Thomas Henshaw (1873–1938) was the fifth Bishop of Salford, a

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diocese in the north-west of

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Early life and education

He was born on 2 February 1873 in

Miles Platting Miles Platting is an inner city part of Manchester, England, northeast of Manchester city centre along the Rochdale Canal and A62 road, bounded by Monsall to the north, Collyhurst to the west, Newton Heath to the east, and Bradford, Holt To ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, the son of Thomas Henshaw, a Manchester

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, and his wife Ann Billington. He was educated at the Salford Catholic Grammar School, the English College, Lisbon, and at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, where he taught French for three years as a Minor Professor.

Early career

He was ordained as a priest on 18 October 1899. Following ordination, Henshaw was sent to the Institut Catholique in Paris, where he specialised for three years in

Dogmatic Theology Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Ch ...

. He then spent a year at Bonn University in Germany, before taking the chair in Dogmatic Theology at

Ushaw College Ushaw College (formally St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw), is a former Catholic seminary near the village of Ushaw Moor, County Durham, England, which is now a heritage and cultural tourist attraction. The college is known for its Georgian and Vict ...

in County Durham. In 1905, Henshaw returned to his native Salford Diocese, serving for the next six years at St Bede's College as Professor and Vice-Rector. In 1912, he was appointed curate at St Alban,

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

until 1913, when he became Rector at the Holy Saviour,

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. In 1916, he moved to St Mary, Heaton Norris, and in 1920 took charge of St Gabriel, Castleton. In mid-1925 he was appointed parish priest at St Anne, Blackburn, where he completed the work building the new Byzantine church started by the previous priest, Fr William Shine, who had died suddenly earlier that year.

As Bishop of Salford

Bishop

Louis Charles Casartelli Louis Charles Casartelli (14 November 1852 – 18 January 1925) was a Roman Catholic priest and was the fourth Bishop of Salford. Early life Born of Italian parents at 2 Clarence Street, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, 14 November 1852. His parents, ...

had died in January 1925, but it would be almost a year before a replacement was appointed. That replacement was Henshaw, consecrated Bishop on 21 December 1925 at

Salford Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St. John the Evangelist, usually known as Salford Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral on Chapel Street in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Salford and mother church of the Diocese of Sal ...

by Archbishop Keating. He was taken as a "pastorally minded and pragmatic parish priest with financial acumen and quiet scholarship". Education was Henshaw's forte, even if the vision of Catholic education in Westminster and in Salford occasionally clashed. Particular problems of physically defective "blacklisted" schools and of the beginning of

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in inner urban areas, taxed the mind and pocket of the Catholic community. The 1936 Education Act separated schools into Junior and Senior Schools and ended, at least in theory, the all-age parish elementary school. The lay organisations continued to develop, with newcomers such as the

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and the

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. Henshaw's attitude to the continual shortage of priests was simple: pray and the Lord will provide. In 1926 the diocese also hosted the National Catholic Congress in Manchester. In 1927 he acquired the Wardley Hall Estate in

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there is evi ...

as the official residence of the Bishop of Salford. He died on 23 September 1938, aged 65.

Legacy

The first Catholic senior school to be built in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

was founded in 1968 and named Bishop Henshaw School, until it was extended into a secondary school and renamed

St Cuthbert's RC High School St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School is a coeducational secondary school located in the Thornham area of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. History St Cuthbert's was founded as Bishop Henshaw School in 1968 and was Rochdale's first ...

during the late 1980s, following the Diocese of Salford's decision to scrap the three-tier system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henshaw, Thomas 1873 births 1938 deaths

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

People from Miles Platting Roman Catholic bishops of Salford English College, Lisbon alumni