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Alien control measures and their effect on European born clergy and religious in the Diocese of Salford during the Great War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2025

Lawrence R. Gregory
Lawrence R. Gregory*
Affiliation:
Senior Archivist, National Institute for Newman Studies, 211 N. Dithridge Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
*
Email: lgregory@newmanstudies.org
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Abstract

By the end of the nineteenth century, Great Britain had become a home to many immigrant communities from across Europe and the wider world. The outbreak of the Great War of 1914-18 however, saw this multi-cultural society fracture. Those from the enemy nations suffered what Panikos Panayi described as efforts ‘aimed at eradicating the German community from Britain’, including persecution, internment, and repatriation, while the State struggled to deal with the threat of espionage and sabotage. Meanwhile, other immigrants from allied countries, such as Italy and Belgium, faced forced conscription from their home governments. Both these situations would impact the many Roman Catholic clergy and members of religious communities1 resident in the United Kingdom, affecting their ability to undertake their ministry, and sometimes resulting in incarceration.

Keywords

Immigrationwarinternmentpersecutionracismxenophobiaconscription

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , October 2024 , pp. 127 - 162
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Trustees of the Catholic Record Society

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References

1 The term ‘clergy and religious’ refers to both ordained priests and non-ordained members of religious orders and congregations, such as religious brothers and nuns.

2 J. C. Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 1914–1918 (London: Routledge, 2015), 17.

3 Ibid., 15.

4 Ibid., 35.

5 Panikos Panayi, Immigration, ethnicity and racism in Britain 1815-1945 (Manchester: Manchester University Press 1994), 23.

6 Ibid., 56.

7 These rough figures were obtained from the 1911 Census Returns of England and Wales, RG14, accessed on Ancestry.co.uk, analysing the statistics of those born in Austria or Germany and residing in Lancashire.

8 Ibid.

9 Jacqueline Jenkinson, Colonial, refugee and allied civilians after the First World War: Immigration, restriction and mass repatriation (New York: Routledge, 2020), 24-25.

10 Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots (London: J. Murray, 1867), 149-150.

11 Ibid., 26.

12 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 19.

13 Thomas Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser: German covert operations in Great Britain during the First World War era, (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004), 2.

14 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 31-32.

15 Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser, 3.

16 Ibid., 4.

17 Leonard Sellers, Shot in the Tower (London: Leo Cooper 1997), 1.

18 Manchester Courier, 15 October 1905, 9.

19 Manchester Courier, 9 November 1907, 9.

20 Manchester Courier, 6 December 1907, 15.

21 Manchester Evening News, 12 January 1910.

22 Manchester Courier, 21 November 1914, 7.

23 Peter James Cahalan, The Treatment of Belgian Refugees in England During the Great War (Adelaide University 1977), 153.

24 Cahalan, The Treatment of Belgian Refugees, 2.

25 Manchester Evening News, 6 November 1911, 3.

26 Daily Telegraph and Courier (London), 21 November 1911, 12.

27 Sellers, Shot in the Tower, 1.

28 Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser, 42.

29 Ibid., 45.

30 Ibid., 53.

31 Ibid., 47-48.

32 Ibid., 54.

33 Penny Illustrated Paper, 24 February 1894, 6.

34 St James Gazette, 25 May 1897, 6.

35 Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser, 72-73.

36 Charles A. Bolton, Salford Diocese & its Catholic Past (Manchester: Carter Ltd, 1950), 131.

37 Martin John Broadley, Casartelli: A Bishop in Peace and War (Manchester: Koinonia Books, 2006), 131.

38 C. Gadd, ed. Salford Diocesan Almanac (Salford: Roberts Ltd 1880), 45.

39 Shane Leslie, ed. Letters of Herbert Vaughan to Lady Herbert of Lea (London: Burns & Oates, 1948), 276, 11 Jan 1876.

40 Herbert Vaughan, Ad Clerum, 18 Apr 1877, Salford Diocesan Archives (hereafter SDA), Manchester, Vaughan Acta, 76.

41 Pastoral Letter of the Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Westminster, (London: 1875).

42 ‘Record of the Persecution of Catholics in the Diocese of Trèves’, The Tablet, 14 April 1877, 458.

43 Lawrence R. Gregory, A History of St Bede’s College, vol 1: A Commercial Dream 1876-1891, (Manchester: SDA 2014), 34.

44 St Bede’s College Archives. St Bede’s on the Rhine Logbook, 1.

45 Lawrence R. Gregory, A History of St Bede’s College, vol 1&2, (Amazon, 2024), 88.

46 Thomas Leo Parker, ed. Salford Diocesan Almanac (Salford: Roberts Ltd) 1914, 68.

47 Panayi, Immigration, ethnicity and racism, 87.

48 Ibid., 87.

49 Ibid., 91.

50 Mgr Brunning was the elder brother of Henrich Brunning, the Chancellor of Germany 1930-1932.

51 Thomas Leo Parker, ed. Salford Diocesan Almanac (Manchester: Hoxton & Walsh, 1932), 154.

52 SDA box 721, large file of unsorted and uncatalogued papers related to the Saffenreuter case.

53 Robert O’Neill, M.H.M, Cardinal Vaughan (London: Burns & Oates 1995), 198.

54 Christopher J. Kauffman, The Ministry of Healing (New York: Seabury Press, 1978), 127.

55 Joseph Lomax, ed. Salford Diocesan Almanac (Salford: Roberts Ltd, 1911), 46. List of religious houses, cross-referenced with the 1911 Census Returns of England and Wales, RG14, accessed on Ancestry.co.uk.

