Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    X627
  • Title
    Records of St Francis Boys Home, Shefford
  • Date free text
    c.1859 - 1889
  • Production date
    From: 1859 To: 1889
  • Admin/biog history
    The history of "popish recusants" in Shefford in the early 18th century is obscure, and it would be good to discover again the early registers and other documents used as a source by Canon Freeland. In an article in St Francis' Magazine in 1919 he mentions "three very small, but very precious registers", and he quotes also "memoranda" by Fr. H E King concerning the baptism and burial of travellers at Shefford in 1728, but gives no source for these. The present registers begin in 1885. The first known priest at Shefford was Stephen Robinson, and Canon Freeland says "Somewhere about the year 1760 the saintly and learned Bishop Challoner mentions the name of Mr Robinson as residing at Shefford", which gives him at least twenty years' residence there before his death. The early registers are described as follows: "It is in the small register kept by Christopher Taylor the priest who succeeded Mr Robinson, that we approach … more reliable … evidence. From the year 1787 till 1812 Christopher Taylor might truly say … 'I am the Shefford Mission'." Canon Freeland says also that many of the books in Christopher Taylor's library came from Sir John Osborn, baronet, of Chicksands. Might this library still survive? Quotations by Canon Freeland from these first registers, and also his account of the mission drawn from them, appear in Appendix B. The best account of the revival of Catholicism in Shefford comes from a pamphlet written by Fr. Henry E King (Rector 1893-1907):- "Shefford is interesting to Catholics as having been until comparatively recent times, the only centre of Catholicity in the whole county of Bedford. The early history of the mission is shrouded in obscurity, but there is a tradition that Shefford has ever been a rallying place for Catholics … However that may be, it is quite certain that there were Catholics resident in Shefford quite at the beginning of the last century: notably a family of the name of Noddings. In the churchyard at Campton there is to be seen a tombstone bearing the following inscription: 'Here lieth the body of William Noddings. Who departed this life 3rd October 1743, in the 75th year of his age. Give to him, O Lord, eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.' And side by side with William Noddings lies his wife, Susannah, who preceded her husband by thirteen years, and whose grave is marked by a stone bearing a similar inscription. [parish register burial 15 April 1730, Susannah wife of William Noddings of Shefford, butcher]. Not only that the Noddings were Catholics, but that their religion must have been well known, and tolerated, may be inferred from the fact of such inscriptions having been allowed in a Protestant churchyard … The parish register also shows that a John Noddings was buried on August 21st 1776, and an Elizabeth Noddings on June 6th 1781, and a Mary Noddings in 1783; also on February 12th 1781, 'Stephen Robinson, a Roman Catholic priest'. The particulars regarding the Noddings are of interest from the fact that it was in their house (which was a public house and butcher's shop) that for many years the Holy Mass was offered - in a top room, on a common deal table with a drawer in it, and a stone let in the top (which table has been preserved, and is still used as an altar in the tribune of the present church). This house has now been the Presbytery for more than a hundred years. Moreover a certain Mrs Noddings, who seems to have been the last of the family, bequeathed apparently the whole of her property to the Mission of Shefford, thereby ensuring, under Providence, the continuance of the Mission, and laying the foundation of the present work at Shefford; as appears from a letter addressed by Sir John Throckmorton to the Right Reverend John Douglas, Vicar-Apostolic of the London District, dated 1802. 'In compliance with your desire, I have looked over the Deed of Trust of Mrs Noddings of Shefford, and find that the payment of the rents and profits of the real and personal estates bequeathed to me are directed to be paid to Mr John Barnwall during his life, and after his death to his successor and successors as long as he or they shall continue to reside at Shefford'. Now Stephen Robinson died in 1781, and the Reverend Christopher Taylor was appointed to Shefford Mission in 1786 or 1787. I conclude, therefore, that 'Mr Barnwall' was priest at Shefford in the interval. [John Barnwall buried at Kings Cliffe February 1782], and that the Deed of Trust was executed by the Mary Noddings who died in 1783 … Tradition has it that before the beginning of this century there was a pretty considerable congregation - some people coming to Mass from considerable distances, as in those days the places in which Mass was said were few and very far