Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:22:29.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transubstantiation of Myth: towards a New Popular History of Nineteenth-Century Catholicism in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Gerard Connolly
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Derek Holmes, proposing a fresh investigation of the history of Catholics in nineteenth-century England, largely by reference to a tiny group of national clerical leaders, has justified his approach by arguing that it is impossible to imagine the development of English Catholicism without them. This seems a strange apology with which to introduce the history of so numerous and diverse a community. Is it to be assumed that that same community has little or no life apart, or that it had little significance except as backdrop to the drama of episcopal politics? This objection is particularly apropos of nineteenth-century Catholicism, which came to enjoy an enormous following in circumstances that appear to bear but a marginal relationship to the activity of the elite. In short, there is surely a popular dimension here, independent of figurehead biography, which is possibly best captured in the nineteenth-century legend of English Catholic history.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 78 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Holmes, J. D., More Roman than Rome: English Catholicism in the nineteenth century, London 1978, 14Google Scholar.

2 Teer, J., The Progress of Catholicism, Liverpool 1841, pp. vii–x for biographical detail and the popularity of the emerging Catholic legend of historyGoogle Scholar.

3 Ibid., 11—18.

4 O'Dea, J., The Story of the Old Faith in Manchester, Manchester 1910Google Scholar. Bolton, C., Salford Diocese and its Catholic Past, Salford 1950Google Scholar.

5 As security for this, two decades of Catholic internal scholarship culminating in Bossy, J., The English Catholic Community 1570–1850, London 1975Google Scholar.

6 Ibid., 1–7, 182–94, 295–363. 422.

7 Returns of Papists 1767, House of Lords Main Papers, Westminster.

8 J. A. Lesourd, Les Catholiques dans la societi anglaise de 1765 à 1865, These de l'Université de Strasbourg 1974, see here ii. 93–229, especially 102, 115, 121.

9 Rowlands, M. B., Catholics in Staffordshire from the Revolution to the Relief Acts, 1688—1791, University of Birmingham M.A. thesis 1965, 98–110, 249Google Scholar.

10 Bossy, Catholic Community, 182–94, 278–92, 296–322, 422–7. Also J. Bossy, ‘Catholic Lancashire in the eighteenth century’, in J. Bossy and P. Jupp (eds.), Essays Presented to Michael Roberts, Belfast 1976, 54–69, esp. at 54–5. By contrast cf. Rowlands, op. cit. 106f, 249, and Aveling, J. C. H., The Handle and the Axe: the Catholic recusants in England from reformation to emancipation, London 1976, 286Google Scholar. Neither of these latter could claim to have treated the subject of Catholic numerical expansion in such detail as Bossy.

11 Bossy's phrase in ‘Catholic Lancashire’, 62. Here see also Haigh, C., Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire, Cambridge 1975, 173–6, 299–313Google Scholar.

12 For the Catholic community of the twin towns of south-east Lancashire generally during the eighteenth century, G. P. Connolly, Catholicism in Manchester and Salford, 1770–1850: the quest for ‘Le Chrétien Quelconque’, University of Manchester Ph.D. thesis 1980 (3 vols), i. 54–343.

13 Ibid., i. 344–87 for the effects of rural migration.

14 Ibid., i. 218–431; iii. 149–257 for source material and biographical details relative to all lay members of the local Catholic community mentioned herein.

15 Ibid., i. 2, 261–2. Phillip looks to have been a relation of the brewer Thomas Langdale who lost so much during the Gordon Riots, see Burton, E. H., The Life and Times of Bishop Challoner, 1691–1781, London 1909, ii. 252, 256, 257, 259Google Scholar.

16 Manchester City News Notes and Queries, Manchester 1900–1992, 2, 8, 18, 29, 63Google Scholar; and Manchester City News, 24 February 1917. See Connolly, op. cit., i. 242 and iii. 167–9 for the family.

