page_title: George Leo Haydock
section_title: Final assignment and death
hierarchical_section_title: George Leo Haydock / Final assignment and death
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial plaque to George Leo Haydock at St. Catherine's Church, Penrith.
context_page_description: George Leo Haydock, scion of an ancient English Catholic Recusant family, was a priest, pastor and Bible scholar. His edition of the Douay Bible with extended commentary, originally published in 1811, became the most popular English Catholic Bible of the 19th century on both sides of the Atlantic. It remains in print and is still regarded for its apologetic value.
  His eventful early years included a narrow scrape with the French Revolution and a struggle to complete his priestly studies in the years before Catholic Emancipation. He would go on to serve poor Catholic missions in rural England.
context_section_description: Immediately upon his reinstatement in 1839, Haydock was given a new assignment at Penrith, Cumbria (then known as Cumberland), another poor mission with discouraging prospects.  An appeal for donations in The Catholic Directory for that year states  "….the congregation is so extremely poor, that unless a generous Catholic public assist with their charitable contributions, the establishment of a mission on a suitable footing, will be impossible…."  The appeal goes on to describe the building used as a chapel as being "…..too small for the congregation – extremely damp, and in every way most inconvenient.  The entrance to it is through the [Protestant] churchyard; and the poor Catholics are taunted as they go to mass, with the poverty of their place of worship."  Although this was hardly a desirable assignment for a senior pastor with Haydock's experience and abilities, he nonetheless threw himself into the task with his usual zeal.  He began maintaining detailed baptismal records, providing fascinating insights into the social conditions of the time and the hardships facing his flock.  "Laborer" is shown as the most common occupation, while "beggars," "trampers," and one "pauper" are also represented.  In a letter dated 1848, Haydock states, "I have baptized above 100[.] But many of them trampers are gone."   The second most common position was that of navy navvy or "navigator," referring to railroad workers. Irish immigration, especially resulting from the catastrophic Potato Famine beginning in 1845, brought a large influx of these to the Penrith area, which was enjoying a wave of railroad construction.  An incident of particular note occurred during Haydock's pastorate.  Irish navvies were often willing to accept wages less than their native-born counterparts. The obvious potential for hostility came to a head in February, 1846, when conflicts between gangs of Irish and English navvies required intervention by local authorities. At one point, Haydock is credited with dissuading an Irish gang from a planned attack against these authorities, apparently using influence earned from his pastoral work. "The presence and exhortations of that aged and amiable man were irresistible, and tranquility was restored."  The baptismal records further show Haydock made a careful distinction among parents that were "married," "perhaps married," "Prot[estant] married,"and one "cohabiting 4 years and wishing to be married."  Separately classified also were marriages performed at Gretna Green, a town just across the Scottish border famous for "runaway marriages."  The problem of infant mortality is sadly chronicled, with several baptisms recorded on infants "in articulo mortis,"  (in danger of death), one who died within a half-hour, and another who died the next day, and "the mother soon after."
  Father Haydock's letters during this period indicate a history of apparent heart disease, a problem that did not slow his endeavors. In September, 1849, just two months before his death, he wrote home describing a plea for help he received from a "tramp" who appeared near death.   To respond he undertook a two-hour horseback ride which evidently precipitated a heart attack. Thinking at first he would die, he nevertheless returned home "much shaken."  He wrote to his sister, "I do not often consult doctors nor do I require any relaxation or to retire to your smug parlor on account of my excessive labour." He continued working zealously at the mission and began construction of a new church, a red sandstone gothic structure named for St. Catherine.  He did not live to see its completion, just two months after his death on 29 November 1849. St. Catherine's Church still exists, its congregation now part of the Lancaster Diocese. Father Haydock is believed buried in an unmarked grave under the chancel, although a ground penetrating radar study conducted in 2017 was inconclusive as to the location of any grave there. The original memorial tablet erected in his memory has been lost, but was recently replaced with a copy.  It includes his family motto:  (L
caption: Memorial plaque to George Leo Haydock at St. Catherine's Church, Penrith
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