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According to Sister Mary Salome Wylie, the former archivist of the Augustinian nuns, the young ladies educated at St. Monica’s were “members of the aristocracy, gentry and possibly some upper class girls.”
An advertisement in The Catholic Directory 1806 states:
“The LADIES of the Order of ST. AUGUSTIN, formerly of LOUVAIN, continue their School at Spetisbury-House, near Blandford, Dorset, where the air being remarkably fine, the apartments uncommonly spacious and pleasant, they confide the young Ladies entrusted to their care will enjoy every benefit conducive to health, while they receive a pious, genteel and useful education. The annual pension is TWENTY-SIX GUINEAS, to be paid half-yearly; one quarter always in advance. No entrance is required, but each young lady to bring two pair of sheets, six towels, knife, fork and spoon. Able masters will attend, if required, on the usual terms.”
According to Sister Margaret Mary (acting archivist) the sisters taught “French, English writing and every kind of the most elegant work” while the Masters presumably taught such subjects as Latin, Greek, etc. Apparently the annual pension included “everything being mentioned in it that is necessary except washing which is 29s or 28 a half a year.”
According to a letter (Appendix 10) written by a Miss Taunton who was boarding at the convent in 1804, there were 13 pensioners at that time. Her two young nieces, Marianne aged 15 and Teresa aged 10, from Shepton Mallet had started school there on 13th November: “they say Marianne is the finest Girl in the School” and “the pensioners were all dressed in their Habit and Teresa was a striking likeness of my youngest Sister.”
In 1806 a young girl from Herefordshire called Catherine Berington, aged 16, entered the school at Spettisbury as a pupil; she professed in August 1809 and became Prioress of the Community in 1829.
One of the pupils at St. Monica’s in 1807 was Jane Berington (possibly a relative of Catherine Berington). Jane wrote the following poem as a gift to Sister Mary Aloysia on the occasion of her Profession Day.
By November 1831 Maryanna had returned home but they were worried about her health.
“The very kind solicitude you express in wishing to be informed of the state of my dear Maryanna’s health will not allow me longer to delay writing to you, to communicate the pleasing intelligence, that she has, this last week, continued daily to improve; tho’ still unable to move without assistance; her complaints having left her so extremely feeble, but as the appetite has returned, which she is now allowed to indulge without restraint, gives us every consoling hope, that she will soon be able to sit up, and we flatter ourselves, tho’ the recovery will be slow, that she will, hereafter, enjoy good health. This gratifying intelligence would have been earlyer conveyed to Miss Turvile, but my wife has been so much occupied with attending on my dear Maryanna that she has not had any time to spare; tho’ she has every day proposed doing it. The medical attendants attribute her present state of her recovery to good nursing and unremitting attentions of Mamma, & her Aunt Miss Trappes, who has never left her since she came to us, about six weeks since. No medicine is now administered: and, nothing is recommended but nourishing diet and wine, which she takes almost every hour. I am writing this letter in her room, and she begs me, most particularly, to present her affectionate regards to yourself, Miss Turvile, and family; and to express her most grateful thanks for the interest you so kindly take in her regard; she now looks forward with the pleasing hopes of being able to enjoy, so soon as she is quite recovered, the visit you have so kindly wished her to make you. We have just received a letter from our two daughters at Spetisbury; Teresa is perfectly recovered from a violent attack of the Jaundice, which she had after her return from London. Fanny is very well, and is improving very much.”
“Maryanna desires particular remembrance to her Godfather.”
In February 1832 Maryanna herself wrote to her benefactor at Cheltenham where he was no doubt taking the waters. Her sister Teresa was also at home so perhaps she never became a nun.
“I am indeed very much obliged to you for your repeated kind invitations to Bosworth or Cheltenham which latter place I shall not be able to join you as I have not yet sufficiently recovered my strength to encounter the fatigue of so long a journey. Consequently the pleasure of visiting you must be deferred until your return to Bosworth to which period I look forward with great delight. For the last week or ten days I have been able to walk out for a short time every day when the weather is sufficiently favourable and yesterday for the first time since the commencement of my illness (now near five months ago) I attended High Mass in St Patricks Chapel which is nearly a quarter of a mile distant from the street in which we reside though I made several rests in my way there on a little camp stool. My sister Teresa is returned home from school a fortnight ago and I find it agreeable to have her for a companion having so long been together at Spetisbury.”
