Group    From 26/3/1845  To 1856

Sisterhood of the Holy Cross

Categories: Religion

Group

Also known as the Park Village Community, this was the first Anglican convent since the Reformation. It was founded in Park Village West. The sisterhood was financed by a committee of wealthy and powerful men, including William Gladstone, and was under the direction of Dr Pusey.  Edward Pusey (1800-82) was a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, along with Cardinal Newman and Cardinal Manning. One of the founding members living at Park Village was Jane Ellacombe, the daughter of a cleric; another was Mary Bruce.

Meanwhile, in 1849 Lydia Sellon (1821–76) created the Devonport Sisters of Mercy, or the Devonport Sisterhood. The two sisterhoods has close ties and in 1856 they merged, under Sellon's leadership.

The collapse of the Park Village group was brought about by a disagreement about what their role should be: to minister to the poor, or to lead a sequestered life of devotion.  Without strong leadership the group broke up, most of the sisters joining the Devonport group which took a new name: The Congregation of Religious of the Society of the Most Holy Trinity, or more briefly, the Society of the Holy Trinity.

In 1854 when Florence Nightingale travelled to the Crimea she had taken 38 nurses, 14 of which were nuns from what would become the Society of the Holy Trinity, so some were probably from the Park Village Community.

In later years the membership of the Society reduced in number such that it was wound up on the death of the last Reverend Mother in 2004.

Information from Victorian Web, Wikiwand, Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Ham & High, Ascot Priory.

The sisterhood was responsible for the creation of a hospital. Lost Hospitals of London describes how St Saviour's Hospital was started: "One of the nuns {of the Sisterhood of the Holy Cross}, Sister Clara, who had joined the order in 1847, donated the money with which to build a convent on a site in Osnaburgh Street, off Euston Road, facing the Holy Trinity Church. Building work began in 1850 and was completed in two years. Built in the Victorian Gothic style, it had three storeys and a basement. It was named St Saviour's .... The Sisterhood moved to the new premises in 1852 and Dame Palmer, the wife of Sir Henry Palmer, a friend of Dr Pusey, established a small hospital with 12 beds within the convent. In 1856 the Sisterhood amalgamated with the Society of the Most Holy Trinity (the second Anglican Sisterhood to be established, in 1849 in Devonport - it was more commonly known as the Society of the Holy Trinity). ... The Osnaburgh Street premises were demolished in 1963 to make way for the widening of Euston Road."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sisterhood of the Holy Cross

Commemorated ati

Sisterhood of the Holy Cross

In this house on March 26th 1845 was founded the first Religious Sisterhood i...

Read More

Other Subjects

St Michaels Bassishaw

St Michaels Bassishaw

Church first recorded in a document of 1196. Destroyed in the Great Fire, rebuilt by Wren (or his colleagues, at least) and, found to be unsafe, demolished in 1900.

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Lady Anne Agnes Erskine

Lady Anne Agnes Erskine

Born Edinbugh, eldest daughter of the Earl of Buchan. There is a story about her coming across an outdoor gathering at Moorfields at which Rowland Hill (see Surrey Chapel) was preaching and him pic...

Person, Religion, Scotland

1 memorial
City Temple Church

City Temple Church

The current church was built in 1874, destroyed by enemy action on 16 April 1941, and rebuilt by 1955.

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Rev. George Henley Manbey

Rev. George Henley Manbey

Vicar-designate of St Albans Chiswick in 1887. From The Life and Death of Andy Ducat by Jonathan Northall (pdf):   "... Crompton House School which would later become Southend Grammar School. Crom...

Person, Religion

1 memorial
Saint Marks Surbiton

Saint Marks Surbiton

The oldest church in Surbiton, dating back to 1845.On St Marks Hill at the junction with Church Hill Road. During the course of the 19th century, it was extended, and the spire added towards the e...

Building, Religion

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Tyburn Manor House

Tyburn Manor House

Used by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I as a hunting lodge.

Building, Royalty

1 memorial
Paddington Recreation Ground

Paddington Recreation Ground

Noted as the earliest public athletic ground in London. It includes ten tennis courts, an athletics track, two artificial grass pitches, and two bowling greens.

Place, Community / Clubs, Sport / Games

1 memorial
Newham Council

Newham Council

West Ham was merged with parts of Barking and Woolwich to form the London Borough of Newham in 1965.

Group, Politics & Administration

11 memorials
Sanctuary Housing Association

Sanctuary Housing Association

The Sanctuary Housing Association manages homes across England and Scotland, providing general rented, sheltered and home ownership accommodation.

Group, Property, Social Welfare

1 memorial