Secrecy & Sanctity – 250 Years of the Bar Convent Chapel

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All Hallows Archives Online

All Hallows College, Dublin was a Catholic Seminary which trained Priests for dioceses across the world.

The College was opened in 1842, and from 1892 was run by the Vincentians, like most seminaries, the decline in vocations in the second half of the 20th century led to its demise, from 2008 the College became part of Dublin University.

The College archives have now been digitised and are available online through their website, these include photographic records of former students, and copies of the College Magazine, these will be of tremendous help to genealogists tracing their ancestors who were educated here.

The archive can be viewed here

 

Trip to Hope University

CFHS AGM – Bar Convent

New Book – History of Diocese of Nottingham

In aid of the Diocese of Nottingham, Sick and Retired Priests Fund, Canon Anthony Dolan has published Good News for the East Midlands – An account of the background to and the story of, the Diocese of Nottingham.

 

The book can be ordered from the address on the poster above, or from the website.

New Book – Upholland College

 

The North West Catholic History Society are delighted to announce the long awaited publication of Peter Doyle’s history of Upholland College, entitled ‘Upholland College – One Hundred and Fifty Years of Priestly Training’.

St Joseph’s College Upholland was a seminary in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and this book takes us through its long and illustrious history from its early origins at St Edward’s College, Everton in 1850 to the final closure and sale of the site in 1999.

The book is meticulously researched and beautifully written and is a must buy for any Catholic historian.

People wishing to order a copy can do so here

 

History of Religious Women Conference 2018

On the 7th and 8th June the annual History of Religious Women conference will be taking place in Galway.

For more information or to book, please follow this link

Annual Conference

 

 

2018 Conference

2018 National Day Conference with AGM to be held at the famous 

Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre,

17 Blossom Street, York,

YO24 1AQ

 

www.bar-convent.org.uk,

in the historic city of York

on Saturday 29th September 2018 (10am – 4 pm).

Theme: education,

with

Lawrence Gregory MA, Historic archivist to the Newman Collection; social and Catholic historian.

Alison Bartholomew, Historian and archivist of St. Chad’s Church, Manchester.

Tickets    £20

from  Jean Smith,

10 Irving Close, Stockport, 

SK2 7DX

jeansmith1934@talktalk.net

United Kingdom Census Records

For genealogists, the United Kingdom Census records are probably the most valuable records presently available. At the moment the census records from 1841 to 1911 are available searchable online at various commercial websites.

The next census, which was taken on Sunday 19 June 1921, is due to be released in 2022, this is despite efforts by various bodies to have it released earlier, as had happened with the 1911 census. However the official government position remained that “its intention to release the entirety of the 1921 Census returns in 2022, in accordance with the non-statutory ‘100 year rule’ which was adopted to reflect this undertaking of confidentiality”. The census when released will provide full details of the 42,767,530 individuals living in the United Kingdom at the time.

This however will sadly be the final census that genealogists will see for more than thirty years for a variety of reasons.

The 1931 census has been destroyed – it was being stored in an Ministry of Works warehouse that on the night of the 19^th December 1942 caught fire, not as is commonly believed as a result of the blitz, but simply due to an accident. An archivist from the General Register Office who surveyed the ruins after the fire reported:

You will regret to hear that in a fire last Saturday evening which gutted the Office of Works store containing our Census records at Hayes, the whole of the 1931 schedules, enumeration books, plans of division and miscellaneous material stored in cupboards etc were completely destroyed. Mr Farrow and I went down to inspect the remains yesterday and we are both satisfied that it would be useless to attempt any sort of salvage operation; we are leaving the Office of Works to clear and dispose of the debris in any way they think desirable.

The fire was not occasioned by enemy action and how it achieved such dimensions in a store in which special hydrants had been fitted and said to have been in charge of a fire guard of 6 paid watchers, is a mystery which will need investigation. It is hardly possible to imagine a more complete state of devastation than the scene presented to us in which it was impossible to see where some of the racks had stood and where the remains were nothing more than shapeless mounds of paper rubbish dragged outside the building by the firemen who tackled the fire and where even the least damaged sheets that were recognizable were charred to the depth of two or three inches on all edges.

The next census, due to have been taken in 1941, didn’t happen due to the War, although in 1939, the government department tasked with issuing National Identity Cards did construct a register of every person in the country at the time. Parts of the 1939 register is available online at Find My Past, but only the entries related to individuals born over 100 years ago, or who had died prior to 1991, however if you can prove the death of an individual since 1991, you can request their record to be opened.

Thus the next available census will be that taken in 1951, which not be available until 2052, another 34 years, leaving a massive gap for genealogists, that we will never be able to fill.

THE FORTRESS CHURCH, URBAN CATHOLICS 1778-1840

A new publication is being proposed under the title

THE FORTRESS CHURCH,  URBAN CATHOLICS 1778-1840

Defining period

 Beginning     1791 Relief act legalisation of chapels and priests. English Catholics cut off from the continent English Clergy trained in England, decline of seigneurial influence. Chapelbuilding. Disputes between laity and clergy at local level. Local anti Catholicism. Rising wealth of urban middle class, urban poor, spread of schools, Sunday schools. English Catholic printers popular press. education,

End 1840 By then preparations were in hand for the restoration of the hierarchy, the Bishops had taken over Catholic Poor school education, arrival of active (not contemplative) religious orders from France and Ireland. New orders being established for work among urban poor and education. Church building enters a new phase

Defining areas to be studied industrialising towns.

Defining population to be studied lay middle and working class Catholics. Other work is in progress on religious, clergy and aristocracy.

 

If anybody is interested in participating or contributing to this project, please contact Marie Rowlands at marie.rowlands1@gmail.com