In the1830s a great deal of new building took place at the Convent. A new chapel was built and the school for the young ladies, which until then had been in the house itself, was built on the site of the old chapel. “The old chapel was then quite pulled down and the school for the Young ladies built upon the site of it, as we had long experienced the inconvenience of having the school in the heart of the House and we were now obliged to take off some part of the rooms occupied by the Young ladies for the convenience of making passages to the new Choir and Chapel, both above and below.”
An advertisement in The Catholic Directory of 1836:
In 1840 two of the pupils at the school died; “During the course of this year the new infirmary was built, the apartments previously used for that purpose being very old and inconvenient. Also we lost, within a few months of each other, two young ladies in our school.” These were Eliza Mary Norris aged 15, who died on April 21st “of decline” and whose body was taken to Cork for burial and Anne Galway aged 16 of Duckspool, Waterford, who died on August 26th and who was buried in the nuns’ burial ground. (Appendix 13)
On census day, June 6th 1841, (Appendix 14) there were nine boarders at the convent.
Five days later, on the 14th May 1807, Jane Berington was copying down some poetry written by the priest Father Ralph Southworth, entitled “To the Young Ladies at Spetisbury House these lines are addressed by their affectionate Father in Christ Ralph Southworth”, by their content apparently written at the time of some May Queen ceremony. (Appendix 11) Jane ended her copy with the words “Jane Berington’s horrid scratch May 14 1807 Spettisbury House” so was obviously not too pleased with her efforts.
In September 1808 Eliza Underhill, aged about 11 and the daughter of Dr John Underhill of Moseley Street, Manchester, was taken ill at the Priory. Her mother Elizabeth (nee Bate) was the sister of one of the nuns, Sister Mary Austin Bate.
A letter from two of the nuns at Spetisbury to Dr & Mrs Underhill reports that Eliza is now recovering from her illness, which the doctor has attributed to an attack of asthma.
Firstly, Sister Mary Austin writes:
“My Dear Sister September ye 14
As I cannot think you are ignorant of Sister M Aloysia’s last letter to the doctor concerning dear Eliza’s ill health at which I was uncommonly alarmed I have now the pleasure to inform you she has no return this morning of shakeing is in good spirits her apetite good. I was however yesterday: as she had something of it in the morning when she first awoke to beg Sis M Aloysia to write a note to Mr Dancey to tell him if he pleased it wou’d be a satisfaction to me if he would bring doctor Haywood with him this morning so he came this morning, as Sister Mary Aloysia whent with hir to the doctor I shall refer you to her letter to my Brother. I was truely sorry to give you both so much concern but I thought it would be wrong not to inform you; the doctor seems to think as he told her she would be quite well in a few days, he has ordered her a blister on her chest tonight, and added some ingredient to her medicine which Mr Dancey had ordered to be taken occasionaly. Dont be unhappy about her, for Sister M Aloysia takes as much care of her as if she was her own child and in a few days we will write again and I hope and trust give you a very good account of her. Kind Comps to my Brother love to John? Thomas? and Fanny. Eliza desires Duty to Papa and Mama love to Brothers and Sister
Your affectionate Sister M Austin
For Mrs Underhill
As Sis M Aloysia has left me some time as well as spare paper by tacking the sheet for the direction as I had respectfully left the first leaf for the Sister’s letter I shall scribble on I hope todays account of Eliza will make you easy for the present as I have now taken heart again about her hopeing she will have no more return of her nervous complaint but if she has depend upon it I will acquaint you.
I had a letter lately from our Cousin Heston I fear he looks for too much fortune to be fortunate enough to succeed, as it seems few Catholic young ladies have £8000 pounds but might if he coud content himself with 5000 and had Esprit enough to follow it up, he tells me he is to be stationed again at Hungerford in a few months and that he continues to wish the event to take place so it seems to depend upon himself. Placida cannot inform you if her nephew is spoke off for any one as she has heard nothing about it he never writes to her for which I have no patience with him. I would not give a pin for such unaffectionate Relations. Placida and Clem desire their kind love to you. Adieu write soon to your Affectionate M Austin”
The second part of this same letter was written by Sister Mary Aloysia Tunstall who was presumably the infirmarian looking after Eliza.