17 Manchester Weekly Times, 24 March 1877, and cf. Gillow, J., A Biographical Dictionary of English Catholics, London 1885–1902, iv. 179Google Scholar.

18 Connolly, Catholicism, i. 134–5, 330–1.

19 For Kennedy later of M'Connell and Kennedy and his relationship with Sandford, Lee, C. H., A Cotton Enterprise, 1795–1840: a history of M'Connell and Kennedy Fine Cotton Spinners, Manchester 1972, 10–12Google Scholar.

20 Connolly, op. cit., i. 179–343 and especially 301–43.

21 Ibid., i. 192–206, 313–4; ii. 2–44, 288–91. Also Manchester Courier, 29 November 1828.

22 Manchester Mercury, 15 January 1793.

23 Association for Preserving the Constitutional Order against Levellers and Republicans: Constitution and Minute Book, A6.45. 33660, in the keeping of Chetham's Library, Manchester. Here, cf. Connolly, Catholicism i. 201–6.

24 See Rose, R. B., ‘The Priestley riots of 1791’, Past and Present (hereafter cited as P.P.), 18 (1960), 66–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Cf. also Knight, F., The Strange Case of Thomas Walker, London 1957, 87f, 102fGoogle Scholar.

25 Knight, op. cit., 35f, 46f, 68f, 73C 90f, 153f. Also Connolly, op. cit., i. 202–3.

26 The Admission Register of the Manchester School: with some notices of the more distinguished scholars, ed. J. Finch Smith (Chetham Society 1st ser., i-iii, 1866, 1868, 1874), nos. 69, 73; 93, 94; see i. pp. 53, 72, 90; ii. pp. 21, 61, 81, 133, 153, 195–201; iii (part 2), pp. 2, 21, 104, 162. Cf. here Connolly, op. cit., 104–5.

27 Wadsworth, A. P., ‘The first Manchester Sunday Schools’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xxxiii (1951), 299–326CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 For a good treatment of this in its context, Ward, W. R., Religion and Society in England, 1700–1850, London 1972, 13fGoogle Scholar. Also here cf. Laqueur, T. V. V., Religion and Respectability: Sunday Schools and working class culture, 1780–1850, London 1976, 68—74Google Scholar.

29 Catechism Prayers and Hymns for the use of the Sunday Schools in Manchester, Manchester 1787, 13–14Google Scholar.

30 Ibid., 7–8. Cf. also the 1793 edition of the same and Ward, op. cit., 13–20.

31 There were early misunderstandings. For the Catholic part in the scheme, little noticed by other commentators, see Connolly, Catholicism, i. 185–6, 310–11; ii. 103–4.

32 For Houghton, G. Anstruther, The Seminary Priests (1716–1800), Great Wakering 1977, iv. 143–4; and Connolly op. cit., 185–6. He does not deserve the shabby epitaph given to both himself and Broomhead by Aveling, Handle, 301–2, whose portrayal of the south-east Lancashire mission appears misleading to say the least.

33 Anstruther, op. cit., 48. For a full biographical treatment, however, see Connolly, op. cit., i. 179–454 passim, especially 186–92.

34 Anon. Brief Memoirs of the Rev. Rowland Broomhead of Manchester, Manchester 1820, 8Google Scholar. Also see Gaffey, M., Panegyric on the late Rev. Rowland Broomhead forty two years a Catholic priest in Manchester, Manchester 1822Google Scholar.

35 Home, M., A Letter to the Rev. Joseph Curr occasioned by his letter to Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart., President of the Manchester and Salford Auxiliary Bible Society, Manchester no date (probably 1821), 34Google Scholar; and also idem, The Congratulation: an address to Protestants on the Papal Controversy in Manchester, Manchester 1822, 3. The remarks came by way of insulting his successor in comparison.

