The Rev. George Haydock (1774-1849) was quite a character. Something of the tang of this Lancashire priest, descendant of martyrs, can be had from The Haydock Papers; a glimpse into Catholic life by James Gillow (Burns & Oates 1888). He stood for Justice and fair play, as he saw it. So when in 1827 the Rev. Mr Rigby at Ugthorpe just inland from Whitby on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors (now in Middlesbrough diocese) said that a £284 debt was Mr Haydock's and not the parish's, the latter was incensed. Had he not built the church from his own and his relatives' money? Had he not lived of his own at Whitby, Egton Bridge and Ugthorpe from 1803 to 1827 among poor people who could never sustain a priest? Had he not restored and built chapels, houses and schools? And now he is landed with a debt of £284! Many letters have been lost, but what remain show the sparks flying as he wielded the pen like a sword.
Bishop Penswick wrote to him in 1828 saying that Haydock's words were surely written "under the influence of irritation;" and "you are very blameable for the asperity with which you have treated" Mr Rigby. Diplomatic words from the Bishop, but rebuking. But other incidents show that Haydock was above all a man of tender conscience about the wording of wills, testaments and donations of land or money to the church. As Gillow says, "Mr Haydock would never bring his mind to submit to wrong decisions. "He complained of various decisions and demanded some reason for them, which he never satisfactorily obtained." So two contrasting opinions. Eventually the Bishop moved Mr Haydock to Lancashire, to Westby near his home and he took over in September 1830. He was only to stay eleven months, for he continued to press his claims to dispute the justice of the various decisions concerning him, especially about the debt. There must be a background much deeper than these few words so far, because on August 31st 1831 Bishop Penswick suspended Fr. Haydock from saying Mass and exercising his priestly duties. He retired to the family home, the Tagg, at Cottam, near Preston, though he sought to petition Rome twice. He settled to a life of prayer and study, and no little heartache.
Meanwhile, north of Shap at Penrith in these first years of the 1830s. A simple history can tell us something of what was happening, for John Doyle told the story of what he remembered to Fr. Meynell in 1884 ; by then John was 80 years old. The Catholics had gone out to Greystoke for Mass till 1827, but then the chapel closed, so "a few Catholics, chiefly linen, drapery and hardware travellers bought a pony" for Fr. Dowdall of Wigton to ride over - one Sunday for Mass and instruction, the next for evening service. A 60-mile round trip. Gillow says Mr John Kelly served as priest in the same way the following year, though old John Doyle had forgotten him. But neither Mr Dowdall nor Mr Kelly lasted long, though there was joy for the small flock when a resident priest, Mr Newsham, was appointed. He came in 1833, established a school in the building leased for a chapel and stayed two and a half years. Mr Seddon came for 2 years "praised for his talent as a preacher," John remembered, and he and Mr Newsham made some converts. A Mr Whittaker stayed for three and a half weeks. A newly-ordained Mr Phelan came for six months. What was the problem with Penrith - here we have no abiding city - a catalogue of change and uncertainty.
Meanwhile at the 'Golden Tagg' as Haydock lovingly called his home George Leo petitioned again, after the death of Bishop Penswick in 1837, that he might be allowed to set up an altar and say Mass privately at his home. Later he made a third appeal directly to Rome. Then shortly after-wards he was informed by Mr Sherburne, the vicar general, and 'without any explanation" that he might go to the mission at Penrith. Nobody else would go; still less stay. So eight years and a quarter after his suspension 'a divinis' he set off for Penrith. The memory of him 47 years later by John Doyle was that "the fifth resident priest was the Rev. Mr Haydock, who resided here 11 years. He built the church but did not live to see it completed. He died on November 28, 1849 and was buried in it. He also bought the ground that surrounds it." So a remarkable character with an active but sad history comes to - well, not a remarkable place but one with quite a turnover of parish priests. And these two stories which come together in 1839 can serve as an introduction to two simple but interesting books in the parish archive - a marriage and a baptismal register.
Arriving on November 22 1839 Fr. Haydock would take time to settle in his lodgings near the Salutation Inn. His efficient administration of the parish would require proper registers, well printed and well bound. He would be provoked to do this well by what had happened to the baptisms book in the years before he came. He found a register of baptisms from January 1833 to September 1838 was only of 4 leaves, a small book of 8 inches by 3 inches "with a cover that looked like brown paper;' more a child's exercise than a book. It recorded 23 baptisms by 3 priests. For some years it was efficiently done by Mr Newsham when stationed here but "at least in August 1834 he seems only to have registered the baptisms with a pencil at the end of the ritual and in haste' intending to write the dates etc. up later. Poor Mr Newsham was perhaps crushed by the rigours of Penrith and lost heart, his slipshod register a sure sign of a deeper malaise. Anyway, "displeased at some reports he got removed, October 1836." Mr Haydock found this slim book and checked with parishioners. Thus the cryptic "Mary d. of B & M Dean born 6 Nov. bap 9 Sp Sp P. D M McLeary, H. Newsham (no date) was completed in his own hand "from the parents' Mary and Bernard Dean's accounts this last Mary Dean was born 7 Nov. 1835 and no more seem to have been baptised by Mr Newsham." The baptisms of 1837 and 8 were neatly inscribed so on Nov. 3 1840 Haydock sent off this booklet to the Royal Commissioners of the census at Somerset House London, where it now lies. It was in fact the first in the list of Catholic registers so deposited; an odd but interesting first for Penrith.
