Tilbury, 1918 - 2007
Scope and Contents
The subfonds consists of the records accumulated and collected by the sisters of Tilbury It includes correspondence, financial, and administrative records with notes of events covering the sisters lives; The collection is a mixture of originals, some photocopies of letters and documents and newspaper cuttings.
Dates
- Creation: 1918 - 2007
Conditions Governing Access
File IOLM/TIL/5 is closed to public access until 2025
Biographical / Historical
The Parish Priest of Tilbury, Canon van Meenan, asked the Superior of the Convent in Macklin Street, London, for Sisters to teach in the schools and undertake visitation of Catholic families – negotiations with Mother M. Catherine Halpin were completed in 1904 and part of the property known as Trevor Villas was rented to accommodate the Community.
In January 1905, Sisters M. Teresa O’Connor, M. Camillus Ryan and M. Ethelburga Dwyer arrived in Tilbury and soon took on responsibility for the schools, replacing La Sainte Union Sisters who had moved out of the area. As numbers of Sisters increased, the Canon offered a site for a Convent on Church ground in Malta Road, into which the Community moved in 1909.
From the school log book at this time, we learn that many dockers moved from Tilbury to London; this coupled with the severe weather and malnutrition all contributed to falling school rolls. Despite this, in the following years, sterling work was done by the Sisters in the schools and Parish.
By 1964, recognising the need for revitalisation, the Sisters courageously made choices which took some of them to Communities in London and the Convent itself became a Branch House of Wanstead. But the small Community in Tilbury are still engaged in works of Mercy in the area.
Full Extent
3 box
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Original order has been maintained.
Custodial History
Both M Bernadette Roche RSM and M Brendan Finnane RSM entered in Tilbury, normally the sisters personal papers belong to the mother house of the house in which they entered, but as Tilbury became a branch of Wanstead in 1964 their papers belong with their mother house which was then Wanstead. (see IOLM/WAN/4/4)
Repository Details
Part of the Bermondsey Convent of Mercy Repository