“Spetisbury House Sept 15th 1808
My dear Sir
According to my promise I have the pleasure of telling you our dear little Girl is considerably better. She had no return of her trembling at waking either yesterday or this morning & Doctor Haywood who called on her by Mr Danseys request (in consequence of our expressing a wish for it) yesterday assured me she had no fever, nor did he seem to think seriously of her any way more than that it was his opinion her present indisposition was a paroxism of Asthma which he is strongly inclined to think her complaint, & that has caused the strong nervous affection she has lately experienced. He applied a blister to her Chest the pain still continuing, & added a little Paragoric elixir to the nervous medicine given by his Brother in Law. Indeed Mr D has always called the habitual Cough wheezing & that Miss Underhill was Asthmatical. This air being uncommonly favorable to disorders of the Lungs I confide Eliza will get through more easily than in a sharpe? situation. had we continued at Amesbury I should never have dared undertake so delicate a Chest. The Blister seems to have drawn gently as she slept well, waked quiet, breakfasted with appetite & appears very brisk; but as it is not to be dressed till too late for this days post I shall reserve a further acct till I can make a fair judgement of its effects; Beneficial they will be I am persuaded & therefore I conjure? both you & my dear Mrs Underhill to rest perfectly satisfied that things are going as well as possible.
Excuse for dear Eliza’s sake my omitting in my last a due acknowledgement of Mrs Stonor’s having recd from Messrs Wright & Co the sum of thirty five Pounds & applied it to the purposes specified by you.
Eliza presents her Duty & begs a Blessing from dear Papa & Mama to whom she sends many Kisses. I am ashamed of the crooked writing; both self & yr dear Sister are in fault. Revd Mother desires her Compts to yourself & Mrs Underhill, we hope your little Boy is better & requesting you to depend on every exertion for our dear little Girl.
Believe me dear Sir with constant gratitude yr obliged St M Tunstall”
It appears that Eliza was lucky as the remedies given her by the doctor seem almost worse than the disease. Blistering consisted of applying caustic agents under a wax or fat plaster, to create blisters on the skin. The blisters were then drained, under the assumption that the blisters would draw out the toxins and infection. Any pus forming from the blister was highly desirable, as it was believed to be evident of toxins escaping from the body. The Paregoric added to her medicine was a common household remedy in the 18th and 19th centuries when it was widely used to control diarrhea in adults and children, as an expectorant and cough medicine, to calm fretful children, and to rub on the gums to counteract the pain from teething. Paregoric is a camphorated tincture of opium.
According to Hutchins, in 1810 there were 33 Nuns educating the young ladies who occupied the principal apartment of the Convent. “They were about 70 in family.” A separate building housed a “chaplain and some respectable boarders.”
In 1811 one of the aristocratic young ladies, 12 year old Georgina Talbot, who had already spent five years at the convent, died and her remains were interred in the burial ground at the convent.
(I = born in Ireland, Y = born in Dorset, N = not born in Dorset)
One of the pupils who arrived at St. Monica’s in September 1842 was 14 year-old Jane Bolton, the eldest daughter of an old Catholic farming/merchant family living at Ashton-upon-Ribble, near Preston in Lancashire. Jane travelled to Spetisbury by horse-drawn coach via Gloucester, Bristol and Bath – a journey of over 250 miles – which must have taken several days at that time. She took her belongings with her in a small wooden trunk, covered in animal skin, and studded to decorate and protect it. Her initials “J.P.B.”, also in studs, were on the front. This trunk still survives and is in the keeping of one of Jane’s great great granddaughters. Three letters, (Appendix 15) written to Jane by her father John Bolton, have survived.
A month after Jane’s arrival, her father wrote:
By November he has heard from her:
And in April the following year;
On May 30th 1843 Jane Bolton was confirmed (presumably by the Bishop of Plymouth). Her name appears on a Confirmation list (Appendix 16) along with 11 other young ladies and four young local youngsters. It is interesting to see how many of the girls chose “Monica” as one of their names.
In 1844 while Jane was still at Spetisbury she painted a watercolour of the Convent, which still hangs in the home of one of her great granddaughters. On the back of it she drew a simple line drawing of the back of the Convent, with the River “Store” (Stour) in the foreground showing a gravel walk leading through gardens up to the “sick house”, “shop” and “scholars school” on the left, and the “cells”, “refectory” and “school” to the right.
