St Joseph's Society
Monsignor William Dalton, who died aged 92, was well known to several generations of seminarians from the Northern Province and beyond in his capacity as professor of dogmatic theology, and later Rector, at St Joseph’s College, Upholland. His sharp mind, dry wit and unfailing commitment to his priestly ministry enabled him to negotiate the many turbulent years that marked his time at the college. His period of teaching included the days of the Second Vatican Council and the many changes that followed in the early post-conciliar period. Later as Rector in the mid-1970s he had to oversee the changes at Upholland following the bishops’ decision to alter the seminary provision for the Northern Province.
Bill Dalton’s early life was spent at Warrington, where he was born on 30th December 1925, the son of William and Mary Dalton. He was the youngest of four children growing up in Wellfield Street, Warrington, with Pat his sister, and Mary and Josephine his half-sisters. His early education took place at Sacred Heart School, Warrington, before he entered the junior seminary at the English College, Lisbon. He remained at Lisbon for the duration of the Second World War and then transferred to St Joseph’s College, Upholland, for the final three years of his theology course. At the general ordinations held at Upholland on 11th June 1949, he was the only priest ordained by Bishop Joseph Halsall, Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool. The next day he celebrated his first Mass at Sacred Heart Church, Warrington.
The academic capabilities of the newly-ordained Father Dalton marked him out as a future seminary professor, so he was duly sent to the University of Louvain in Belgium to study dogmatic theology. Bill returned to Upholland College in 1953 to embark on nearly thirty years’ continuous service on the college staff. He dedicated twenty years (1953-1973) as a theology professor, giving a grounding in dogmatic theology to generations of seminary students from the Northern Province and beyond. During these twenty years he had a break of just one year from Upholland, for the academic year 1955-56, to teach undergraduates at Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA.
In 1973, following the sudden death of Monsignor Tom Worden, Bill was appointed Rector of Upholland College and he was named a Prelate of Honour by Pope Paul VI the following year. The mid-1970s were to be years of significant change in the history of Upholland. The first few years of his rectorate saw the removal of the senior seminary to Ushaw and the arrival of junior seminarians from Ushaw and elsewhere in return, as well as the establishment of the Upholland Northern Institute. In February 1977 he was appointed by Archbishop Derek Warlock as Episcopal Vicar for Education, a post he combined with his duties as Rector.
It is said that on the occasion of a visit to the college by Archbishop Warlock, as they viewed his recently completed portrait in the gallery, he remarked that now that he had been ‘hung’ in the College, perhaps it was time that he was ‘drawn and quartered’ in a parish. Bill finally got his wish to exercise his priestly ministry in a parish in January 1982 with the appointment to the parish of St Thomas of Canterbury in St Helens after more than thirty years as a priest. Bill was a much-loved parish priest and it was there that he celebrated his Golden Jubilee in 1999. Many of his former students came to celebrate with him, including Charles Dufour, the then Bishop of Montego Bay.
Following his retirement in 2004, firstly to Aughton and then to Maghull, Bill often supplied for priests in their parishes when he was able and was an unfailingly cheerful presence at diocesan gatherings. Though physically frailer as the years went by, his mind remained sharp to the end. Bill always enjoyed fraternity with other priests. He valued the gatherings of alumni of the colleges at Lisbon and Upholland and was a regular member of a group of priests in the archdiocese associated with Upholland that met on Sunday evenings. In his day he enjoyed a round of golf and was a long standing supporter of Warrington Rugby League Club. He had a particular love for the music of Wagner and travelled as often as he could to Bayreuth, where he befriended a local family through their shared love of music.
May he rest in peace.