36 Crofton, H. T., A History of the Ancient Chapel of Stretford, Manchester 1903, iii. 52Google Scholar. Cf. here also James Archer's advice reprinted in (Manchester) Exchange Herald, 19 December 1815.

37 Curley, T., The Catholic History of Oldham, Market Weighton 1911, 13–15Google Scholar; Orthodox Journal, October 1820, 41 of; Exchange Herald, 26 September, 3 October 1820; and also Curr, J., A Discourse delivered at St. Augustine's Chapel, Manchester, at the funeral of the Rev. Rowland Broomhead, Manchester 1820, 12Google Scholar.

38 Larkin, E., ‘The devotional revolution in Ireland, 1850–1875’, American Historical Review, lxxvii (1972), 625–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Miller, D. W., ‘Irish Catholicism and the Great Famine’, Journal of Social History, ix (1975), 84–7Google Scholar, are possibly the best-known considerations of the internal state of Irish nineteenth-century Catholic practice. See also Bossy, J., ‘The Counter Reformation and the people of Catholic Ireland’, Historical Studies VIII, Papers read before the Irish Conference of Historians, ed. Williams, T. D., Dublin 1971, 155–69Google Scholar, for a wider perspective.

39 Connolly, Catholicism, i. 129–56, 399—431.

40 Ibid., 134–5.

41 Ibid., 134–9, 330–1. Also Rev. Rowland Broomhead to Rev. Thomas Eyre, 6 November 1806 (document), 47; 26 February 1807, 49, Correspondence A-L, Ushaw College MSS.

42 Connolly, op. cit., i. 399–431; and also (Appendix G to the) Royal Commission on the condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland: The State of the Irish Poor in Great Britain, 1836, 40, xxxiv, 42–84 (hereafter cited as Report Irish Poor) at 44–51 for the deserved reputation of the Manchester Irish with regard to public welfare.

43 For the Irish ‘districts’ of Manchester, Werly, J. M., ‘The Irish in Manchester, 1832–49’, Irish Historical Studies, xviii (1972–3), 345–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Wilson, F. L., The Irish Influx into Manchester, 1815–50, University of Manchester B.A. dissertation 1940, 21–31Google Scholar.

44 Connolly, op. cit., i. 444–6, for specific clerical opposition to the deployment of Irish missioners in the twin towns. However, cf. also Ibid., iii. 2–264, 266–502 passim for a wider context.

45 Ibid., i. 432–49 passim for Ashurst.

46 Orthodox Journal for 1819, March 113f, April 161f, May I72f, June 217f, July 249f, August 289f, November 414f, and Manchester Observer, 6 November 1819, carry the substance of this complicated dispute.

47 Rev. John Ashurst to Bishop Thomas Smith, 24 September 1823 (document) 155, Bishop Thomas Smith Papers, Leeds Diocesan Curia (hereafter cited as L.D.C.).

48 See Connolly, Catholicism, i. 405–11, especially 405–6; and also iii. 8f, for source material and methodology relative to these ratios. Primary totals taken from Baptismal Registers: St. Chad's Rook Street, Manchester, 1772–1820, RCMc 1–4; Ibid., St. Mary's Mulberry Street, Manchester, 1794–1825, RCMm 1–3; Ibid., St. Augustine's Granby Row, Manchester, 1820–25, RCMa, Lancashire County Record Office.

49 Connolly, op. cit., i. 138–49, 418—22.

50 Ibid., i. 419–20. Cf. also Holmes, More Roman, 161–3, 174; and also Lees, L. H., Exiles of Erin: Irish migrants in Victorian London, Manchester 1979, 164–212, especially 180–2Google Scholar.

51 Connolly, op. cit., i. 420. The criterion involved here is Easter Duty. Cf. also Bossy, J., ‘The Counter Reformation and the people of Catholic Europe’, P.P., no. 47 (1970), 51–70 at 52, also 54f passimGoogle Scholar.

