It was on clearing in the house that I found some family tree certificates and in looking at them once more, and reading of my great great grandparents, William and Mary Maxted's daughters death, of young Sarah, aged 13, from heart failure, that I saw something I'd not taken note of before, which was that the address had been given as Nazareth House in Isleworth, not their home at all. On looking up this place, I saw that it was and industrial school for Roman Catholic girls. Two considerations now came to me, one naturally being why was Sarah even there, as such schools were in general for children who had fallen into trouble and who had been sent there by the courts, and maybe to her detriment considering that she had died there. And secondly, I had seen from baptisms already, that although William Maxted was and English fellow and not at all Roman Catholic, he had nevertheless honoured his Irish wifes wishes by allowing her the grace to raise their children in her own religion, and maybe Sarah's death at an institution run by nuns ended all that. 'No more' I could imagine him saying. On looking up about Nazareth House it appeared to be a fine estate in London, with gardens and an educational curriculum teaching all the skills a girl back then was thought to be good for them, such as cooking, laundry, needlework and housmaid service, as well as musical drills to keep them fit, and access to a toy cupboard and library. And yet Sarah's health had deteriorated there. Hammersmith in London, where my family lived, was where the original Poor Sisters Of Nazareth first set up, their mission being to take care of both young and old. From there the houses had spread out into the rest of Britain. I saw an address I could write to, by snail mail, to ask for any relevant information to this situation, from the nuns archives; so I promptly wrote a letter, hoping for something, anything, in response. And it was then that I saw negative looking links about these very Sisters of Nazareth, in which abuses were insinuated. Nazareth Houses were dotted around England, to be found in various cities, and specific writings about them had disturbing titles, such as 'Suffer The Little Children - The True Story Of An Abused Covent Upbringing', Guradian articles such as 'Nuns Abused Hundreds Of Children', 'Sisters Of No Mercy' and 'SIsters Of Nazareth Become Second Catholic Order To Admit Child Abuse'. I guess the first would be the Magdalene nuns who had been outed for abusing pregnant girls. I was shocked. Like, Hello, are you the representatives of God and of Jesus? Devoting your lives to a holy path and yet abusing and traumatising those given unto your care. I now sensed my own ancestors pains and trials tied up in this story. To trust in the church and yet be let down by them. One Guardian article was even titled 'Children At Derry Care Homes Were Made To Eat Vomit, Inquiry Told'. I did hope the actual Isleworth home had decent friendly nuns in it. Anyway, from Amazon I ordered one of the books, the 'Suffer The Little Children' one by Frances Reilly, who a a girl had been abandoned by her mother, along with her sisters, outside a Nazareth House convent in Belfast. She had suffered there from brutal beatings, was abused, molested and worked as a slave. In later life Frances prosecuted the nuns and in this she was successful. In another account about an abusive Nazareth House, by a man, Fred Atkins, who had regularly been beaten up by the nuns from the age of six, he even in old age was still haunted by the noise of children banging their heads against the walls of the dormitories. Night time sleeping would be interrupted by the nuns checking for bed wetting, for which beatings would follow, one bed wetter being held out of the window by her ankles as a punishment. Nuns had leather straps dangling from their waists next to their rosary beads. Another lad had named this institution the 'House Of Hell'. When I at last heard back from the nuns of Nazareth House. Their achivist, Christine H, had not found anything in regard to my Sarah, but she did invite me to provide more information by email, which I promptly did.
This extra information resulted in a reply of a little more substance than previously. Sarah Kathleen Maxted had indeed been a child in the care of the nuns, number 49 on the Isleworth Children's Register. She had been sent to the convent by a magistrate, Mr Rose, for which one had to conclude really that she had been sent there for some mischief, not that any note had been made of why. Christine noted that even prior to Sarah being sent to Nazareth House she'd had an ongoing religious connection with the place, having had certain Christian moments there, of confirmation, first confession and holy communion. Christine had not found any such moments for Sarah's siblings or her Irish mother.* It had certainly been a contemplation of mine that Sarah may have had downs syndrome, hence why she would have spent so much time with the nuns and would then explain why she had a weak heart and had died at only 13 years of age. I had often wondered what it would have been like for such children in olden days, in times before this was even recognised as a specific condition.
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AuthorSusie Harrison and her hobby of genealogy, always looking into her own and her friends family trees. Categories
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