Crimean War (1853-1856)

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A digital print of the portrait of M. Gonzaga Barrie RSM wearing the cross of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. Duplicated photographs of M. Anastasia Kelly RSM and M. Stanislaus Jones RSM wearing the Royal Red Cross as presented to them by Queen Victoria in 1896. The original photograph of M. Stanislaus Jones RSM was taken by Elliott & Fry, 55 Baker Street, London. Courtesy of the Archives of the Union of the Sisters of Mercy UK.

Scope and Contents The file consists of a fragment of handwriting, possibly an excerpt from the annals, which details Miss Nightingale's efforts in the Crimea to save men from bad alcohol and sought to establish recreation rooms where soldiers and convalescents could spend time when off duty or allowed out. She also encouraged them to send money home. M Clare Moore RSM approached Bishop Grant who arranged the business and instructed them on procedure. As a result the War Office, under the auspices of Baron...

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Topics cover all the major and minor events in the life of the community, including one 1854 letter from the Crimea with a transcript, extending the laundry, the Hospital of St Elizabeth with five points for an agreement with the Sisters in their running it (1856-1857 and 1865), various foundations and schools. They are arranged chronologically. The letters often also contain Bishop Grant's response, on the reverse or in between the lines.

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Letters written to Sisters at Bermondsey and branch houses or foundations. One was written from Scutari to M. Aloysius in Bermondsey, dated 26 August 1855 (with a typed transcription). Another was written from Lauriston Gardens, Edinburgh. One of the letters may have been sent to the Sisters at Brighton (addressed to "Grandchild"), so may rather belong with the Brighton collection.

Scope and Contents note The file is comprised of photographs of the sisters' graves in St. Oswald's, Old Swan, and in particular the memorial to M Elizabeth Butler RSM and M Winifred Spry RSM, who died in the Crimea, and M Magdalen Alcock who also nursed in the Crimea; a pen diagram of graves on the Isle of Man accompanied by photographs of the Sisters graves; a photograph of the grave of M Ignatius McQuoin who went out from Liverpool to Sydney, Australia, and a second of a tribute to her in a chapel; and a license...

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Mainly photocopies of newspaper articles with some articles by Sisters, including a short biography of M. Gonzaga Barrie RSM written circa 2000 (computer printout).

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Includes articles on the presentation of the Royal Red Cross to Sisters of Mercy, and on the deaths of Sisters. The link between the Hospital and the Crimean War (the Hospital was opened by Sisters of Mercy who had nursed in the Crimea) is made in some of the articles.

Scope and Contents note The dissertation was "Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy", Indiana, USA, June 1962.Correspondence later gifted to the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy Archives by the Southwark Diocesan Archives explains why a copy of the dissertation arrived in the collection. Writing from Chislehurst 1953 to 1955, M. Scholastica Harkins RSM asked for copies of letters held in Southwark...

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Sections: "Gleanings - Catholic Church in England in the early Nineteenth Century" about why the convent was founded and subsequent major events; "Reverend Mother Camillus" with a Jamaican scene (not politically correct by the standards of 2010); "Death of Reverend Mother McAuley"; "Crimea War 1954". The play seems to have been acted at St Anne's, Orpington.

Scope and Contents note Two copies of a long narrative poem dedicated to "Mother M. Francis, Sisters M. Joseph and Clare" for their work in the Crimean hospitals 1854-1856. The full title of the poem is "Lines on The Eastern Mission of The Sisters of Mercy from October 1854 to April 1856". M. Francis Bridgeman RSM was Reverend Mother of Kinsale Convent of Mercy, Ireland, in 1856 and Derby was founded from Kinsale in 1849, which is why the three Kinsale Sisters visited Derby on their way back to Ireland from the...