In 1824 Maria Jesus Itúrbide aged six and Josefa Itúrbide aged ten, the two youngest daughters of Agustin Itúrbide, were placed at “Spetisbury House, near Blandford, Dorsetshire.” Agustín Itúrbide (1783-1824) was a Mexican soldier prominent in the independence movement and was appointed Commander of the combined forces when Mexico declared itself independent of Spain in 1820. He subsequently proclaimed himself Emperor (1822-23) but was forced to abdicate by Santa Anna (who is best known for defeating the Texan forces at the Alamo), and went into exile with his family in 1823. After wandering around Italy for a while, he took his family to England where he tried to interest George Canning, the Foreign Secretary, in a mission to return him to Mexico. Canning was not interested so Itúrbide went back illegally to Mexico on his own. Before doing so, he dispersed his children throughout schools in England (a son at Ampleforth College, two daughters at Taunton Convent, two at Spetisbury and his youngest son at a preparatory school in Hampstead). On returning to Mexico, Itúrbide was executed and it is not known what happened to his unfortunate children.
Between 1825 and 1832 three sisters, Mary Ann, Teresa and Frances Tunstall, daughters of Thomas Tunstall, were all boarders for some time at St. Monica’s. Thomas Tunstall seems to have been a rather impoverished Catholic from Durham and then Liverpool. The education of his eldest daughter, Mary Ann, was paid for by his cousin Francis Turvile of Bosworth Hall, Northamptonshire. Bosworth Hall has been the home of Roman Catholic families since 1632 to the present day (the Fortescues 1632-1763, the Fortescue-Turvilles 1763-1900, the Turville-Petries 1907-1945 and the Turville-Constable-Maxwells 1945-2002). Francis Fortescue Turville was married to Barbara Talbot, sister of the Earl of Shrewsbury. A series of letters (Appendix 12) between Thomas Tunstall and his generous benefactor Francis Turvile mention the education of his daughters at Spetisbury.
In September 1825 when his daughter Mary Ann was 11 years old, Thomas Tunstall wrote:
“My dear Cousin,
I beg leave to return you my most grateful thanks for your very kind and truly affectionate letter, and it affords me the greatest pleasure in stating that your bounty towards the education of my dear Maryanna, is a source of great consolation to my wife and myself and we are now making arrangements for sending her to Spetisbury, as soon as possible, where we have had the offer of taking our children at a reduced pension, from a respect the house bears to the family, having had two of my Aunts, nuns there, and the convent since its establishment at Louvain, never without a Tunstall, until within these three years. Reverend Mother has frequently solicited our sending our little girls there, and as soon as I can make it convenient I shall send her, the distance being great will cause the journey to be expensive.”
By December 1826 Thomas had two of his daughters at Spetisbury:
“We heard about a month ago from Spetisbury and our dear Girls are quite happy, and improving daily in their studies; they give great satisfaction to the Community. Our youngest daughter Frances is with us.”
In October 1829 Thomas Tunstall was very worried about money:
“My dear Cousin,
I am happy in this opportunity of writing to you, as I have long been anxious to hear an account of your health, and that of your amiable family: I always feel sensible of the high obligations I am under to you for your great kindness, and attention at all times, but, particularly for the great benefit you have conferred upon my eldest daughter, Maryanna, and it is in consequence of a letter I have just received from the Nuns at Spetisbury, informing me they had not received, as usual, from Messrs. Wright & Co. the half year’s payment due last Midsummer, that I now address you. I have replied to them stating I had not heard from you on the subject and, that I felt confident you would not withdraw your bounty without giving either them or myself notice of your intention of doing so; and, that the not receiving of the money as usual, I presumed, had arisen either in consequence of your absence from home at that period, or, there might have been some omission or mistake, and they would probably receive the whole year’s amount at Christmas. I am happy in stating I have always had good accounts of her conduct and disposition, though she is not considered to have great abilities, yet she has made considerable progress in improvement by attention and assiduity: her health has been very delicate for some time, as she has greatly outgrown her strength (her height she tells me is 5ft.6 inches) her age only 15 – her health is now good. I should very much wish if not imposing too much on your kindness, she could continue another year, which would, probably, conduce more to her improvement than those she has past, on account of her health being reestablished, and, by that time, I hope to be doing something for my family which I have not yet been able to accomplish, not having yet received the money from Chancery for which we have been so long waiting, and, we are now informed that it is expected to be paid in the course of a few months. We are at present in very distressed circumstances in addition to which, my wife was for 12 months in a very bad state of health, which occasioned an increase of our limited expenses, having taken a great deal of medicine. I am happy to state she is now pretty well.”
