William Crombleholme

At the age of 18 William Crombleholme entered the order of La Salle as a catholic friar. From 1843 he was a teacher in Bolton and Liverpool, first in “the Catholic School”, Copperas-hill and later on in “the Ragged School for Boys”, Spitalfields, which was founded by Father James Nugent. With the help of bishop Turner of Salford he arrived at the minor seminary in Roeselare in 1853, where he was the first Englishman to study in its philosophy department in 1854. He studied theology at the major seminary in Bruges between 1855 and 1857. He was ordained priest by bishop Turner on 27.09.1857, before finishing his studies. He then returned to Salford. In 1858 he was transferred to St. Anne’s, Ashron-under-Lyne. After continuing financial difficulties, among others caused by the building of St. Anne’s Hall and schools in Denton and Hooley Hill, he went begging for funds in the US and Canada. He was able to pay off a large amount of his debts in Salford between 1878 and 1883. In 1883 he attempted a second fund begging trip to North-America, where he unexpectedly passed away after a serious illness.