Stalybridge : Holy Trinity and Christ Church

Image: © Ken Bagnall Taken: 22 Aug 2009

In 1867 Stalybridge was disturbed by the arrival of William Murphy. Records of this man indicate that his sole interest was to sow the seeds of dissent between Roman Catholics, who by this time had grown to significant proportions, and Protestants. He succeeded in this goal only too well for a full year. During 1868 there were a number of violent disturbances and rioting created by Murphy, who described himself as a "renegade Roman Catholic". In his lectures to the public "pretending to expose the religious practices of the Roman Catholic Church", he became a master at whipping up a crowd into a frenzy. Newspaper reports of the time told of his common practice of waving a revolver in the air in "a most threatening manner". On one occasion he incited a riot of such proportions that Father Daley, the parish priest of St Peter's, took to the roof of the church to defend it. A man was shot. The parish priest was tried but eventually acquitted at the Quarter Sessions. Following this incident, the community began to settle down and Murphy chose to extend his political activities elsewhere.

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