In July 1831 Thomas Tunstall wrote about all three of his daughters; Maryanna was returning home and Teresa wanted to become a nun. Neither of these girls had been home for five years. He was also anxious to send his youngest daughter, Frances, to the convent, but was still short of money.
“My eldest daughter is coming from Spetisbury; we had intended bringing her home last January, but her health being delicate, we feared the journey too much for her at that cold season of the year; her last half year expires in this month, when her Aunt, Miss Trappes, is to bring her home: Your kindness to her, my dear Cousin, I can never sufficiently acknowledge, or express to you the grateful feelings I must ever entertain for the same. As we think it would be a gratification to you to see the advantages she has reaped, and the pleasure it will afford you, we propose that she, with her Aunt Miss Trappes, should make you a call at Bosworth Hall, on their way hither; provided this little plan of mine should be convenient to you and family; and meet with your approbations.”
“We have only our youngest daughter Frances with us, now 13 years of age: we are very anxious to place her at School, but fear yet our being able to spare the necessary expenses for that purpose, though we find they will take her at Spetisbury for £25 per annum, on account of many of the family having been Nuns there: it is now high time she were at some Convent, as there are so many disadvantages attendant upon her going to a day School here, which she did for about 18 months: the Schools are certainly good, but the mixed description of pupils we find very dangerous to morals and manners; on that account, we have not allowed her to go upwards of a year past. Teresa our second daughter, whose education is paid for by her Aunt Miss Trappes, expresses a great desire to become a Nun at Spetisbury, whither she went with her sister, she is only 15, though extremely clever; we are told by the Superiors, she has talents and abilities much superior to her eldest sister, her style of writing evinces it; we have never seen them since Jan 7 1826 which has been a great suffering and sacrifice we have been obliged to make: we console ourselves in the hopes the absence from us has been to their advantage, in receiving so good an education.”
Watercolour by Jane Bolton c.1844
Drawing by Jane Bolton 1844
Sadly, John Bolton’s business activities failed and he died in July 1843 aged only 49 of “intemperance”. His wife, Ann, died five weeks later of a “broken heart”, leaving Jane and her four brothers and sister as impoverished orphans. The younger children were boarded out with relatives but it is thought that Jane (by now aged 15) remained at the Convent for a while and became a teacher in the poor school. By 1851 she was back in Preston teaching at a local convent.
An extract from the 1851 census taken on March 30th (Appendix 17) shows 17 pupils, a governess and a schoolmistress living at St. Monica’s Priory.
It is interesting to note how far away most of these pupils lived. Many of them came from the north of England and travel to the school must have been fairly arduous.
An advertisement in The Catholic Directory 1851:
Three girls who attended St. Monica’s in the 1850s were the Day sisters, Rosa Henrietta Mary, Emily Cecilia Mary and Henrietta Mary, the three eldest daughters of the barrister John Charles Frederick Sigismund Day. In his book about his father published in 1916 Arthur Day says:
“My father took his three eldest girls to the Spetisbury Convent, that they might commence their education under the wing of their two Augustinian great-aunts. Emily was a special favourite of her father. In the spirit of Sir Thomas More, he had taken great pains to teach her the elements of Latin, for which she had later to pay the penalty, as other girls spoke teasingly of her as ‘the little girl who knows Latin.’ They travelled partly by coach and partly by train, and felt the parting with their father intensely. He wrote one of them a letter for the occasion of her First Communion which was considered by the Sisters so beautiful that they asked permission to read it in public to all the pupils. On special occasions the nieces were privileged to take ‘a dish of tea’ in the cells of their great-aunts. These kindly souls would even save for them, from time to time, cakes or portions of pudding from the community table. One of the objects of this benevolence still remembers (with mixed emotions!) having obtained a school prize, while there, for ‘intelligent assiduity.’”
Spettisbury Railway Station opened on November 1st 1860 with a single platform and a booking office. (The line was doubled and another platform added in 1901). The opening of the railway must have made travelling to the school much easier for those boarders who came from far away.
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