Austin Denis Firth was born at Allerton, Yorkshire, in the year 1853. His mother, connected with the family of Radcliffe, that once held the title of Earl of Derwentwater, died when he was quite young and he was sent to school in Holland, where he acquired a knowledge of the Dutch language which he never lost. Coming to Ampleforth in 1865 he entered wholeheartedly into the work and life of the college, acquiring during these years of his school life literary tastes along with a knowledge of music and art which was through life a source of great joy to him. Moreover, there was implanted in him a love of his Alma Mater which almost amounted to a passion.
He passed from the school to the novitiate at Belmont and was professed in the following year (1873). The rather mild climate of Hereford did not suit him and he was glad to get back to Ampleforth and its bracing moorland air four years later. There he continued his preparation for the priesthood and was ordained priest by Bishop Ilsley in the year 1880.
Almost immediately he was sent to assist Fr Walker at St Mary's, Brownedge, and thence he went as assistant priest to the busy parish of St Augustine's, Liverpool. The district at this time was reeking with typhoid fever, in the midst of which he devotedly did his duty as a priest to the sick and the poor. Later, in 1883, he was promoted to be the rector of the parish. During the whole of his career at St Augustine's he gave much of his time and attention to the young men of the parish, and there are many to-day who remember his inspiring work and the help he gave them in the days of their youth. At this period of his life he made many firm and fast friends among the laity, whom he never forgot and who never forgot him. In his declining years he would often speak of them and spared no trouble in seeking them out when opportunities offered. The arduous work of these years had its effect upon his health. For a short period he worked in Workington and Maryport and then he was transferred to St Alban's, Warrington, in 1893. Here he began his work with the feeling that he did not possess the necessary strength and health. This was soon apparent to his superiors, and they sent him back to the more bracing atmosphere of West Cumberland where he became parish priest of Harrington. At Harrington, with the exception of seven or eight months during which he served as Chaplain to Her Majesty's Forces in South Africa during the Boer War, he laboured until his health completely broke down in July 1927. He then retired to his monastery and after a prolonged rest returned to St Mary's, Brownedge, where he first began his missionary life. He understood and appreciated the Lancashire people and often playfully told the story against himself which so aptly illustrates their brusque methods of speech. As a young priest he used to prepare his sermons with great care, and he thought that he was thus making much more impression on the people than his venerable rector, who used to address them in a very simple, homely, way. He was disabused of this on an occasion when one of the parishioners began to praise the preaching of his rector and turning to him said, 'As for you you talk too much grammar.' He died at St Mary's on August 21st, 1930, after some years of patient suffering.
The greatest part of his priestly life was spent on the Cumberland coast where few priests have been so well known and so much respected and loved. For many years he was a member of the Whitehaven Board of Guardians, and the Harrington Urban District Council, being Chairman of the latter body for a considerable time and a justice of the Peace. During the war he was Chairman of the Workington and District Food Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Military Service Tribunal. These offices brought him in touch with men of all religions and no religion, but upon them all he made a deep impression. One has often heard him say of his work in Cumberland 'I have at least done something to overcome bigotry and break down prejudice.' Fond of sport of every kind, ready at all times to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, he was always God's priest and no one in his company could forget it. Many of his friends might and did dislike his religion and his priesthood but he never disguised it; to them he was always the Catholic priest and in spite of their prejudice they could not but admire the manliness of his character and his thorough honesty and sincerity. Just as he won the admiration and respect of non-Catholics, so did he win the affection of his flock, to them he was priest, father and friend. How touching it was on the day of his funeral to meet two of his old parishioners at the gates of Brownedge cemetery, jaded and weary after a night's journey from Harrington, who had come to pay their last respects to their loved priest and friend, or, as they expressed it to me, 'to see the last of him.'
Fr Denis was endowed by God with many gifts. He was a cultured musician; he had a keen appreciation of art and literature; he won many championships at chess; he possessed a deep and rich bass voice which might have gained for him a world-wide fame had he not been a monk and a priest. None who knew him will ever forget his exquisite rendering of 'The Kerry Dances,' and 'The Kabul River.' A few of us heard him sing these songs for the last time in the humble hermitage of Lee House a few months before he died. We felt that it would be the last time he would sing them, and I think he thought so himself; for the effort he then made was almost too much for him; as he realized his failing strength the tears came to his eyes. No one loved a game of golf more than he, and to the end of his life he was keenly interested in the various forms of manly sport. He was a man of great prudence who took the trouble to think before he spoke; a loyal friend to all who had the privilege of his friendship; and a fearless champion of right against wrong.
For Ampleforth he had a very deep affection; her success, whether in the schools or on the playing fields, gave him joy, her failure made him sad. Proud of her development and progress he loved to return to his Alma Mater and he always had a kind and helpful word of encouragement for those who in recent years have there borne the heat and burden of the day.
His character was strong and inclined to be unyielding and this was expressed forcibly in his features. But these only served to hide a really gentle spirit within - a spirit which had been chastened in his early religious life by his fidelity to monastic obedience.
I saw him a few days before the end came, when he told me very gently that he had received the Last Sacraments. His last words to me were: 'I am going: may God's will be done.' Requiescat.
AUSTIN DENIS FIRTH 21 August 1930
1853 1 Jan Born Allerton Yorks
1865- Educ Ampleforth
1872 29 Sep Habit at Belmont
1873 7 Oct Simple Vows
1875 29 Aug Minor Orders
1876 8 Dec Solemn Vows
1877 18 Nov Subdeacon
1879 8 Mar Deacon
1880 18 Sep Priest Bishop Ilsley
Brownedge
1883 St Augustine's Liverpool
1891 Workington
Dec Maryport
1893 St Alban's Warrington
1896 Harrington (with interval of absence as Military Chaplain in S Africa during Boer War)
1927 Retired to Ampleforth
1928 Oct Assistant at Brownedge
1930 21 Aug Died at Brownedge
Buried at Brownedge