Fr Crosbie was born in 1795 in County Clare , spoke the Irish language, and so is the only Irish-born "Priest-in-Charge" of St Peter's. He trained at Maynooth College and was ordained in 1820. Coming to England, he resided first at the rural estate of Lord Clifford at Wappenbury before being appointed to the extra duties of establishing a mission in Leamington. In local registers, he is always referred to as "B. Crosbie" - a reminder that in those penal times, priests did not reveal their identity. Although he continued to administer to the estate at Wappenbury for some years, Leamington soon became his major concern. As in so many infant parishes, Mass began in a public house - the Apollo Inn, Clemens Street - and later transferred to the magnificent Copp's Hotel then at the corner of Clemens Street and High Street.

Fr Crosbie was an assiduous money-raiser and lost no opportunity to appeal for funds both locally and nationally. (On the one hand "to remove the calumny and misrepresentation of our separated brethren", and then to thank "everyone, including non-Catholics, for their great and generous offerings").

He raised sufficient money to purchase a site in George Street and there eventually built a chapel in a style very much in keeping with the growing development of the town, so as not to attract too much attention. The chapel was dedicated by Bishop Walsh in 1828 in the presence of many leading figures in the town - Catholic and non-Catholic alike. It says a lot about relationships in Leamington that in this year before the Catholic Emancipation Bill was passed, Catholics were so accepted, and had such influence in the life of the town.

Fr Crosbie continued his labours in the Leamington Mission for a short time afterwards, but then began an apostolate that took him to a number of places in the Midlands District. First of all , he became once more a private chaplain, this time to Sir Edward Blount in Shropshire. Then, feeling attracted to the growing influence of the Italian missionaries in Leicestershire, he joined the Rosminian Order, known as the Institute of Charity. He was appointed in charge of a poor mission in Loughborough from where he sent pleading letters to Bishop Ullathorne asking for financial assistance, and recalling his ministry in Leamington "where I was 12 years, where I had much labour and little reward". He soon found life in a religious order very strict "and its discipline too much for me". He described himself as "one of the old school, but can explain the gospel of the day in half an hour every Sunday", and pleaded for a small parish in the area where he had first begun.

His desperate appeals eventually moved the Bishop to appoint him to Baddesley Clinton in 1854. He died in 1875 and was buried in the churchyard of Baddesley Clinton

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