Described as a very old woman (she would have been around 66 based on her 1871 census age), Bridget Halligan claimed that after her husband Thomas’ death she sold three of his pigs to her son-in-law, John. They were valued at £14, but to date he had only paid her £1.
Following her husband’s death, Bridget moved in with her son-in-law and daughter.
When she asked for the money for the pigs, instead of making any payment John sent her a bill of £10 10s. for her husband’s funeral expenses, the surgeon’s bill and the cost of his headstone, along with another bill of £18 18s., for board and lodgings.
Bridget acknowledged John arranged her husband’s burial, but stated he had received all Thomas’ burial club money to defray his expenses. She also stated that, whilst living with him, she acted as an unpaid servant for more than two years. As I mentioned earlier, the 1871 census records her as a general servant, with no indication of a family connection.
In court, John claimed the pigs were not worth more than £8. He wanted to call his wife, Mary, forward as a witness. Instead, the judge persuaded them to seek arbitration as “it was a painful thing for a judge to sit and listen to a mother and daughter swearing in each other’s teeth.“6
The eventual outcome of this arbitration, as reported in court the following month, was in Bridget’s favour. John paid her £7 10s. for the pigs.
But back to Bridget O’Roarke. Her funeral took place on 20 January 1869, conducted by Father Thomas Bruno Rigby – the priest responsible for overseeing the building of St. Mary of the Angel’s church which opened its doors in December 1870. He was the priest who seemingly foretold his death, a tale I wrote about here.
Bridget O’Roarke is the longest-lived parishioner I have found in my one-place study research to date.
Or is she? Because there is a caveat around this tale.
As anyone familiar with family history research knows, headstone inscriptions are not necessarily accurate. The fact that Bridget’s St. Mary’s burial register entry records a different age (107) points to that issue too. And the newspaper report wording of her age does seem to hedge its bets. Her Batley Cemetery burial-entry age does match the headstone age. But I have not located her in the England and Wales census of 1861 for me to check her age there. I’ve found no Irish baptism for her either.
The only other document is Bridget O’Roarke’s death certificate … and this throws up yet another age anomaly. It is definitely the correct registration, with John Leech acting as the informant, and registering the event on the day of her death. But he gave Bridget’s age as 72, a not inconsiderable difference of some 33 years! It equates to a birth year of around 1796. However, this would not fit with an 1806 birth year for her daughter, Bridget Halligan (widow of Thomas). It shows an issue with these death registration documents. The information on them is dependent on how well the informant knew the person (in this case Bridget O’Roarke was John’s wife’s grandmother), and relying on them accurately passing this on to the registrar. It may simply be a case of him not knowing and making a guess.
But as it stands (or lays flat to be technically correct as regards the headstone’s current state), Bridget O’Roarke’s supposed death age of 105 is etched in stone for all to see.
For a contrasting tale about someone else commemorated on this headstone, please click here.
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.
Footnotes:
1. There are various spellings of this surname, but for consistency I will use the headstone surname spelling.
2. Again there are a number of variants and spellings of this surname, but I will use the headstone version in this piece.
3. Leeds Mercury, 23 January 1869.
4. This surname is also spelled Leach in records, particularly later ones, but in this piece I will use the headstone variant.
5. 1871 Census of England and Wales, The National Archives, Reference RG10/4582/37/30/168.
Other Sources :
• Batley Cemetery Burial Registers.
• Censuses, Various (England & Wales).
• General Register Office (GRO) Death Registration.
• GRO Indexes.
• Newspapers – various.
• Parish Registers.
Past To Present Genealogy 