between, In 1791 we find the Reverend Christopher Taylor actually proposing to build a chapel at Shefford … 'Looking forward upon the Catholic cause, I shall not grudge to suffer something for the sake of its advancement. Behold one reason why I wish to see a chapel erected in the market town of Shefford … The old adjoining house, purchased by Mr Talbot [in 1787] will yield nothing unless it is repaired, I mean rebuilt, for it is tumbling into ruins, and a nuisance to the town it stands in … You seem to imagine that I have no congregation, but this is no reason why a chapel should not be built. People open shop in order to procure custom. My flock is small, I allow, but more numerous (thank God) than when I quitted Essex for Bedfordshire; in fact, it is too big for my bedchamber. The five or six found at my coming hither have been multiplied to above twenty … Shefford is the only place of Catholic worship in the whole Province, and, as a tolerable foundation is affixed thereto, it is a pity that Shefford should want its public chapel' ". Other evidence shows that a chapel dedicated to St George was built soon after 1791, apparently on the site of the house purchased in 1787. It was 60 ft long, 15 ft wide and 12 ft high. Several copies exist of a watercolour of the little building by Thomas Fisher, the topographical artist, who visited Shefford in the years after 1812, as a guest of the Williamson family at the Rectory. Fr King's narrative of the Mission tells us how in 1802 it was proposed to abandon Shefford, or to transfer the Mission to a larger town, which attempt (and similar later attempts) were frustrated by the clause in the trust deed restricting the endowment to the successors of the Reverend John Barnwall "as long as they should continue to reside at Shefford". He mentions the Reverend Christopher Taylor and later priests, such as the Reverend John Potier, who ran a small school there for the sons of Catholic gentlemen 1812-1823 (removed there from Old Hall, Ware and Pickering). No doubt the endowment was the reason for the appointment of Fr. Collis to Shefford in 1868 with instructions to found there a home for orphan boys, using the buildings belonging to the Mission, the small chapel of St George, the priest's house, and the adjoining group of buildings which had once belonged to the Noddings family. Shefford was in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton, which then included most of East Anglia and Buckinghamshire, besides Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. Bishop Amherst in 1867 proposed to Fr. William Collis, a convert who had originally trained as an estate agent and auctioneer, that he should found a much-needed orphanage for Catholic Boys. Fr. Collis had previously managed a Catholic Industrial School at Walthamstow, from which he had been removed after a disagreement with Cardinal Manning. In 1868 Fr. Collis was sent to Shefford, and in the next year the orphanage, St Francis' Home, was founded. About Shefford Fr. Collis wrote "Since the passing of the Emancipation Act the old inhabitants had gradually passed away and their children had gone elsewhere. The result was that, in 1868, there was not work for a priest, nor sufficient support for the Mission". However the orphanage was to provide plenty of work, carrying with it, as it did, the necessity to beg for the money to support it. We gather that the Home was founded, officially, in 1869, and the first children came on 11 April 1870, for the entry in Fr. Collis' diary for that day reads: "11th April 1870 Northampton and Shefford. Mass at 8 o'clock … visited little Bells' home and left word for them … the two little boys were committed. It was arranged that I should take them home that evening … I left by 5 train, the two little boys with me …" Adjoining property was acquired gradually, and the orphanage soon had a carpenter's and a shoemaker's shop, and later a printer's shop. Bishop Amherst had intended the orphanage to act also as a refuge for Catholic boys sent by local authorities and the courts. Destitute children were then cared for by their local Guardians of the Poor, usually at the local Union Workhouse. By "The Act to provide for the Education and Maintenance of Pauper Children in certain Schools and Institutions" 25 and 26 Victoria cap. 43, Catholic children could be transferred by the Guardians to Catholic Schools certified by the Poor Law Board for that purpose. Again, under the "Industrial Schools Act" 29 and 30 Victoria cap. 108, any child found destitute and homeless could be sent to an Industrial School. It was intended that Catholic Boys in both categories should be sent to Shefford, and the cost of these boys' maintenance would be met by the Unions, and in case of the Industrial School children, by a grant from the Home Office. At the Home the boys were taught a trade, shoemaking, carpenter's work or printing. Later, and for reasons as yet undiscovered, the Home took a slightly different