52 Petition of the clergy of Manchester and Salford (draft copy), no date (1828), (document) 401A, Bishop Thomas Smith Papers, L.D.C. There may have been some exaggeration here to twist the bishop's arm, cf. Lees, op. cit., 180–4 for a similar situation. The figure of 40,000 Catholics is almost certainly too high. Cf. here, Connolly, op. cit., i. 143–4, 420; and Holmes, More Roman, 160f; Lesourd, Les Catholiques, v. 316–32 for a familiar story.

53 For Hearne, Connolly, op. cit., i. 445–6; ii. 248–426, passim; iii. 2–264 Passim, and especially 340–502.

54 Manchester Guardian, 17 June 1846.

55 Report Irish Poor, 43.

56 Connolly, Catholicism, iii. 62–147.

57 Ibid., iii. 241.

58 Ibid., iii. 117–19.

59 Ibid., iii. 70f. Also Ibid., i. 436f; ii. 2–426, passim, especially 131f, 292–336, 348–53.

60 Ibid., iii. 477. Also, cf. Marsden, J. B., Memoirs of the Life and Labours of the Rev. Hugh Stowell, London 1861Google Scholar, for Stowell, who deserves a modern biographer.

61 Connolly, op. cit., iii. 62–147 for a history of one such protracted dog-fight over chapel and church siting.

62 Ibid., iii. 361–436, 437–502 for this enormous contretemps which Bishop George Brown alleged ‘scandalized all England’. Cf. also Leetham, C., Luigi Gentili: a Sower for the Second Spring, London 1965, 257fGoogle Scholar, for a brief and rather one-sided official view. Similar) Pagani, G., The Life of the Rev. A. Gentili, Father of Charity, London 1851, 247fGoogle Scholar; Gwynn, D., Luigi Gentili, Dublin 1951, 207f, 214fGoogle Scholar.

63 Connolly, Catholicism, iii. 437–79, for George Brown, a reluctant and infirm incumbent of the episcopacy who appears to have seen his duty in terms of chastising any priest with a problem.

64 Ibid., iii. 62–147.

65 The Harvest (Salford Diocesan Magazine), xlv (1932), 16. Also Weekly Orthodox Journal, 3 May 1834.

66 Connolly, op. cit., iii. 23f, n6f, 231–43, 266–502; and cf., here, Bossy, Catholic Community, 323–63; and Lees, Exiles, 164–212.

67 Manchester Guardian, 4 February 1846; Manchester and Salford Advertiser, 7 March 1846; Harvest, lxxiv (1961), 202Google Scholar, for the resiting of St Chad's. See Ward, B., The Sequel to Catholic Emancipation, London 1915, ii. 219fGoogle Scholar, one of many indications of the importance attached to the opening of St John's, later Salford Cathedral. Also Bolton, Salford Diocese, 115–17.

68 Connolly, op. cit., iii. 24–8, 123–4.

69 Ibid., ii. 141–5- Also Status Missionis 1847 (preparatory survey, Lancashire District), contained in rough book within Liverpool Archdiocesan Archives, uncatalogued collection, Lancashire County Record Office (hereafter cited as L.A.A.), for school figures prior to jurisdiction passing to the Catholic Poor School Committee.

70 See, here, Bossy, Catholic Community, 314–16; and Holmes, More Roman, 158–9; and cf. Connolly, Catholicism, iii. 5–39.

71 The improvement appears to have been continued, with the fledgling diocese of Salford becoming remarkable for the strength of its practice; Lesourd, Les Catholiques, v. 316, 327–32; vi. 16.

72 This is not to say that Protestant converts were not important; rather that they lent a psychological boost to the ‘progress of Catholicism’, publicly underwriting the respectability of a far more spectacular conversion. For an example of inflated Catholic expectations generated by such propaganda, Gorman, W. J. G., Converts to Rome: a biographical list during the last sixty years, London 1910Google Scholar; and cf. Lesourd, op. cit., v. 194. For a more sober assessment, Holmes, op. cit., 162–4, 174; and Bossy, Catholic Community, 387–9; and cf. Connolly, op. cit., iii. 40–60.