Next he got himself a marriage and baptism register and in contrast to the rather decrepit one just sent away he had each individually made with 12 leaves, end papers and a cardboard binding, with each having an embossed front saying, "Baptismal [Marriage] Register, Catholic Chapel, Penrith." He arranged the layout of each page with the printer, so: "Born / Baptised / Sponsors / Minister." Notice, in English. It was a job well done and he let it be known, on the flyleaf that 'this cost £4-6/- or more to the Rev. G.L. Haydock Jan 20 1841 as ordered by Francis Mostyn B. of Abydos, VA [vicar apostolic] of the now Northern District consecrated Dec. 21 (1840). 1 don't know whether this is a grumpy complaint at the Bishop making him spend all that money or an indirect hint at a visitation with some disciplinary tightening up of the Penrith situation. The same quirkiness is shown on the flyleaf of the marriage register, a little used tome, for as Haydock wrote, "the cost of this book to the Rev. G.L. Haydock Jan 20 1841 was £4.6/- though it would be of little use for a long time as the chapel is not licenced for marriages the fee being £3, and not one has applied to be married even as formerly, 'more catholico,' for the last 14 months." But at last on 23 Sep. 1845 two persons very little instructed and not having made their first holy communion applied, being at Penrith working on the rail and road 'simulacrum,' though they had to go the had to go the next day to the Register office for the 'civil effects'," he continued. So this fine expensive book has only one record in it, of the marriage of 'John Campbell 27 and Anne McKenna 17, at Penrith, labourers from Ireland for a time; Parent, Peter McKenna, Witnesses Francis McKenna 19 and Helen Domin 22, Sep. 23 1845. The next marriage was in 1857, in the new chapel in Drovers Lane, and was printed in Latin by an ecclesiastical printer in Derbyshire. In no small a way the new Romanità shows after the 1850 restoration of the hierarchy and the style of Wiseman is to win the day over the old English.
The baptismal register was well used, with 209 baptisms from 1841 to 1856. There is one sad thing in that a note on the top of the first page says that "G.L. Haydock came on 22 Nov. 1839 and since baptised 14 recorded in the aforesaid books." He starts off with no. 1, Elizabeth Murphy, 7 Feb. 1841 and says that this is the 15th child, so the record of these 14 from Nov. 1839 seems lost. However, starting with Elizabeth on 17 Feb. 1841 and on to 11th Nov. 1849- 18 days before his death - he baptised 104 children.
What is a particular point of interest is that Mr Haydock noted for nearly every child the occupation of the father. In Penrith, certainly, this was peculiar to Haydock and ceased immediately after his death. It is not common; indeed, has it been done anywhere else? It is not a world-shattering historical revelation, but it gives a little insight into the Catholic world of Penrith 1841-1849. It reveals a parish of poor people. In the 8 years there is only one solid 'respectable' family, James and Mary Smith (née Wilson), farmers from Plumpton, who had James Doyle twice as a grandfather - names connected with the foundation of the parish in 1833. At least they had a home. About 50 of the fathers came under the headings of "labourer, navigator, camper or tramper," and usually was added, "from 4 miles off," "from Yarmouth." This showed that they lived in the camps alongside the roads and railways being built at this time. Was a tamper one who tramped down the clay of a bridge or viaduct? Some few were "Irish Tabourer," which seemed to mean haymaking workers. 40 or so came under the heading, "tinker, hawker, pedlar," or more specifically, "orange-seller, spectacle seller, chair bottomer, mat-maker." Some half dozen had regular work as "nailer, mechanic, lead miner, ropemaker, mason.' One is simply 'beggar,' another "poor house." Would the orange seller buy up the bruised fruit from the bottom of the hold at Whitehaven dock and peddle it round the farms - some vitamins to counter scurvy and malnutrition? Most names are Irish, one or two Highland Scots; one Fanny Deschamps, from France via Appleby. Most parents were married, though some had been so at Gretna, some promised to be so, soon. The parish priest rejected one godfather as "not at his duties." For Thomas Hepburn, a mason of Angel Lane, Haydock put himself down as godfather, but put 'GLH perhaps - or none." He was a scripture scholar, but might not be too hot on canon law. So, some simple elements of our archive with a tale to tell. Times have changed.
George Haydock and his brother Thomas worked tirelessly on Bible translation. The last printed Haydock Bible was published in 1910. George rescued Irish navvies, who were protesting, from a potential massacre by the militia by turning them back before they reached the town head. Shortly before his death he rode out in the cold to a poor woman who was dying in a barn. This effort surely helped to cause the old priest's death.
Recusant History 22
(1995) 529-35
JA Hilton, A Catholic of the Enlightenment North West Catholic History Society
1999 ISBN 09531 0205X 48pp
Prof Ron Taylor has
edited Fr. Tom's notes Walsh, Rev. Thomas, & Taylor, Ron, The Haydock Registers: A Picture of Young Catholics in Penrith 1841-1851, North West Catholic History, 2005.
This page deserves more links Wikipedia has excellent links at the end of the article. "George Leo Haydock"
or here is Catholic
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