bias. From about 1885 St Francis' Home welcomed middle class boys, and at Canon Collis' death it was an "orphanage for Catholic boys of the Middle Class", and a prospectus printed in the time of Fr. Henry King [1893-1907] says "St Francis' Home is intended principally for the reception of boys of middle class who have lost one or both parents". A good education was [promised, and there was a "French and Latin Class" from which several boys had moved on to seminaries and so to the priesthood. The Northampton Diocese had then no seminary of its own. Whether Bishop Amherst was the first to propose the foundation of a small diocesan seminary at Shefford, or whether Fr. Collis had made the suggestion in order that seminarians could help with the orphanage, is not clear, but the Seminary, named after St Thomas Aquinas, was at Shefford from 1880 to 1908, with generally about 5 or 6 students. In 1881 Bishop Amherst visited Shefford and conferred minor orders on Mr Grogan, and he came again on 23 April 1884 when in the old chapel of St George he administered Holy Orders to other candidates. An adjoining building was bought for the Seminary in 1883. Among those Fr. (later Canon) Collis visited in order to ask for money for the Home was Mrs Lyne Stephens of Lynford Hall near Thetford in Norfolk, who in addition provided the money for a new church of St Francis of Assisi, for which the foundation stone was laid on 4 October 1882, and the church consecrated on 3 July and opened 8 July 1884. The old chapel of St George survives as the sacristy to the present church, whose architect was S J Nicholl. Canon Collis (who had also acted as Diocesan Treasurer or "Aeconomus") died 21 April 1893, and was buried in the grounds of the Home. In 1977 when the land was sold for redevelopment, his body was moved to the local cemetery. He was succeeded by Fr. Henry King, who had himself completed his training for the priesthood at Shefford, and who was ordained 21 September 1886. He had returned to Shefford in 1887 to be on the staff, and on Canon Collis' death was appointed Manager of the Home and in charge of the Seminary, with his fellow curate under Canon Collis, Fr. Drake, as treasurer. He was immediately faced with the problem of improving the buildings so as to retain the boys paid for under the Poor Law Act, and a new kitchen, scullery, pantry, drying room, storeroom, boiler room and baths were provided in 1894. At this time the Bishop of Northampton gave to Shefford church the old organ from the Church of the Holy Apostles, Willow Lane, Norwich. In 1897 further considerable rebuilding was necessary, and in this year a chiming turret clock given by the managers in memory of Canon Collis was installed, and in this year, too, the home began to receive a grant direct from the Education Department. After several years of ill health Fr. King died 27 November 1907. He had been assisted since 24 November 1906 by Fr. (later Canon) Laurence Youens, and in October 1907 Fr. Youens was formally appointed Rector of the Home and Seminary, though the latter was closed the next year. From November 1902 there were meetings of an Old Boys' Association in a room in Fleet Street in London, organised by Fr. Philip Fletcher, Master of the Guild of Our Lady of Ransome. The lay staff remained for many years. In 1906 Mr Allen had been Schoolmaster for 22 years; Mahoney, shoemaker and general factotum more than 30 years; Mr Duggan, assistant schoolmaster and discipline master out of school hours was an old boy. The Matron was then Miss Hackett. On 23 December 1908 there was a fire in the south wing, gutting the sacristies and storerooms, and damaging the schoolroom and a dormitory. There was also pressure from the Inspector of the Local Government Board about provision of lavatories and bathrooms, and general repairs, if the Home was to remain a certified Poor Law School, and also about insufficient accommodation for the number of boys then resident. By 1909 repairs and extensions had brought the Home up to the required standard. 1909 A troop of Boy Scouts was formed at the Home, later affiliated to the Scout Movement and known as 61st Bedfordshire, St Francis' Home Troop. 1914-1918 25 old boys killed. 1919 November. Four Sisters of Charity of St Paul came to see to the domestic arrangements of the Home. 1932 Canon L Youens was made Bishop of Northampton, and was succeeded as Rector by Fr. Alfred Wilson who had been his assistant for 14 years. Fr. Wilson died in 1935, and Fr. (later Canon) William Wainwright was appointed Rector, with Fr. J Mossey as his assistant. In 1943 Fr. Edgar Hardwick replaced Canon Wainwright, and in little over a year made enormous changes. He prepared the ground for a new home for babies, first suggested in 1916; he set up the London Case Office; and he created the Northampton Diocesan Catholic Child Protection and Welfare Society as a limited company. But his health broke down from so much activity in so short a time, and in 1945 Canon