73 For a discussion of these, see Bossy, Catholic Community, 323–90; and cf. Holmes, op. cit., 19–108.

74 See Bossy, Catholic Community, 355; and Best, G.F.A., Temporal Pillars, Cambridge 1964, 245, 258f, 268Google Scholar.

75 Berrington, J., The State and Behaviour of English Catholics from the Reformation to the year 1780, Birmingham 1780, part 2Google Scholar. See here also Aveling, Handle, 322–45; Bossy, Catholic Community, 250–363; and cf. B. Ward, Sequel, i. 7.

76 Bossy, Catholic Community, 323f, and especially 334–7 for an outline of this.

77 Broomhead Memoirs, 11—13; and cf. also, Ward, Religion and Society, 120–1.

78 See Exchange Herald, 22, 29 December 1812, for a fairly representative reaction of growing exasperation from once sympathetic local Protestants towards the more persistent and incautious Catholic claims. Cf. also Connolly, Catholicism, ii. 10–44.

79 Connolly, op. cit., i. 432–54; ii. 2–100, for the momentum of a ‘pastoral imperative’, a Catholic evangelical crusade with a distinct appeal to the basics of disagreement between Catholic and Protestant.

80 Ibid., ii. 2–44.

81 Horne, Congratulation, 3f, describes the opening of hostilities by Curr. See Connolly, op. cit., i. 432–54; ii. 2–9, 45–100 for Curr. His background is described by Hadfield, C., The History of St. Marie's Mission, Sheffield, Sheffield 1889, 32f, 58–6Google Scholar; and Bolton, Salford Diocese, 92. By a matchless irony Curr preached the address at Broomhead's obsequies, Curr, Discourse St. Augustine's, passim.

82 Connolly, op. cit., ii. 45–100; and also Home, op. cit., 3–7 for a history of this controversy involving almost every known Christian group. Ward, op. cit., 120, describes Curr's conduct as ‘foolhardy’, though this judgement does not take account of his and the Catholic community's predicament, nor of clerical objectives.

83 Sadly, Home has no known biographer. See Connolly, Catholicism, ii. 45–100, passim, for a number of his publications and especially iii. 623f. For Roby, Robinson, W. G., William Roby and the Revival of Independency in the North, London 1954Google Scholar, which also repeats a number of inaccuracies still attached to the memory of Curr.

84 Curr's output, rather like that of Home, was prodigious. His local theological arguments can best be found presented in Curr, J., A Letter to Sir Oswald Mosley, Baronet, President of the Manchester and Salford Auxiliary Bible Society, Manchester 1821Google Scholar; idem, An address to the Public occasioned by the recent letters of the Rev. Melville Home and the Rev. Nathaniel Gilbert on the subject of bible associations, Manchester, no date (1821)Google Scholar; idem, Catholicism: or the old rule of faith vindicated from the attack of W. Roby, Manchester 1821Google Scholar. A good deal of ammunition was expended on the lay individual's right to have unfettered access to scriptures and the claim of the Catholic Church, through its clergy, to be interpeter; an unambiguous omen. For Curr's local publications as well as those of his opponents and allies, Connolly, op. cit., iii. 619–27.

85 ‘Error’ was a favourite word with Curr. For the width of this term, Curr, J., A Sermon upon the Evidence of the Christian Religion, Preached at the Catholic Chapel, Mulberry Street, on Sunday October 24 1819, Manchester 1819Google Scholar, passim especially 6–9, 10f.

