Father Wilfrid Darby OSB

Parish Priest

1917-1928

Father Wilfrid was born in Liverpool. In 1915 at the age of 60 he relinquished the huge Parish of St Anne, Edge Hill to come to Parbold as Assistant Priest, becoming Parish Priest in 1916. Pressure was put upon him to install a telephone, but he resisted on the grounds that the Parish could ill afford it. So a whist drive was held and the £3 that it raised was sufficient to pay for the telephone and the first quarter’s rental. He installed stained glass windows in memory of the Parishioners who died in the Great War: Cyril Ainscough, Ralph Baxendale and Felix Fishwick. The Church had a narrow escape from fire in 1925, but Father Darby's erudition in dealing with the insurance resulted in a settlement that paid for the present Christmas Crib. He died at Parbold on 16 December 1928. The windows in the north aisle depicting St John the Baptist and St Wilfrid are his memorial.