RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Devon => Topic started by: LaytonLily on Tuesday 09 February 21 12:35 GMT (UK)
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I would like to know more about Sidmouth Catholic Convent, as a child from the family I am researching was placed there, child born 1893 though not sure when she was sent / left there. Did they take in orphan children, abandoned babies, was it a school as well, any photos of the convent etc. I don't think she was an orphan though the 'family tale' was that she was left on the Priest's doorstep and taken in to the convent. I would like to find out what really happened ! She is there on 1901 census.
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Hello,
Just a suggestion, I guess you have looked for an 1893 birth/baptism and on the 1911 Census?
It might be worth sending an email to Sidmouth Catholic Church, Sidmouth museum and Devon archives in Exeter.
I love a good mystery!
Philip
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Thank you for your reply. If you love a good mystery (so do I, cannot let it go, but frustrating) look at my post and lots of helpful people responding for Norah Edith Ettie Primrose Sinclair on the London branch of Roots over the last few days!
Putting a query on the Devon section it is more about the convent and will do as you suggest and send my questions to the organisations mentioned.
I have found her in 1911 census and she is at the convent in Boreham, Essex - Convent, Nursery & School, New Hall, Boreham working as a School Housemaid. I am presuming she was sent there once old enough to work - they had 52 nuns to look after ! Looking for information on that convent is very interesting, as it was a Royal palace going back Henry VIII time.
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The convent looks to have been opened in 1884 and the building used for a preparatory school in the 1970's. In 1901 with over 40 people, it looks quite sizeable.
Sidmouth museum would be a first call, then Devon Heritage (archives) in Exeter - they may be able to direct you to Catholic Diocesan records for Devon.
New Hall Boreham was one of Henry's 'lost palaces' home to Mary Tudor and later acquired by Cromwell, before establishing as a school.
Happy hunting!
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Thank you Twdyr. I will contact the places you suggest. The convent at New Hall, Boreham I have found some very interesting information on and a photograph of the building, now a prestigious school - what a lovely place to go to school !
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I hope you get a positive response. If you Google 'St Johns School Sidmouth' there are some views of the former convent school - it looks quite impressive.
As an aside Cromwell acquired the New Hall Boreham estate for 5 shillings !
https://www.newhallschool.co.uk/about/history/
Philip
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Thanks again Twdyr. I have also found an old photo of Convent of Assumption, Sidmouth from 1906, the time that Norah was there. This is where I learnt so much about New Hall, Boreham https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000207.
I did write to the school to see if they had any records from 1890's onward or did they know where they might have been deposited, and had a very friendly e-mail back saying he had asked their archivist but nothing. He suggested a couple of people I could contact and gave me their e-mail address, so I will do that.
This family of Norah Edith Ettie Mary Primrose Sinclair / Knight is proving so complicated to unravel and make sense of, the most confusing I have been involved with. The very helpful and very knowledgeable people on Roots found her (possible / most likely) birth registration and I cannot wait to receive notification that her birth certificate is ready ! I have a handwritten note which is in Latin and have managed to translate most of it using online option but another name has now been introduced in relation to Norah - Florence Augusta Sinclair !
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Norah EEMP Sinclair looks to have married Arthur G Glenister in 1929 Hackney.
In 1939 Enfield there is a Norah Glenister (21/10/1893) widowed, with possibly 2 children (record closed)
Florence Augusta is very elusive. Closest I can find is 1939 Sevenoaks Kent:
Florence Evelyn Mary Augusta Squirrel, single, b.1898
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Yes I have been able to trace the Glenister family back to 1715 - the male line they are all wood sawyers, and many of the women, straw plaiters. Living in Hertfordshire I understand that was one of the main areas for straw plaiters.
I did find a Florence Augustus Sinclair - not such a common name I would have thought - on ancestry in USA, but that was her married name, Cleaver being her maiden name, and that only in relation to her husband's draft card !
It is a puzzle how the family seemed to switch between Knight and Sinclair, at will, or combined them both . Perhaps once I get Norah's birth certificate it will help - or maybe it is not hers and I will get nowhere !
(I am getting an Error message when I try to post - don't know if this has posted)
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I have a handwritten note which is in Latin and have managed to translate most of it using online option but another name has now been introduced in relation to Norah - Florence Augusta Sinclair !
When you say another name has been introduced, what is the context? Is it an alternative name, or a sibling?
If I recall, when I looked the 1901 census up, one child in the convent is listed as ‘orphan’ but the other children have no relationship indicated.
The convent in our town was established to care for the poor but then became a fee paying school plus the nuns worked in the community.
I wonder if that happened in Sidmouth.
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Hopefully the birth certificate is the correct one and will provide some relevant information. Both girls are really hard to find anywhere! I guess you have looked at her marriage certificate for potential father's name, and that of witnesses?
Roots chat is being difficult for me as well. I can only reply by clicking the link on my email notification.
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heywood Tried to attach copy of the hand written note scanned but too big. mb instead of kb. Think I might have to give up trying any more, and wait until birth cert. available and see what that tells me.
The convent at Sidmouth is now a private school, as is the one she was in at Boreham in 1911. I have written to a a couple of the people suggested to contact and have yet to e-mail two more. Both for Sidmouth convent and the Boreham convent.
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Twdyr I have copy of Norah's marriage certificate and it gives Charles Edward Knight Sinclair as her father. Not that I have found him anywhere. If it is the right birth certificate she has Knight as her surname. She was always known as Sinclair though - only the very knowledgeable people on here found her birth registration for me when I had been looking all the time for her as Sinclair !
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A pity whoever is looking for Nora Sinclair did not contact the Assumption Convent first. She is recorded as an orphan in the accounts from04.10.1900 to 19.12.1905. her sponsors were a Miss Clarke and Miss Pauline Hingeston, a major benefactress to the convent. She made a journey costing £1"2"0 on 19th Dec. 1905 but the Accounts do not say the destination. parents are not named.
For prices at the time (7 shillings to London) I think this could well be to Newhall.
Sr. Clare Veronica (Archivist for the Assumption sisters in England)