86 Curr took part in an interesting ‘subsidiary row’ surrounding the conversion and apostasy of a factory girl, which throws into sharp focus the extent to which the sun had set on Christian neighbourliness. See Curr, J., Particulars of the conversion of Margret R … N to the Catholic Faith and of her subsequent apostasy, Manchester 1821Google Scholar; and cf. B. Braidley, An authentic account of the circumstances connected with the conversion of Margret R … N, Manchester 1822; and The Catholic, (or Christianity not Popery), 22 December 1821.

87 Connolly, op. cit., ii. 178–247 for the Rev. Andrew McCartney, a former Orangeman and soldier turned Catholic priest, and his national crusade, with the help of the (True) Tablet's editor, Frederick Lucas, against the Protestant character of the English Poor Law institutions, ‘Institutional Protestantism’, beginning in the twin towns.

88 Ibid., ii. 248–86.

89 Burton, Challoncr, i. 127–36; and Bossy, Catholic Community, 364–90, describe the history of Challoner's Garden. Bossy, 382, suggests the first ‘blow’ against Challoner's original was struck in Birmingham in 1830.

90 Challoner, R., The Garden of the Soul: a manual of spiritual exercises and instructions for Christians, who (living in the World) aspire to devotion, Manchester 1799Google Scholar: and, Ibid., 1812, published by the local Catholic printer, Thomas Haydock; Ibid., 1818, with additional litany and prayers published locally by Beegan. Cf. Ibid., 1822, 1823, published by Robinson, who was also an active founder member of the ‘official’ Catholic Association. See Connolly, Catholicism, i. 485f, ii. 45–100 for a detailed account of local editions of the Garden, which was not revised again locally after 1823 until a ‘popular Garden’ of 1878. This last had Challoner's name on the cover, though the resemblance to his original possibly ends there.

91 Curr, J., Familiar Instructions in the Faith and Morality of the Catholic Church, adapted to the use of both children and adults compiled from the works of the most approved Catholic writers, Manchester 1827Google Scholar.

92 See especially Ibid., i-vii. The idea was to explain the catechism to children of seven and upwards.

93 Ibid., 18–20, 109f; and cf. Orthodox Journal, all dates as given in note 46 of this article.

94 Curr, Familiar Instructions (1827), passim, especially 18–21, 67f, 70f, 108f, 118 f.

95 Ibid (1829), passim, especially 14f, 20f, 22, 38–54, 56–71, 73–153. See Connolly, op. cit., ii. 70f, 399f for a detailed discussion of both these editions in context.

96 Curr, J., The Instructor's Assistant, Manchester, no date (? 1831)Google Scholar. Cf. here Curr, Familiar Instructions (1829), 14–67; and Bossy, Catholic Community, 272–7.

97 For local Catholic schools as a defensive reaction to the problem of non-practice, see Connolly, Catholicism, ii. 102–77.

98 Twenty Sixth Annual Report of the Catholic Charity and Sunday Schools of Manchester and Salford, 1838–9, uncatalogued printed matter, packet W 113, L.D.C. Cf., here, Curr, Familiar Instructions (1829), 22f, 63f, 75f.

99 Connolly, op. cit., i. 432–54; ii. 2–100.

100 Holmes, More Roman, 199–246, especially 201; and Snead-Cox, J. G., The Life of Cardinal Vaughan, London 1910, ii. 452Google Scholar.

101 Times Educational Supplement, 12 May 1978; see review of Holmes, More Roman, for the above comments.

102 Before going there, however, Curr had a short spell in Liverpool where he apparently managed, once again, to have a hand in discord. This time amongst Catholics only; Bishop Thomas Penswick to Bishop Thomas Smith, 25 May 1824 (document), 167, Bishop Thomas Smith Papers, L.D.C.

103 Bohon, Salford Diocese, 123–9.

104 So serious did this problem become that in 1838, after twenty-four missioners had died within eighteen months in the Northern District, mainly in fever outbreaks, a commission was set up there to investigate such deaths in an effort to save precious lives. Rev. W. Hogarth to Bishop Briggs, 1 September 1838 (document), 422, Bishop Briggs Papers, L.D.C.

