Wanting to find information on SIDMOUTH CONVENT please

[LaytonLily]

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.

[Twdyr]

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

[LaytonLily]

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.

[Twdyr]

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!

[LaytonLily]

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 ! 

[Twdyr]

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

[LaytonLily]

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 !

[Twdyr]

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

[LaytonLily]

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)