A request was received from the Sisters of Charity
of St Paul the Apostle (Selly Park) for any information that the diocesan archives might
hold on their community of sisters who had resided at Hurst Green near Stonyhurst in the
1860s. They had opened their first house in England 1 in 1847 at Banbury when two Sisters had arrived from the
motherhouse at Chartres in France. One of the two, Sister Genevieve Dupuis, later became
the first Mother General of the independent branch of this community in England, which
received the approbation of the Holy See in 1864. This separation from the original
motherhouse was necessitated by the rapid expansion of the congregation in England.
No information was found in diocesan archive material, and a plea for help was made to Mrs
Pannikar, of Mellor, a noted local catholic historian.
In the 1861 civil census, she discovered two sets of entries, one which she believes
relates to the Selly Park community, and the other to the Dominicanesses, whose stay at
Hurst Green is relatively well documented.
In the census for the civil parish of Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley, the Hurst Green School
is listed as 39 and 40 on the schedule and records four persons as being in residence:
| Mary Cassimir |
Head |
26 |
School Mistress |
Lancs Leigh |
| Mary A. Nolan |
Boarder |
29 |
School Mistress |
Ireland |
| Mary Gannan |
Boarder |
25 |
School Mistress |
Ireland |
| Mary Heath |
Lodger |
17 |
Pupil Teacher |
Lancs Clitheroe |
Such a group of four unmarried ladies unconnected by any obvious family
links is unusual, especially given the size of the rural community whose catholic members
alone would be supporting the school, which is today known as St Joseph's School and was
distinct from the Anglican school. Confirmation is now awaited from Birmingham as to
whether any of these names coincides with their own records.
The location of the school is verified for Timothy House is listed as 41 on the schedule,
i.e. the next adjacent building.
However St Dominice Priory is listed as 35 with Sherburne House as 36 on the same
schedule. At the priory are listed the following nuns: 2
| Ann Speakman |
Superioress |
64 |
Prioress 3 |
Lancs Wrightington |
| Jane Malthouse |
Nun |
61 |
Nun4 |
Yorkshire5 |
| Frances Russel |
Nun |
78 |
Nun |
Yorkshire York |
|
| Jane Cooper |
Nun |
69 |
Nun |
Yorkshire Leeds |
| Catherine Moore |
Nun |
47 |
Nun |
Yorkshire Pontefract |
| Mirian White |
Nun |
41 |
Nun |
Wiltshire Tisbury |
| Alice Dobson |
Nun |
40 |
Nun |
Lancs Preston |
| Isabella Parker |
Nun |
39 |
Nun |
Lancs Bailey6 |
| Catherine Egan |
Nun |
38 |
Nun |
Ireland |
| Elizabeth Barkerdo |
Nun |
29 |
Nun |
Staffordshire Longton |
| Amelia Millerd |
Nun |
38 |
Nun |
Gloucestershire7 |
| Margaret Dutton |
Nun |
38 |
Nun |
Staffordshire Aston |
| Mary A. Butt |
Nun |
22 |
Nun |
Dorsetshire (?)8 |
| Cecilia Horne |
Nun |
39 |
Nun |
London |
| Mary Laws(?) |
Nun |
22 |
Nun |
Norfolk Cossey |
Sherburne House is shown as having two residents:
| Guilliam Sablon |
Head |
|
RC Priest |
Belgium |
| Sophia Cosen |
Servant |
20 |
Servant |
Warwickshire9 |
The age range of this community of nuns is of interest. Four are over
sixty, while two are 22, and over half are under 40. The list is neither alphabetical nor
in age order. One wonders if it is simply a random list, or whether it reflects some sort
of ranking within the religious life. The places of origin of the nuns is also striking.
One alone came from Ireland, whereas Yorkshire provided four, and Lancashire three.
The Second Order of St Dominic10 was founded originally by St Dominic in 1206 at Prouille, near Toulouse. A
convent was founded in Dartford, Kent in 1356 but was suppressed in 1539. Some nuns
escaped to Flanders where the last one died in about 1573. Another convent had been
founded in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1516 but was suppressed in 1559.
An English Dominican convent was refounded by Cardinal Howard at Vilvorde, South Brabant
in 1661, and moved to Brussels in 1669 where it remained until the French Revolution. The
nuns then fled to England, first to London, and then to Hartpury Court11 near Gloucester from 1794 until 1839.
As the premises became decrepit beyond economical repair, the community moved to
Atherstone12 in
Warwickshire from 1839 to 1858. The cost of the new convent however proved to be beyond
their means and they ceded it to the Benedictines of Colwich who founded a daughter house
there. The Dominicaneeses then stayed at Hurst Green between 1858 and 1866, when they
moved to their present location at Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight, though the generosity
of the Dowager Countess of Clare who offered to build them their present convent.
Sources:
1861 Civil Census for Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley
Anson Peter F. The Religious Orders and Congregations of Great Britain and Ireland.
Stanbrook Abbey 1949.
Whelan Basil OSB Historic English Convents of Today. Burns Oates Washbourne London 1936
Hohn H. Vocations Washbourne London 1912
Catholic Records Society Volume 25 (1925) pp, 176 seq.
Annotations
1 Anson op. cit p.218; Hohn op. cit. p.255.
2 The entries are not given in full because of the demands of space.
3 The full title given is "Prioress of the Community of St Dominice Priory" with
more text written illegibly across the line of the form
4 In full "Dominice Nun"
5 Hampstead Hollings
6 In full "Aighton, Bailey & Chaigley" therefore very much a local lass.
7 Stanston (?)
8 Canford Bottom
9 The location is illegible: "Chilaces Coton" (?)
10 Anson op. cit p.251 seq; Whelan op. cit p.110 seq, 192 seq, 239 seq, Hohn op cit. p.96
seq; C.R.S. Vol 25 (1925) pp.176 seq.
11 In their school there they educated a Mary Beaumont, who later went to the Ursuline
School in Boulogne, became an Ursuline Nun, and founded the first Ursuline Convent in the
United States.
12 Mother Margaret Hallahan of the Third Order of St Dominic sent two of her community to
this convent for a while that they might be duly initiated into the Dominican spirit.
Ó
David Lannon May 9, 1996
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