John and Michael Harnett

John and Michael Harnett are recognised as some of the earliest benefactors of St Werburgh’s Church in that they are credited with purchasing the land upon which the Church was built [1]. They were the two youngest sons of William and Mary (Hickey) of Sandville House, Castleisland, Kerry, Munster. Born in 1801 and 1803 they both came to Liverpool in the late 1820s. Liverpool Electoral Registers, 1832-1970 show them as Corn brokers working in the Fenwick Buildings Counting House [3]. They must have rapidly established themselves as at the Great Public Dinner to Daniel O’Connor Esq. at the Corn Exchange in January 1836, they were among the list of stewards for the event.

John married Isabella Ann Da Costa on 12 May 1841 at St Peter’s Priory, Liverpool. Isabella died on 14 Marvh 1857. In 1859, following the death of his wife Isabella, John Harnett was still living in Seaforth [3]. The 1861 censusn howevern shows that John Harnott had moved to live in Chester and his address is given as Queens Park. In 1871 his address is Rock Mount, Queens Park and he is still working as a corn factor employing seven men. John remarried, Mary Ann Livesley 24 September 1864 at St Oswald, Liverpool. John was still listed as working at the Corn Exchange in 1877 at the age of 76. In retirement, John left Chester and went to live with his wife at 23 Lansdowne Terrace, Cheltenham, where he died on 26 February 1883.

Brother Michael married Elizabeth Roskell on 21 October 1841 at Holywell, Flintshire [4]. Elizabeth was the daughter of George Roskell, who was the first Catholic Mayor of Flint following the passing of the Reform Act of 1832. This was Elizabeth’s second marriage: she had previously married Alfred Augustus Joseph Grainger of Twysog on 30 May 1837. He unfortunately died and was buried on 5 January 1838. The last entry for Michael working at the Corn Exchange is 1862. Michael died on 5 November 1873 at Dawstone, Heswall.

Sadly, neither of the brothers had any children to whom they could bequeath their wealth.

Winefrede Sturman records the brothers as great supporters of Catholic institutions, having given £1,000 towards the building of a school in Hyde in 1854 and £500 towards the school at Neston in 1857. So why did they both support St Werburgh’s venture to build a new Church? Michael died in 1873; hence, if both he and John supported the purchase of the land for the Church, this is likely to have occurred during Canon Buquet’s rectorship, which ended in 1872. One obvious factor is John Harnett having moved to reside in Chester around 1860. Living in Queens Park, most likely attending St Francis Church, John and his wife would have been well aware of Canon Buquet’s need for a larger Church. Another likely contributing factor is that both brothers had worked at the Corn Counting House, 10 Fenwick Street. John is recorded as still working there until 1877. The design office of Edmund Kirby, the architect for St Werburgh’s, was located in Derby Buildings, 24 Fenwick Street. Edmund was also well known in Catholic circles, evidenced by his work as Honorary Secretary for the Liverpool Annual Catholic Charity Ball, held at the Town Hall on 24 February 1868 [5]. It is not unsurprising therefore that the two brothers wished to support a Liverpool Catholic architect in his desire to build a magnificent stone-built church in Chester.

A stone-built church significantly increased the cost of the church compared with an equivalent brick-built edifice. At the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for the Church in October 1873, it was recorded that the cost of the chancel, side chapels and four bays of the nave was estimated as being upwards of £6,000. As a result, construction of the remaining portion of the design, which includes a presbytery and extending the aisle, had to be deferred. Drawings for a new presbytery had been initiated as early as 1872 and work on the design continued at Fenwick Street until 1875.

Winefrede Sturman credits Michael Harnett’s widow with the endowment that paid for the building of the Presbytery [6]. The exact date of the completion of the Presbytery is not known, but an advertisement in the Tablet of 16 August 1879 quoted the address for correspondence as St Werburgh’s Presbytery, Grosvenor Park Road, Chester. The design of the presbytery is interesting, with cellars for a pantry and larder, wash house and wine cellar. The ground floor had a kitchen, scullery, sitting room and a dining room. The upper floors appear modelled upon the layout of a college residence, there being two more sitting rooms and two bedrooms on the middle floor and two more bedrooms, a bathroom and a library on the attic floor.

Elizabeth Harnett left Chester to live first in Shrewsbury [7], then later in Preston. In 1892 she took up residence at St Mary’s Mount, Flint, and three years later removed to St Mary’s Presbytery where she died on 5 February 1898. Her requiem mass was celebrated by the Vicar Apostolic of Wales, Vicar General of the Jesuit Order in England and Canon Lynch of Chester. Her coffin was taken to Pantasaph for burial, where she is remembered on the Roskell Memorial Grave. The Bishop of Shrewsbury in his Diocesan notes in The Tablet begged for prayers for the deceased Mrs Harnett, a benefactor of the Diocese [8].

[1] Catholicism in Chester, Sister Mary Winifrede Sturman Page 41
[2] UK, Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893, 1832
[3] Ireland, Casey Collection Indexes, 1545-1960 Page 2340 Col 2
[4] Manchester Courier 6 Nov 1841 Page 6 Col 1
[5] Liverpool Albion 17 Feb 1868 Page 1 Col 1
[6] Catholicism in Chester, Sister Mary Winifrede Sturman Page 44
[7] 1881 England Census for Elizabeth Harnett, Shrewsbury St Julian
[8] The Tablet 26 Feb 1898 Page 340 Col 1

John W. Curtis 2025