W H Hunting was made Administrator of the Home and Diocesan Treasurer, with Fr. W Johnson (who had been assistant since 1940) as Rector. Fr. Johnson had been responsible for a policy aimed at de-institutionalising the boys, giving them a living room, more ordinary activities, more sporting facilities, and something nearer a family life. The new babies' home had been started in the part of the Shefford premises which once housed the Seminary, and was in charge of the Sisters of Bon Secours of Beaconsfield. Having reached the maximum of 28 babies, this department moved in 1945 to larger, permanent premises at Sheringham. Fr. W Johnson left in 1954, and his place as Rector of the Home was taken by Fr. L Hammond, with Fr. J Ryan as his assistant. From 1959 the boys, who had previously received all their education at Shefford, were able to go on to St Gregory's Roman Catholic Secondary Modern School at Bedford. In 1963 Fr. Hammond was succeeded by Fr. (later Canon) John Ryan as Rector with Fr. George McCann as assistant, and Canon Ryan remained in charge until the home closed. The number of boys at the Home varied. In 1870 there were 15; in 1875, 66; in 1880, 78; in 1885, 87. This must have strained both the accommodation and financial support, and from the on numbers were smaller. From 1898 when there were 65 boys, to the closure, the annual average seems to have been between 55 and 65 boys. The 1969 Children's Act and financial constraints together brought about the closure of the home on Friday 17th July 1974, by which day the boys had been returned to the various Local Authorities by whom they had been sent. The staff, at the close, were Canon John Ryan, the Rector, Mr and Mrs McCann, Mr and Mrs John Scales, and John Presland. The last two boys were taken on the Friday evening by Mr Scales to Kempston Lodge, near Bedford. APPENDIX A Rectors: Canon William Collis [1868]1869-1893 Fr. Henry E King 1893-1907 Canon Laurence Youens 1907-1932 (Assistants: Fr. Madden to 1918, Fr. Alfred Wilson 1918-1932) Fr. Alfred Wilson 1932-1935 Canon William Wainwright 1935-1943 (Assistants: Fr. J Mossey 1935, Fr. W Johnson 1940-1945) Fr. Edgar Hardwick 1943-1945 Fr. W Johnson 1945-1954 Fr. L Hammond 1954-1963 (Assistant: Fr. John Ryan 1954-1963) Canon John Ryan 1963-1974 Canon W H Hunting: Administrator of the Home and Diocesan Treasurer 1945-1974 APPENDIX B "The Ancient Mission of Shefford (From its Registers)" By Canon Freeland St Francis' Magazine 1919 Memoranda … The first intimation, then, of the residence of a priest in Shefford is contained in the following two notices, one of a baptism and the other of a death, under date 1728: "Mary ye child of a travelling woman", and "A travelling boy who died 1828"… Extracts from the text …It is in the small register kept by Christopher Taylor, the priest who succeeded Mr Robinson, that we approach evidence far more reliable than the slips of paper to which reference has already been made … … In the fifteen years he spent in the town there were just sixteen baptisms, and of these not one belonged to Shefford … …The register, concerned as it is with the christenings of Catholics residing miles from the little town, warrants our concluding that Christopher was often in the saddle, sometimes from morning till night. Once we find him away as far as Warmington, Northamptonshire, baptising little Thomas Meadows "at one day old". He must frequently have been called away to Blunham, a distance of twelve miles, where Catholicism was represented by only one family (twelve in number) the Clarkson's., and who provided him with a little child to christen almost every year … …There were six baptisms from the only Catholic family at Hitchin (the Dowlings), and three deaths. One baptism at Southill, two deaths. No baptisms at Biggleswade, three deaths. No baptisms at Shefford, two deaths … … At the commencement of the year 1824 the Shefford registers, so far as Baptisms are concerned, assume much the same form as that of the registers of the present day. Indeed, these books at that date seem to point to the beginning of a new era in the history of the Mission, many of the characteristics of the earlier ones being absent, many new expressions introduced, English names disappearing and Irish names abounding, while new practices, or at least, practices not mentioned in former registers, are systematically enforced. The custom, foe example, of baptizing "under condition" those who have already been baptized by other religious bodies seems not to have been known in Shefford until the year 1824 … …A wonderful man indeed was the Reverend George Rolfe, to whose charge, after the decease of Fr. Potier, the Mission of Shefford was committed for the space of fourteen years. With him the "former things" were very much "passed away". He himself was something new. Unlike the venerable priests who had preceded him, he had received his training in England … …The Butterfields of Hitchin had had all their children, a