PLEASE JOIN ME - VICAR OF THIS PARISH
Thomas Henry Bywater married Lucy Mary Pearsall Schofield on 26th August 1891 at Bradford St John.
At that time Thomas Henry had already been Vicar of Outwood for some nine years, and his father, William, was a Gentleman.
His wife's father, John (then deceased), had been a Gentleman, too.
No fewer than nine people signed the marriage register as being witnesses to the ceremony.
Their son, John Schofield Bywater, was born on 5th June 1892 and was baptised on 20th July that year at Outwood St Mary Magdalene by the Vicar of St John's Church in Bradford, where his parents had been married.
On 17th April 1900, their daughter, Phyllis Mary, was born, and she was baptised by her father at Outwood Church on 26th May that year.
April 1901 saw them supported at the Vicarage by three servants - a cook, a housemaid, and a nurse.
Ten years later, and they were still at the Vicarage, with a cook and a housemaid.
On 26th January 1921, the Reverend Bywater conducted the marriage service for his daughter, when she married Eric Childe Stonehouse, a worsted spinner of West Parade, Wakefield, at Outwood St Mary Magdalene.
Her father-in-law was Sir Edmund Stonehouse who was the son of Matthew Porritt Stonehouse, founder of MP Stonehouse Ltd, Albion Mills, Wakefield. Sir Edmund was Mayor of the City four times between 1888 and 1917.
On 4th October of the same year, Phyllis Mary's brother, John Schofield Bywater, married Annie Margaret Illingworth at Heaton St Barnabas, Bradford, where his father conducted the service.
Annie's father was Eustace Holden Illingworth, a worsted spinner at Daisy Bank, Bradford.
Thomas Henry Bywater was the Vicar of Outwood for over fifty years.
He died at Hawthorn Cottage, Sandal, on 14th January 1934 and was buried at Outwood St Mary Magdalene three days later. The Bishop of Wakefield conducted the service.
In 1936, the son, John Schofield Bywater, was admitted to a nursing home at 77 Clarendon Road in Leeds.
On the evening of 10th November that year, his mother visited him in Leeds, and returned to Wakefield by motor bus.
Shortly after getting off the bus at the junction of Barnsley Road and Agbrigg Road, she was knocked down by a motor lorry and sustained multiple injuries.
Lucy was taken to Highfield House, Sandal - the home of her daughter - where she died later that evening. A verdict of Misadventure was returned at the inquest which took place two days later.
Lucy was buried at Outwood St Mary Magdalene three days later, when the service was performed by the Bishop of Pontefract. Over 150 wreaths were laid at the funeral.
Another note of sadness touches this piece, for her son - who his mother had been to visit at the Leeds nursing home on the evening of her death - died five days later. He was 44, and died without being told of his mother's accident and death.
His widow would live for another fifty-five years.
Eric Childe Stonehouse would die on 11th March 1967 and his widow, our Phyllis Mary (Bywater) would live until 5th March 1983.
The headstone in Outwood St Mary Magdalene is to the beloved memory of Thomas Henry Bywater, Vicar of this Parish from 1882-1932, "I will give Him the morning star", and his wife Lucy Mary Pearsall Bywater "She ever lives in the hearts of those who love her".
Lives well remembered.
Thanks for joining me. Take care.
David Simmonds.