DSA/MU

Diocese of St.Albans Mothers Union

The origins of the Mothers' Union date back to 1876 when Mary Sumner the wife of a clergy man invited 30 or so local mothers in Old Arlesford near Winchester to meet to receive help and encouragement in order to fulfil their responsibility for the material and spiritual well being of their children. Shortly after the Bishop of Winchester decided to make the Mothers' Union a feature of every Parish in the Diocese and the movement quickly spread further a field making the formation of a central council to coordinate their activities in the country necessary by 1896. The first recorded branch in Bedford was St.Peter's which started with 25 members in 1889 and a union of the branches of St.Peter's, St.Paul's and Clapham was shortly after decided upon (See DSA/MU 1/1/4/6 'Bedford & Elstow Deanery: History 1889-1999 by Edna Stringer). The development of the Mothers' Union in Bedfordshire is highlighted by the number of Parishes and branches represented in this catalogue, at a national level the Union has spread across the world to over 71 nations and can boast a membership in excess of 3 million members. (2005).

The nature of the catalogue reflects the anticipation of further deposits. The records have been classified in order to represent the structure of the Mothers' Union at County level. The deaneries which exercise certain control over branches in their jurisdiction have been classified first and then the individual branches themselves. The records have been further classified into series of the main record type in the collection (Minutes, Accounts & Registers). A further classification 'Other' has been added to allow for other interesting items such as photographs and letters to be included in the scheme. An overview of the classification scheme is as follows: DSA/MU 1 Mothers' Union Deaneries DSA/MU 1/1 Bedford & Elstow Deanery DSA/MU 1/2 Luton Deanery DSA/MU 2 Individual Branches of the Mothers' Union DSA/MU 2/1 Bedford, Christ Church DSA/MU 2/2 Bedford, St.Andrew DSA/MU 2/3 Bedford, St.Leonard DSA/MU 2/4 Biggleswade DSA/MU 2/5 Bromham DSA/MU 2/6 Carlton DSA/MU 2/7 Cockernhoe [Hertfordshire] DSA/MU 2/8 Harlington, St.Mary the Virgin DSA/MU 2/9 Houghton Regis DSA/MU 2/10 Husborne Crawley DSA/MU 2/11 Luton, St.Matthew DSA/MU 2/12 Luton, St.Thomas DSA/MU 2/13 Milton Bryan, St.Peter DSA/MU 2/14 Sharnbrook DSA/MU 2/15 Souldrop DSA/MU 2/16 Stagsden DSA/MU 2/17 Sundon, St.Mary the Virgin DSA/MU 2/18 Tempsford DSA/MU 2/19 Totternhoe DSA/MU 2/20 Turvey DSA/MU 2/21 Willington

sub-fonds