St. Peter's House Kennington

[hbaid]

I've recently obtained my great-great grandfather's death certificate which lists him as living at St. Peter's House Kennington when he died in 1888.  In the 1881 census he was a convict living at H.M. Convict Prison in Chatham Kent.  The informant of the death certificate is described as:  Sister Josphine de Ste Marie, Inmate, St. Peter's House Kennington.
I can't seem to find a St. Peter's House but there is a St. Peter's Hospital in Vauxhall (Vauxhall is quite near Kennington on today's map).  Any ideas on what this St. Peter's House would be?  Would you be listed as an inmate if staying in a hospital in a census return?  Would a "sister" also be an inmate if living at the same place because that is what the description of residence of informant is?
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[casalguidi]

Hi

It would appear that (certainly in 1901) St Peter's House was a home for the aged poor in Meadow Road, Kennington - see:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery.knaggs/Instuts.html

Best wishes

Casalguidi

[hbaid]

Thanks very much for this information......its very helpful to my search of what happened to this ancestor of mine.  Its now starting to make sense as to what happened to him.

[casalguidi]

I know your ancestor was deceased by then but I have looked at the 1901 census and the property runs to 12 pages so it must have been quite large ................ the sisters are all called "Little Sister of the Poor" (Nun) and there were almost 11 pages of elderly male and female inmates - some married - some widowed.  Many of them were Irish and some from the continent (not many English) so I wonder if it was a Catholic establishment?

Hope this helps

Casalguidi

[hbaid]

That would make sense because this Patrick Rafferty was indeed an Irish Catholic.  I suppose having left prison, he never went back to his family and ended up in this church run poor house.  I hadn't thought to search church records so perhaps I'll look into if the Cathoic church has any remaining records of people staying in such institutions during this time period.
Thanks again for your help.