joyful young company of five, christened in the Church of England, and the little tragedy, as far as the Faith of both parents and offspring is concerned, would have gone solemnly on had not Mr Rolfe of Shefford, as he was called, ferreted them all out, and promptly baptised the lot sub conditione. He takes a day out, and the actual date is April 19th, 1833, and drives in his dilapidated chaise, which, like the mediaeval monk of Ely, he probably called his cariagium, over to St Neots, and searches till he finds quite a nice little nest of three, Richards by name, the eldest seven years of age. Sub conditione for them, too. Even St Albans was not too far away for the wings of his zeal; although there we find that he was obliged to stay the night and return next day. Sarah Woodbine, a promising young lady of two years and one month, was baptised "sub conditione" on the 15th September 1833, and on the 16th, same month, same year, little Elisa Sheehy, aged six months, undergoes a like sub conditione" a me Miss. Ap'lco G Rolfe " … …The parishioners of St George's are now almost entirely the children of St Patrick. Of the nine marriages registered between the years 1825 and 1837, a good example of which registration is the following: "January 3rd, 1830, Biddy Esther to Thomas White - G Rolfe", of these nine marriages, in the case of four both of the contracting parties, and in the case of the remaining five, one of the parties, were Irish. The same feature is evident in the list of names connected with the Confirmation held in the year 1835, the only one for thirty years. There were twenty-one candidates, sixteen of whom have Irish names and the remaining five have one parent Irish. One is not surprised that such should have been the case in places like Liverpool, for example, or even in London. But Shefford is very far removed from any coast town where intercourse between Ireland and England might be both natural and easy. Besides, it was hardly a village in those days, to say nothing of being a town. It is not for us here to examine or even suggest the cause of this Irish immigration which permeated England at that time in its most secluded districts; but we must allow ourselves to say that; if the registers of other missions show, as the Shefford registers do, this vast preponderance in our parishes of Irish over the native element, English Catholicism, as English, was dying out. It was at its last gasp. Ireland saved it. Ireland kept it alive - was its life, in fact, until new English life, owing to the results of the Oxford movement, quickened its heart and reanimated its soul … …The youthful Jimmy Warburton, just twelve days old, is described as a "hawker", and little Lizzie Willson, though claiming to have lived only three whole weeks, and that mostly in bed, is, nevertheless, called a "tramp". Nellie Sullivan, termed by Rolfe a "travelling pauper", had done six weeks' travelling from the day of her birth, and then just stops a minute or two to get christened in St George's, and from all that the registers tell us to the contrary, keeps on travelling in spite of her pauperism … …And there were still - the gypsies - like the swallows, they went and came back again; which accounts for one of the baptismal entries so late as 1820 being that of a "gypsy". Unlike the swallows, some of them remained permanently, for the Italian names of Chiesa and Guarnerio, quite poor people, appear frequently on the registers down to about 1844 … …Shefford, of course, did not permit itself the luxury of giving displays in ecclesiastical duels, very likely because, just then, Mr Williamson, the Protestant minister, was at his last gasp through sickness, a fact that we gather from an entry in the register to the effect that the priest of St George's baptised two of the rector's parishioners, "Mr Williamson being very ill" … …One feature of the Revival, brought about by the Irish immigration, must have been remarkable in this little Bedfordshire Mission, namely, the exactness with which the Catholics of those days obeyed the precept of hearing Mass, no matter how great the distance. The Black Swan, landlord Mr John Caherty, must, on Sundays, particularly in Summer time, have been the centre of great activity and a scene of much animation. They all put up there. The Sheehys and the Fitzgeralds from St Albans, the Mackrollys from St Neots, the Sullivans from Hitchin, together with the Murphys, the Dillons from Luton and McHughes from Aspley Guise, to say nothing of the Regans from Maulden. Most of them tramped in, but some of them, in a way, answered the Psalmist's description of Hi in curribus et hi in equis; and the yard of the Black Swan was filled with shaky conveyances on their last wheels and the stables with infirm quadrupeds on their last legs. Only we must except the nag which pranced in from Bedford, well kept, well groomed, bearing its master, Mr Samuel Boyle, who, like certain people St Paul knew, "seemed to be something", though, what