56 Hansard, The House of Commons, The Aliens Restrictions Act, Royal Assent, 14 August 1914.

57 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 41.

58 Ibid., 43.

59 Panayi, Immigration, ethnicity and racism, 110-112.

60 Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser, 77.

61 Ibid., 80.

62 Ibid., 91-92.

63 Ibid., 105.

64 Ibid., 97.

65 Ibid., 121.

66 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 46.

67 Ibid., 35.

68 Ibid., 43.

69 Ibid., 52.

70 Ibid., 173.

71 Ibid., 46.

72 Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, 9 October 1914, 8.

73 The RMS Lusitania, a Cunard, trans-Atlantic ocean liner, sunk on 7 May 1915, with the loss of 1,198 civilian lives.

74 Panayi, Immigration, ethnicity and racism, 124.

75 Manchester Courier & Lancashire General Advertiser, 12 May 1915, 1.

76 David French, ‘Spy Fever in Britain 1900-1915’, The Historical Journal, 21, 2 (1978): 355-370.

77 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 110.

78 Jenkinson, Colonial, refugee and allied civilians, 55.

79 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 171.

80 Ibid., 197-199.

81 T. Wilson, Lord Bryce’s Investigation into Alleged German Atrocities in Belgium, 1914-15. Journal of Contemporary History, 14(3) (1979): 369–383.

82 Ibid.

83 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 123.

84 Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser, 74. See also Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 128.

85 Boghardt, Spies of the Kaiser, 75.

86 French, Spy Fever, 356.

87 Casartelli to Bradley, 27 Nov 1914, SDA box 160, copy letter book AA, 2638-2639.

88 Baeda, The magazine of St Bede’s College, Manchester, New Vol 3.1, Mar 1917, 10.

89 Anon, The Pallotine Sisters, unpublished, unattributed and undated booklet held at SDA.

90 Broadley, Casartelli, 131.

91 MS diaries of Bishop Casartelli, 26 May 1915, SDA Box F162.

92 Tablet, 25 September 1920, 27.

93 Casartelli to Hennessey, 9 Oct 1914, SDA box 160, copy letter book Z, p. 2545.

94 Thomas Henshaw would succeed as fifth Bishop of Salford following Casartelli’s death in 1925. Casartelli to Reichart, 23 Aug 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book FF.3177-3178.

95 Reichart to Casartelli, Aug 1918, SDA box 162, copy letter book ZZ, 5132.

96 [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter. Accessed March 2025].

97 Letter from Reichart to the people of Stockport, 17 Jun 1920, SDA box 1002.

98 Casartelli to Bishop of Munich, 28 Apr 1921, SDA box 164, copy letter book AJ, 6038.

99 The town of Gleiwitz or Gliwice is in Southern Poland. Over the past centuries it has moved between Poland and the Germanic States. From 1532 it was part of the Habsburg monarchy, returning to Poland in 1645, then in 1666 it fell to Austria, became part of Prussia in the 18th century, being absorbed into the German Empire in 1871. The district has always been one of ethnic tensions between Polish and German inhabitants, Fr Foltin was of the former.

100 SDA box 189, unsorted and uncatalogued papers relating to Father Foltin and the East European mission in Manchester.

101 Casartelli to Peacock, 7 Oct 1914, SDA box 160, copy letter book Z, 2541-2542.

102 Casartelli to Foltin, 11 Oct 1914, SDA box 160, copy letter book Z, 2546-2548.

103 Casartelli to Bradley, 15 Jun 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book ?, 2976-1977.

104 St Vincent de Paul, Openshaw, parish logbook, 66-70, SDA box 397.

105 SDA box 189.

106 Lawrence R. Gregory and David Lannon, eds. Clergy of the Diocese of Salford: vol 1 1850-1902, 2nd edn (Amazon Publishing, 2024), 95.

107 Lawrence R. Gregory and David Lannon, eds. Clergy of the Diocese of Salford: vol 2 1903-1954 (Amazon Publishing, 2024), 95.

108 The Convent of the Good Shepherd was a Magdalen asylum, a residence for unmarried mothers and a laundry in North Manchester.

