Bolton, Halliwell, St. Joseph's RC Church Baptisms 1893-1909 (Download)

About this Transcript

The information which is contained in this download is taken from the original registers, the originals of which are held by Lancashire Archives at Preston.

This download, which is in PDF format, contains a scanned copy of the original baptism registers complete with a transcript of the 1,435 baptisms performed and an index to the 6,384 names of children, parents and godparents which appear in the register.

About the Church

Another descendant of SS. Peter and Paul's, this mission was begun in 1879 by Fr. Henry Brewer, who came of an old Catholic family in Blackburn. He first rented a small building and temperance hall in Halliwell Road. Later he built a school-chapel, a presbytery and new schools.

He was a member of the Bolton Board of Guardians and was a member of the Diocesan Finance Board; he figured prominently in a dispute about the rights of Catholic children in orphanages and won his case. Three years before his death he had finished the new church, which was opened by Bishop Bilsborrow in 1900.

Mgr. Canon Boulaye, his former Rector at Farnworth, succeeded him, and died here in 1912. Canon John Burke then came from St. Patrick's, Bolton. He remained Rector for a long period and died in Ireland in 1939. The present Bishop, who was then Vicar Capitular, celebrated his Requiem, and Canon M. McGrath went to the funeral at Michelstown to represent the Diocese. In recent years, the parish priests have been Canon Joseph Callaway and Canon John Birch.

The above description is based on information published in "Salford Diocese and its Catholic past", a survey by Charles A. Bolton, a Priest of the above Diocese. Published 1950 on the First Centenary for the Diocese of Salford.