Doncaster, Clifford and Branch Houses., 1856 to 2002 inclusive
Scope and Contents
This part of the collection consists of records gathered by Sisters of Mercy of Clifford then Doncaster community and Branch houses. The Mother house in Clifford began the collection and when the community moved to Cantley in Doncaster Cantley became the Mother House. It includes correspondence, financial records, property records and plans, and legal documents. There are personal papers which pertain to individual Sisters as well as School and Convent registers; photographs of staff and pupils of the School; and spiritual aids. After 1985 the branch houses took responsibility for their own annals.
Dates
- Creation: 1856 to 2002 inclusive
Conditions Governing Access note
As a private archive, access to the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy Archive requires application to the Archivist and approval by the Institute's Leadership Team. Where items are closed for access, this is indicated at the appropriate level.
Biographical / Historical
The convent and school at Clifford began as a school run by ladies who Reverend William H Lewthwaite installed in a hostel. When Reverend Lewthwaite became a Roman Catholic in 1851 he gave the hostel to be used as a Catholic convent and Rosminian Sisters of Charity came there to teach the same year. They withdrew however in 1853 or 1854 and were followed by Sisters of Mercy from Baggot Street in 1855, these Sisters made the foundation in Hull withdrawing from Clifford in 1867. The Clifford mission stood empty for two years before the Sisters of Mercy in Bermondsey made a foundation there. A local man Mr. Ralph Grimston met the cost of building the infant school. There were numerous extensions to both Boarding school and Convent, and a new School St Edward's was opened in May 1904. In 1935 further extensions were made and accommodation for both pupils and staff. From 1949 and throughout the following decade more building was undertaken. Various branch houses were founded from Clifford, Carlton, where Sisters taught in the local School until 1920 when that Convent closed. Sisters went to Doncaster in 1887, where there was such great need was for teaching, visiting and instructing that two sisters came to help. In 1924 a collegiate school began in a modest way, expanding and improving, until in 1946 it was recognised as 'efficient'. Catholic education came to Doncaster slowly with the Sisters working hard in various schools as they opened. St. Francis Xavier's in Balby, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, In Wheatley Hills, and a school in Edlington in 1962. A convent opened in Denaby main in 1926 for the sisters to teach in the local School. St. Joseph's convalescent Home was opened in 1938 in Horsforth near Leeds, with sixteen beds, this number was soon doubled after the purchase of a second house in 1945. This house has now been closed. There was a second convent in Horsforth which was owned by Leeds Diocese and run by the Sisters to look after priests when they retired or became ill, this too has closed. In 1971 the Sisters in Clifford voted to move to Cantley in Doncaster and this became the mother house. Nearly all the records of Clifford will be found in under the heading of Doncaster Convent. The sisters collected money to build a second School in Cantley which eventually merged with St Peter's School Cantley, the two together became The McAuley School
Full Extent
8 box (6.5 boxes of documents and records, 1.5 boxes photographs)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Sub-fonds is arranged into 13 series that cover the context and content of this part of the collection. The original order has been kept where possible.
Other Finding Aids
Former reference numbers have been recorded within the Location Note at file or item level.
Custodial History
The archives of Doncaster have been generated first by Sisters in Clifford, then in Cantley, Doncaster from 1971. They cover the running of the lives and work of the Sisters and of the branch houses, as well holding the records of the mother house because the Reverend Mother, the Bursar and the Assistant controlled the finances, property, and spiritual life of all. In 1985 the branch houses took up their own annals and running of daily life. Denaby Main, St. Joseph's Horsforth, and St Gabriel's Horsforth generated and kept their own material from then on.
Accruals
Further accruals are a possibility as Cantley, Doncaster is now a Convent with care.
Repository Details
Part of the Bermondsey Convent of Mercy Repository