105 Milburn, D., A History of Ushaw, Durham 1964, 129Google Scholar, as an example of the reputation of Manchester and Liverpool amongst the Catholic clergy.

106 Connolly, Catholicism, ii. 337–89, iii. 503–62, for the Christian heroism of the clergy of the twin towns.

107 See Teer, Progress of Catholicism, 42–5, who includes warm tributes to Parsons and Laytham.

108 Ibid., 39.

109 Bishop George Brown to ? Bishop Sharpies, 19 February 1847 (Liverpool Archdiocesan Archives), L.A.A. By contrast, cf. Bishops Penswick and Briggs and their sympathetic and tireless devotion to the special problems of the urban missioner, in Connolly, op. cit., i. 444; ii. 292–336, passim; iii. 62–147, passim.

110 Bishop George Brown to Bishop Griffiths, no date (c. 1847), Wi.2.870. Wiseman Correspondence, archives of the archdiocese of Westminster; and Connolly, Ibid., 1 March 1847, W 1. 2.878.

111 Connolly, op. cit., iii. 523–43; and Bolton, Salford Diocese, 127, for local clergy known to have died in the 1847 fever epidemics. See also Annals of the Presentation Convent (handwritten diary), 1847, pp. 62–4, in the keeping of the Reverend Mother, Presentation Convent, Livesey Street, Manchester (hereafter cited as Presentation Annals).

112 Thompson, E. P., The Making of the English Working Class, London 1963, 437, 439Google Scholar.

113 Connolly, Catholicism, i. 185f 432f; ii. 10–426, passim, especially 337–89, iii. 361–496, 523–42, for the clergy of the twin towns.

114 Presentation Annals, 16; and also Connolly, op. cit., ii. 371, iii. 401–2, for Hearne's part in maintaining order in the slum. Also Manchester Guardian, 8 September 1832, for a famous incident.

115 Hearne was later to allege that his involvement in secular politics had met with disapproval from his superiors (Manchester Guardian, 17 June 1846), and led to his downfall.

116 Swindells, B. T., Manchester Streets and Manchester Men, fifth series, Manchester 1908, 176–7Google Scholar, describes one famous story of Hearne meting out instant justice.

117 Manchester City News, 17 August 1878; J. Gillow, Biographical Dictionary, ii. 468—70 for reminiscences of the Rev. Henry Gillow. Also Teer, Progress of Catholicism, 38—41; Orthodox Journal, 29 April 1837.

118 Connolly, op. cit., ii. 131–9 for Gillow's ‘Catholic Schools Society’.

119 There is now a large biography of this leading Catholic radical and trade unionist: Kirby, R. G. and Musson, A. E., The Voice of the People, Manchester 1975Google Scholar. See, here, Connolly, Catholicism, ii. 2–462, passim, esp. 16–36, 138–9, 317–26, 345f; iii. 385f.

120 Connolly, op. cit., ii. 292–336, and esp. 317f.

121 Ibid., ii. 2g8f, for Penswick's Interdict (issued on behalf of Bishop Thomas Smith), which bound the Catholic clergy in the northern district to prohibit Catholics from joining trade combinations wherein potentially ‘rash’ oaths, secrecy or coercion were involved.

122 Treble, J. H., ‘The attitude of the Roman Catholic Church towards Irish participation in trade unionism in the North of England’, Northern History, v (1970), 93–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Thompson, Working Class, 437–9, 442, have both seriously underestimated the diversity of spiritual commitment amongst the Catholic clergy when dealing with the socio-economic dimension in the lives of their poor congregations.

123 Aveling, Handle, 305; and Holmes, More Roman, 179, for Doherty presented as a Protestant. Francis Place called him ‘a rigid, uncompromising, intolerant Roman Catholic’, Connolly, op. cit., ii. 346.

124 Connolly, op. cit., ii. 287f; iii. 503f.