Richard Lacy

"Notwithstanding the fact that the ecclesiastical division of Yorkshire met with adverse criticism at the hands of several leading members of both clergy and laity, moved by sentiment rather than a profound knowledge of the needs of religion, the following statistics demonstrate both how groundless were the fears then entertained, and how accurately the situation had been gauged by the ecclesiastical authorities. In 1839 the Catholic population of Yorkshire was 13,000; in 1909 it was 167,027."