The death, on 19 February 1871 of a young girl named Mary Leech, is recorded on a family headstone in Batley cemetery. Aged four years and six months, she was the daughter of John and Mary Leech formerly Halligan), licensees of the Foresters’ Arms beer house in Batley, an establishment synonymous with the Irish community. Later, the family surname spelling would evolve to Leach, but for consistency I will stick to the headstone spelling in this piece.
What is unclear from the inscription below are the horrific circumstances surrounding Mary’s death, circumstances which occurred all too frequently in this period.
Mary Leech was born in Batley on 23 September 1866, and baptised in the parish of St. Mary of the Angels a week later. She was John and Mary’s third child, with at the time of her death her siblings being Bridget (born in 1864), Michael (1865), Ann(ie) (1868)1 and Thomas (1870).2
The family lived at the beer house, though the street name varies over the decades. At this point it was recorded as being at Newsome’s Buildings, Up Lane, but it is also recorded as at Church Walk, Church Field Terrace and Fleming Place, depending on the time period. Essentially, it was in the area off Upper Commercial Street, near where the Batley Community Centre and Batley Nash stand today.
On the evening of Thursday 16 February 1871, Patrick Foley was enjoying his customary drink in the tap room. A labourer from County Mayo, he and his family lived nearby.
At around 9.30pm, after adding wood to the bedroom fire, Mary Leech got her daughter and two older children ready for bed in the kitchen. She then went to the outside yard, to fetch in the clothes line.
Patrick Foley noticed the youngster going upstairs in her nightdress. Shortly afterwards he heard a scream and went to the door of the tap room. Looking upstairs, he saw the child at the top of them, with her nightdress ablaze around her.
He ran upstairs and put the flames out with his jacket, but it was too late. The four-year-old had already suffered burns to her right arm, shoulders, neck and right ear.
Despite her injuries, she was able to tell her mother that she had gone upstairs to light a paper ‘spell’ on the bedroom fire, in order to put on the room’s gas light located above the mantelpiece. ‘Spells’ or spills were a common method with which to carry flames to light gas lamp wicks in this period. Standing on a chair to do so, a draught from the fire drew her nightdress against the bars and set it alight.
Doctors Bayldon and McFadden attended to her in her home over the next few days, her injuries not being considered life-threatening. But on Friday she took a turn for the worse, suffering convulsions. She died at 2.30 a.m. on Sunday, 19 February.
Coroner Thomas Taylor presided over the inquest the following day at the Black Bull Inn, the building which is now Batley Pharmacy. The jury returned a verdict of death as a result of being accidentally burnt.
She was buried later that day in Batley cemetery, with St. Mary’s parish priest, Father Thomas Bruno Rigby, officiating.
As I’ve said, this type of incident was all too common in this era, with open fires, naked flames, and long, flowing garments. Many died as a result, and even more were scarred for life.
But there is even more to tell about this burial plot – a tale involving the headstone, three pigs, and a centurion. I will return to it in my next post.
Postscript:
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Footnotes:
1. Annie went on to be the mother of Great Britain, Yorkshire, Batley, Dewsbury and Leeds rugby league player Frank Gallagher.
2. Thomas went on to serve with the Leeds City Police. He also played for Hunslet Northern Union (rugby league) club.
Other Sources :
• Batley Cemetery Burial Registers.
• Censuses, Various (England & Wales).
• General Register Office (GRO) Death Registration.
• Newspapers – various.
• Parish Registers.
• Thomas Taylor’s Notebook.
Past To Present Genealogy 