109 Casartelli to O’Kelly, 28 May 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book DD, 2929-2931.

110 MS diaries of Bishop Casartelli, 30 Jun 1915, SDA Box F162.

111 MS diaries of Bishop Casartelli, 1 Jul 1915, SDA Box F162.

112 The Name of the interned Alexian brother is never specifically stated in any of the correspondence, however the Alexian archivist believes him to be Vihs.

113 Casartelli to O’Kelly, 5 Jul 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book EE, 3037.

114 Casartelli to Bourne, 5 Jul 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book EE, 3041-3042.

115 Casartelli to Crombleholme, 12 Jun 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book DD, 2971.

116 Casartelli to O’Kelly, 29 Jul 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book FF, 3111-3114.

117 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 159.

118 Ibid., 167.

119 Ibid., 158.

120 Casartelli to the Secretary of the Aliens Advisory Committee, 11 Oct 1918, SDA box 163, copy letter book AB, 5228.

121 Thomas Leo Parker, ed. Salford Diocesan Almanac, 1920, 68.

122 Casartelli to O’Kelly, 31 Oct 1922, SDA box 165, copy letter book AM, 6301-6302.

123 Casartelli to O’Kelly, 15 Aug 1923, SDA box 165, copy letter book AM, 6350.

124 Casartelli to the Lord Mayor of Manchester, 12 Jun 1915, SDA box 160, copy letter book DD, 2969-2970.

125 Information supplied by Fr Hugh Allen OPraem, from the Premonstratension annals.

126 Kauffman, The Ministry of Healing, 190.

127 Ibid., 214.

128 Ibid., 269.

129 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 135.

130 Broadley, Casartelli, 131.

131 Bird, Control of Enemy Alien Civilians, 149.

132 The Harvest, vol 27, Dec 1914, 312-313.

133 Kieran D. Taylor, ‘The relief of Belgian refugees in the archdiocese of Glasgow during the First World War: “A Crusade of Christianity”’, The Innes Review 69.2 (2018), 147-164: 147.

134 Because Fr Vanderhaege had come to the diocese and been ordained as a refugee, no birthdate or age is recorded and little is known about him.

135 Jan de Volder, Cardinal Mercier in the First World War (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2018), 127.

136 Casartelli to Moylan, 8 Aug 1916, SDA box 161, copy letter book LL, 3870-1871.

137 Casartelli, 21 Aug 1916, SDA box 161, copy letter book LL, 3889-3891.

138 Casartelli, 11 Aug 1916, SDA box 161, copy letter book LL, 3874-3875.

139 Casartelli to Bidwell, 14 Dec 1916, SDA box 160, copy letter book NN, 4908-4100.

140 Casartelli to O’Kelly, 11 Jun 1917, SDA box 162, copy letter book RR, 4304-4305.

141 E. Hester, St Mary’s, Horwich - 1886-1986 (self-published, 1986).

142 Casartelli to de Salis, 22 Jun 1917, SDA box 162, copy letter book RR, 4316.

143 Casartelli to the Italian ambassador, 12 Nov 1917, SDA box 162, copy letter book UU, 4616-4617.

144 Casartelli to the service tribunal, 29 Dec 1917, SDA box 162, copy letter book UU, 4700.

145 Casartell to O’Kelly, 2 May 1918, SDA box 162, copy letter book VV, 4900.

146 Anon, A time of Jubilee, St Edward’s, Lees 1872-1997, unpublished.

147 St Edward, Lees, parish logbook, Sept 1939, held at the parish.

148 Fr Reddy became parish priest at St Lawrence, Old Trafford in 1939. He collapsed and died on 26 December 1940, the day after his church was destroyed in the Blitz.

149 St Edward, Lees, parish logbook, 29 Nov 1946, held at the parish.

150 James Kavanagh, ed, Salford Diocesan Almanac (Manchester: Hoxton and Walsh, 1956), 80.

151 St Alban, Ancoats, parish logbook, 23 Aug 1940, SDA box 409.

152 Tom Villis, British Catholics and Fascism:Religious Identity and Political Extremism between the Wars (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 18.

153 The Harvest, June 1941 (Manchester: Hoxton & Walsh Ltd), 120, SDA.

154 John Dunleavy, ‘Another Victim’, Badhill, Revista Della Comunita Italiana, Feb 1994, 26-27.

155 The SS Arandora Star was a cruise ship belonging to the Blue Star Line requisitioned for the transport of POWs.

156 Anthony McNulty, ed. Salford Diocesan Almanac, (Manchester: Hoxton & Walsh, 1942), 96-97.

157 Dunleavy, ‘Another Victim’, 26-27.

158 C. Plumb, (Home Office) to Bishop Marshall, 27 Jan 1941, St Alban, Ancoats, parish logbook, SDA box 409.

159 Jenkinson, Colonial, refugee and allied civilians, 24-25.

160 The 1922 Salford Diocesan Almanac records that the diocese lost between 8,000 and 10,000 men.