Francis De Witt BattyPrint Page

The marble tablet, located on the tomb of William Tyrell, commemorates Francis De Witt Batty, a former Bishop of Newcastle who died in 1961. The ashes of Francis De Witt Batty have been placed in the enclosure by the church. 

Francis de Witt Batty (10 January 1879 – 3 April 1961) was the 7th Anglican Bishop of Newcastle from 1931 until his retirement in 1958. 

De Witt Batty was educated at St Paul`s School, London and Balliol College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1903 and his first position was as a curate at Hornsey where he was asked a year later by the outgoing rector, St Clair Donaldson, to accompany him as his chaplain when Donaldson was appointed Archbishop of Brisbane. In 1915 he was appointed a residential canon at St John`s Cathedral, Brisbane and in 1925 the cathedral's dean. He was consecrated a bishop on 25 January 1930 by Gerard Sharp, Archbishop of Brisbane, to serve as coadjutor of Brisbane.He once called his see "the most enviable diocese in Australia".

De Witt Batty retired to Double Bay, Sydney, and died on 3 April 1961. He was cremated and his ashes interred with William Tyrrell at St John's Anglican Cemetery, Morpeth. In his obituary in The Times he was described as being "one of the most outstanding Englishmen ever to dedicate his life to public service in Australia".

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