Catholic Convents in Liverpool

[lancaster.jim]

You ask

Does anyone have any expertise /knowledge on Catholic convents for girls in Liverpool C: 1880's- 1890 ?   I have been informed that My Gt Grandmother was in one during this time & would like to investigate this lead further .

Convents provided schools for girls, orphanages for children in need of care, certified poor law schools for those who came to the attention of a Board of Guardians, and homes for pregnant young ladies.  This means it would help you if you had some idea of why she was in a convent.

The institutions were often large establishments,  The records of institutions that provided care rather than education were kept generally to meet legislation requirements.  The philosophy of such institutions for the care of children at that time was to give them a new start and breakaway from their former life.  Thus when, after WW II, the ideas of Social Services changed to caring for children in smaller units, the old buildings became redundant. They were often sold and demolished or otherwise reused.  In both cases, old records would not be a high priority for preservation.  It was only later ca 1970, that the need for such records was realised and they began to be collected by the authorities.  In the Catholic community, such records tended to be collected by the Diocesan Child Protection Service.  In the Archdiocese of Liverpool, these records were collected by the Nugent Society, now Nugent Care.  This body has a post-adoption service that can access the records it has collected.  Its web-site is - www.nugentcare.org/   In the section about access to records, this site has –

Historical Records
Nugent Care has deposited historical records which relate to Liverpool-based institutions formerly run by us, including British Home Children, with the Liverpool Record Office, Archives & Family History Department, 3rd Floor, Central Library, William Brown Street, L3 8EN. Requests for these records should be made direct to the Liverpool record office.

Files held by the Liverpool Record Office are subject to the 100 year rule and files that fall within this period are closed to the public.
[endquote]

With regard to educational establishments, these are listed annually in the publication “The Catholic Directory”.  There is a Liverpool Archdiocesan Archivist (web-site  www.liverpoolmetrocathedral.org.uk/history-heritage/cathedral-diocesan-archives/  ) who may be able to help with advice.

Hope this helps

Jim Lancaster (Bury, Lancs.)

[Ann Harris]

My mother was born 1937 . Went into Leyfield road convent has an orphan when she was 3 years old .she would love to trace her records of her time there . Has anybody any information where to go for these records ?

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[Blue70]

My mother born 1937 went into Leyfield road convent as an orphan when she was 3 years old. She would love to trace her records of her time there. Has anybody any information where to go for these records?

You're probably best contacting Liverpool Record Office using the page linked below. The Record Office has some RC institution records in its archive and will be able to tell you if they have what you are looking for and explain about any access issues:-

http://liverpool.gov.uk/contact-us/service-area/liverpool-record-office/


Blue

[lancaster.jim]

Hi, Ann,

You ask about Leyfield Road Convent.

Have a look at Reply #18 in this thread where there is an explanation of Catholic child care provision in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.  This provision is now the responsibility of NugentCare and I quoted from its web-site -

 Its web-site is - www.nugentcare.org/   In the section about access to records, this site has –

Historical Records
Nugent Care has deposited historical records which relate to Liverpool-based institutions formerly run by us, including British Home Children, with the Liverpool Record Office, Archives & Family History Department, 3rd Floor, Central Library, William Brown Street, L3 8EN. Requests for these records should be made direct to the Liverpool record office.

Files held by the Liverpool Record Office are subject to the 100 year rule and files that fall within this period are closed to the public.
[endquote]

As it states, these records are closed for 100 years.  However usually there is provision for individuals to have access to their own personal records.  To find further details of such provision, you will need to contact NugentCare and discuss your particular request.

If you put 'Leyfield Convent' in a search engine you will get a number of hits, one of which is Children's Homes (http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/list/RC.shtml ) and this will give you some of the background to the home.

Hope this helps,

Jim Lancaster (Bury, Lancs)