Hi everyone, greetings from Sydney, Australia. My great aunt, Catherine Elizabeth Latham appears in the 1901 census at the Convent of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge. Beside the Nuns, there were a large number of young women recorded there as "inmates". Am I right in assuming that this was a place for unmarried mothers to go and have their babies? Catherine died in 1923 and although my grandmother (her sister) mentioned Elizabeth to me many years ago, she did seem a bit offhand about her. My grandmother died way back in 1967. Is there any way to find out more about the convent and its records? Here's hoping. Tony Smith [email protected]

Hi Tony, I was christened in 1936 at Bartestree Convent and knew several of the Nuns during my youth. Two of my grandparents and I believe, a great grandparent are buried in the tiny cemetery (Warning Go with your antihistamine at the ready). My father and grandfather Andrew and Walter Richardson were the local Tarrington butchers and they supplied meat to the Convent over many years. To the best of my knowledge the nuns took into their care young women who had got into trouble (all sorts), and I am not aware that they actually had their children there or indeed looked after them there. Post war I am fairly sure they did not. They ran an extremely efficient Laundry Service, which we used for many years for the butcher's aprons etc. This presumably helped pay for the keep of the "girls" (all ages I think). John RICHARDSON in Waikato New Zealand. -----Original Message----- From: Tony Smith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, 27 May 2006 6:23 p.m. To: [email protected] Subject: [HEF] CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF CHARITY AND REFUGE, BARTESTREE, HEREFORDSHIRE Hi everyone, greetings from Sydney, Australia. My great aunt, Catherine Elizabeth Latham appears in the 1901 census at the Convent of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge. Beside the Nuns, there were a large number of young women recorded there as "inmates". Am I right in assuming that this was a place for unmarried mothers to go and have their babies? Catherine died in 1923 and although my grandmother (her sister) mentioned Elizabeth to me many years ago, she did seem a bit offhand about her. My grandmother died way back in 1967. Is there any way to find out more about the convent and its records? Here's hoping. Tony Smith [email protected] ==== ENG-HEREFORD Mailing List ==== . ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx