These are the history pieces which appeared in the Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick’s bulletin during March 2025. As the parishes are jointly administered and a single bulletin produced, the history pieces are not solely focused on St Mary of the Angels, although St Patrick’s was not formed as s separate parish until 1905. Prior to that it was part of St Mary’s.
01/02 March 2025
This week in 1916 it was announced that St Mary’s parishioners Dominic and Honora Tarmey had been appointed caretakers at Oakwell Smallpox Hospital, at 25s a week, and with house, coal and gas supplied. The couple were still working there when they died within days of each other. Dominic died on 28 December 1921, and Honoria died on 2 January 1922 – the day after her husband’s funeral. Both deaths were a result of septicemia. They were buried in Batley cemetery in services conducted by St Mary’s parish priest, Fr. Peter McBride.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
For more detail about the Tarmeys, and the history of Oakwell Smallpox Hospital, along with Oakwell Hospital for Infectious Diseases which became Oakwell Geriatric Hospital following the 1948 founding of the NHS please read The Deaths of the Smallpox Hospital Caretakers.
08/09 March 2025
On 9 and 10 March 1946 St Patrick’s school children performed a play “The Count of Sandal Castle”. All children were described as giving talented and accomplished performances, with special mention given to John Spencer in the title role of the Count, and John Gallagher for his humorous portrayal of the head cook. The other children were James McVeigh, Vera Etherington, Patricia Colman, Maureen Lund, Annie Walton, Marie Oram, Hilda Harland, Margaret Clark, Kathleen Preston, Jean Taylor, Sheila Tulley, Teresa Duffy, Denis Render, John Crosby and Mary Gallagher. It proved so popular a repeat performance was organized for the following week.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
15/16 March 2025
On Monday 17 March 1884, 700 people in the parish had tea in St Mary’s schools, served on individual trays of food and funded by donations. Afterwards entertainment was laid on at the Town Hall. The numbers wanting to attend were so great that hundreds were turned away. Part one was a well-performed farce involving Messrs. E. Hoare, J. Leeming, T. Rotchford, J. Foley, P. Tyrrell, T. Costello and T. Osborne. This was followed by songs, with parishioner Annie Byrd, daughter of Commercial Street tailor and draper John Byrd being the star turn singing “Come Back to Erin”, and then an encore “Two Sides of the Hedge”. Part two was another amusing farce, “The Day after the Fair” performed by Messrs. E. Brennan, J, Burke, E.Hoare, P. Tyrrell and T. Osborne. The event raised around £45.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
22/23 March 2025
Former St Mary’s parishioner Frank Gallagher died in Leeds on 20 March 1966. Born in February 1895 and baptized at St Mary’s that month, he went on to become one of the rugby league stars of the 1920s, playing for Dewsbury, Batley and Leeds. He also represented Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, going on the Ashes tours of 1920 and 1924. A versatile player whose positions included stand-off, scrum-half, second-row and loose forward, he is one of the few players to have played test matches for Great Britain as both a back and a forward.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
29/30 March 2025
On 27 March 1926 Patrick Higgins, on his sixth attempt, was elected as a Birstall District Councillor. Described as a real “son of the people” he had a keen interest in welfare, equity and justice, framed by his own experiences. Prior to his election, as president of Birstall Unemployment Association, he was praised for his work in relieving distress in the town, making representations to the Council about relief schemes and championing the unemployed. He was also secretary of Birstall Boots for Bairns Fund, and a member of the Birstall Trades and Labour Council. Between 1914-1923 he was on the committee of the Birstall Industrial Cooperative Society representing them at Congress on the Hours and Wages Board. An active member of St Patrick’s church and the Irish community, he was the president of Birstall Catholic Young Men’s Society and Institute, an official of the Birstall Irish Democratic League Club, and secretary of the Birstall Branch of the Irish National Foresters.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
Past To Present Genealogy 