institute in ladywood mystery

[Astoness]

hi folks ive had this email off my friend jenny who is the archivist at st marys convent in hunters road...as you can see she needs our help ..any thoughts would be most welcome...thank you...below is jennys email and also a link she sent me re the institute..

lyn

Dear Lyn,



I hope you’re well and had a good summer?



I wondered if you or any of your contacts had come across the below institution in Ladywood and know anything about it?

A researcher has contacted me to say he thinks his 4th great grandmother was an inmate here. The Sisters are described as ‘Sisters of Mercy’ but are not ours – a lot of them seem to be French.

I can’t find anything obvious in the Catholic Directory from that era to suggest what this building was and who those ‘Sisters’ were.

Any thoughts you might have would be much appreciated.

Record Details | FreeCEN

Find 19th & 20th Century UK census transcriptions, for free, forever.

www.freecen.org.uk

 

[pjmburns]

Listed on 1871 censu at 12 & 13 Crescent - at least that is what it looks like


Names fill 3 and a half pages.
Matron
10 nurses and I think the rest are inmates.

 

[pjmburns]

1868 Kelly's

 

[Pedrocut]

If you look at the census for this section…it is sometimes referred to as The Crescent.

District No. 1. Comprising the Unicorn Chapel to Broad Street Bridge, along the left hand side of Broad Street to Easy Row, Cambridge Street, the left hand side of Great Charles Street, Summer Row to the left hand side of Summer Row to [Friday] Bridge, along the canal side to Lichfield Bridge, Newhall Street to Kingston Road, Kingston Wharf, Saint Pauls Row, the Brewery, St. Pauls Place, St. Martins Place, Cambridge Street, King Edwards Place, King Edwards Place, the whole of the Crescent, Crescent Wharf, Ryland Place and Ryland Passage.

 

[pjmburns]

Yes - nearest map I can find dates1886 and doesn't show the convent but does show a nurses training institution

 

[pjmburns]

In 1878 Post Office Directory the nuns have gone and number 12 is the Nurses Institution

 

[Pedrocut]

12–13 The Crescent looks to have been used as a small convent/house probably tied to St Mary’s Convent, Handsworth (the order’s Birmingham base) ?

[I think St Mary’s was for Sisters of Mercy not the Poor]

 

[pjmburns]

In 1873 directory

 

[Vivienne14]

Some history of the Little Sisters.



Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[pjmburns]

1876 directory the nuns had gone.

 

[Pedrocut]

They look to have moved to St Joseph’s Home, Queen’s Park Road, Harborne (beside Queen’s Park).
Parish history notes the Little Sisters “moved to St Joseph’s Home, Queen’s Park Road, Harborne, in 1874,”
The home is still there today at 71 Queen’s Park Road, B32 2L

 

[Vivienne14]

And some more background. Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[Astoness]

many thanks everyone...great info i shall be passing it all onto jenny later today..just as an aside and not to go off topic too much somewhere in the back of my mind i think that when the sisters left the institute building it may have been taken over by lawson tait the eminent womens surgeon..pretty sure he was at the crescent..we should have a thread for him

lyn

 

[Pedrocut]

Post in thread 'Lawson Tait..pioneering Surgeon..1845-1899'

Jun 6, 2020

well folks after bemoaning that there was no blue plaque for lawson tait i only found out yesterday that there is one dedicated to this eminent surgeon...of course as said in my post 1 in 1871 he was living and working at 317 burbury st which meets with the lozells road this is where he started out before moving to the crescent..the house in burbury st is still there but obviously it was deemed that where his hospital and houses once stood at the crescent city centre would be the best place to put the plaque...which is in civic close on the side of the tower block called norton house and...

• Astoness

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[Astoness]

jenny from st marys convent said many thanks for wonderful info posted by our members..

lyn