We are not sure as to when Bridget left home, and any thoughts of following her sisters into religious life appear to have gone when we discover her working as a domestic servant in Dublin. As recorded in the 1901 census she was employed in the home of Thomas Hugh Levingston, his wife Elizabeth and three sons, Hugh, Frank and Alan at “Sunnyside” No. 27 Oakley Road Rathmines, the house is still standing to this day. This was a Church of Ireland family and the father was an Insurance Manager and Estate Agent. His mother and his two sisters occupied the other half of the substantial house and they were also engaged in the property business. His wife Elizabeth’s maiden name was Pile and she was the daughter of George Hawkins Pile, a Merchant and Master Mariner. Ironically he owned ships that plied between Liverpool and Port Phillip in Australia, among them the “Aristides” a three mast clipper, taking 74 days to make the trip. Elizabeth was brother of Thomas Pile who was Lord Mayor of Dublin during the period of Queen Victoria’s extended visit to Dublin in 1901.

Like many other Catholic girls working as domestic servants in the Rathmines and Rathgar areas at this time, Bridget would have worshipped at the Church of The Three Patrons in Rathgar. This Church was built especially to accommodate them for Mass, at the behest of a generous benefactor who donated £2,000 to start it off. It was known locally as the maid’s church and was dedicated as a Chapel of Ease to the Parish Church of Rathmines on the 18th of May 1862. Having experienced the stark reality of working in this kind of an insecure environment, Bridget may have had second thoughts about the chosen life of her sisters in religion, knowing as well that there would be no going back to Ballinahown. There was a dictum in those days; “That the only socially acceptable alternative to marriage was to become a nun”. It is very likely that she came in contact with the two Sisters of Mercy, at the Church in Rathgar, who had returned to Ireland seeking postulants to fill the needs of rapidly expanding Hospitals, Schools and Orphanages under the Sisters care in Australia. They were Mother Bridget Conlon and Mother Audeon Fitzgerald and their successful mission resulted in them returning to Australia in November 1902, with thirty able-bodied and willing women to work in the Brisbane Mission. Among them was Bridget Quinn, now aged 26 and well equipped to undertake the simple humble, household duties referred to in the glowing obituary written for her, when she died in Australia on the 18th of April 1960, at the great age of 84 years.