Rev. Matthew Sheridan : Short Biography

Father Matthew Sheridan died on March 31 1980 in Beaumont Convalescent Home, Drumcondra, Dublin, where he had lived in retirement for some years.

He was born on November 6 1899 to Terence Sheridan and Kate Sheridan (née Smith).  He was ordained on June 7 1925 and had been a priest for almost 55 years serving his entire active life in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

A native of Lattygloghan, Lavey, Co. Cavan, in the diocese of Kilmore, he had been educated at St. Patrick’s College, Cavan and did his seminary studies in St. Patrick’s College, Carlow.  His contemporaries in St. Patrick’s College, Cavan were Monsignor Patrick Canon Gaffney, who was President of the College in the sixties and Father Timothy Connolly, the Superior of the Columban Fathers, both of whom remained his life-long friends and died in April and July in 1980.  Fr. Sheridan was the first and indeed the leader of a group of Carlow students ordained for Birmingham in the Twenties.  Fathers John Crean, James Cregan, Dan Daly and Tim O’Connor.  Father John McDonald followed him in 1926 and Father Donal O’Connor in 1927.  He outlived them all.

All of them made a significant contribution to the life and spirit of the diocese, but he was foremost in time, in the impression he made and in regard to which he was held in the various parishes where he worked, and among his fellow priests.  He was an indefatigable visitor of the homes and families within his parish, and long before the days of ecumenism he knew the non-catholics of the area as well as the catholics.

His only curacy was at St. Francis’, Handsworth under Canon Godwin, and his fellow curate was Father Wilfrid Sheeran who became parish priest of St. Patrick’s, Walsall.  They were a capable team and it was a fine parish in those days with a reputation for it’s hospitality .  Father Sheridan fitted in well; he had a fine presence, a charming manner and was full of interest in his people and his work.

After six years in St. Francis’ Handsworth, he became parish priest of Bedworth and four years later of Our Lady of the Angels on Coton Road, Nuneaton where he became Rural Dean.  In 1936, he extended and remodelled the Church by adding two side-aisles to accommodate an increasing congregation.[1]

On 29 September 1939 information was gathered to produce identity cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to issue ration books.  This 1939 Register of England & Wales was also used to administer conscription and the direction of labour, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation.[2]  On this day Father Sheridan was living at The Presbytery, Coton Road, Nuneaton together with Mrs Kate Sheridan who was born on 6 June 1869.[3]  This is possibly his mother, and also living with them was Peter Smith an assistant to Fr. Sheridan.  This may be the same Peter Smith that lived with the Sheridan family in Lattygloghan the 1911 Census [4]

Due largely to munitions factories located in Nuneaton, the town suffered heavy bombing damage during World War II.  The heaviest bombing raid on Nuneaton took place on 17 May 1941, when 100 people were killed, 380 houses were destroyed, and over 10,000 damaged, a few smaller raids took place on the town, most notably on 25 June 1942.  As a result of the bombing, much of the town centre was rebuilt in the post-war years.[5]

The church also suffered bomb-damage and the period of World War II was a shattering and nerve racking experience for Father Sheridan.  He scarcely ever recovered from the deaths of many in his parish and the deaths of his parishioners overseas in the war and having to deal with those who suffered so much from this war.

For the remainder of his life from 1945, he worked in small rural type parishes or chaplaincies, which made less demands on his energies - Abbots Salford and Brewood.  He was chaplain at Oulton Abbey from 1945-1948, Colbridge Convent, Haunton, Upton on Seven and finally Sacred Heart, Eccleshall from which he retired to Dublin in 1975.  He was buried in his native parish of Upper Lavey, Co. Cavan following Requiem Mass in Beaumont, Drumcondra, Dublin

I am grateful to The Reverend Dr John Sharp, Diocesan Archivist, Birmingham for his assistance in compiling this article.

Carmel O’Callaghan.