Joseph Curr (1793 – 29 June 1847) was an English Roman Catholic priest and author who was called a "martyr of charity" for his work in Leeds in the typhus epidemic of 1847.
[1][2] The son of civil engineer John Curr and Hannah Curr (née Wilson),[3][4] he was born in Sheffield on 14 April 1793, baptized by his godfather, Richard Rimmer, at the Catholic Chapel in Norfolk Row on 6 May.
[4] Curr was educated at Crook Hall, County Durham, and in 1808 went to the seminary at Ushaw College.
After being ordained he served in a number of different locations:[3] In 1847, St. Ann's in Leeds was suffering from a shortage of Catholic priests, due to an epidemic; Curr volunteered to serve there, where he died from typhus on 29 June 1847.
[3] [7] Among his notable opponents were Melville Horne [fr] and William Roby, whom Curr debated on topics including his opposition to lay Christians reading and interpreting the Bible themselves.