he was we have been quite unable to find out. These all, together with the Dempseys and the Delaneys of Shefford, pillars of the congregation, went over to receive the solemn ministrations and to listen to the exuberant eloquence of the Parish Priest of St George's. All that is, excepting John of the Black Swan himself; for it is with many doubts about the frequency of John's churchgoing that we transcribe his death notice: "Mr John Caherty at Shefford, Landlord of the Black Swan, aged 51, of liver complaint, brought on by a long habit of drinking spirituous liquors. Received all rites of the Church; buried at Campton" … …From 1840 till 1858 the registers present a normal aspect from which we can gather only that at the commencement of that period considerable activity was displayed, and, at the end of it, complete exhaustion. There are but two entries for 1857 and 1858. In the year 1850 all of the Irish families with one or two exceptions have disappeared, and the old English names, with which half a century before we had become familiar have so entirely dropped out as to have left no sign save in an obituary notice here and there … … By the year 1860 the flourishing Irish community of thirty years before was completely broken up and gone away. The stream of Catholics mostly of English descent which, half a century before had flowed in, Sunday by Sunday, to this small Mecca, had now quite ceased. Indeed, the villages from which they had come were now in ignorance of their names: the fount was dried up. Except in just one or two cases, occasioned by marriage, no converts had ever been made. Everyone had gone away, and there seemed to be no one to take their place. Shefford as a mission was on its last legs … Register Entries Baptism 1809 "1809 May 23 - Was baptised, William Price, lawful son of Samuel and Ann Price of Shefford (Protestants). The child being dying, as they thought, the Rector of the Parish from home, the parents (religiously) beg'd me to baptise it". Burials There was one he made to Weston Underwood to be at the funeral of "the Reverend William Gregson, O.S.B. died at Weston Underwood, Buckinghamshire, aged 68, and was buried in the chancel of the said Weston Church, October 19th 1800". "1806 March 5th - died the Reverend James Taylor, of Rome and Douay colleges, at Hales - place, near Canterbury, leaving me, Christopher Taylor, his affectionate uncle, to regret his loss with flowing tears. His age was but forty-four; and this amiable young man's earthly remains are deposited in the South vault of St Stephen's Church near Canterbury upon those of Sir Roger Manwood" "1811 March. Died George Briggs, and was buried at Southill in Bedfordshire. His age was about 23, and he became a convert in his last illness and received all the rites of the Church. Requiescat in pace" 1812 June 4th. Died at Shefford, Bedfordshire. Reverend C Taylor, in his eighty-nineth year, Minister of St George's Catholic Church. Provided with all the rites of the Church, he was interred at Campton in a vault with the Founders of the said chapel. He received his education at Rome, and having perfected it, he returned to his native country. His profound and universal erudition secured him the esteem of persons of the highest distinction. His numerous friends and acquaintance, with those who have profited by his pious and exalted labours, bear testimony to the amiable virtues which he exercised ever for the Glory of God and the welfare of his fellow creatures. 1829 January 31. Anna Maria Hughes at Shefford, aged 76. This beneficent lady employed her fortune almost wholly in the charitable exercises of religion. To the poor Catholics of Shefford she was a most kind benefactress. To the improvement of the chapel here, and to the support of its pastor, she contributed very abundantly, and the future improved condition of the Shefford Mission will be mainly indebted to her for her legacies. 1835 June 11. Died Seth Clarkson of Biggleswade, brother to the Clarksons of Blunham. From no fault of his own he failed in business, and gave up his all to his creditors while able to pay twenty shillings in the pound. This misfortune so preyed upon his mind that it brought on a fatal illness of mind as well as body. The last three days of his life he had but a few minutes of reason. He was attended by myself and received all the last sacraments. God only knows what will become of his wife and child. 1836 January 3. Helen Jenks, daughter of the Jenkses of Oundle, aged 24, of a consumption.. She was fully aware of her end and had well provided for it by the reception of the Sacraments. The greatest happiness afforded to her a day or two before her death was to see her parents reconciled to each other. She prayed that she might live to see this reconciliation ratified by their receiving the Sacraments. Both parents, her brother and sister, communicated at Clifton at about nine in the morning, and she herself was a corpse at a quarter past ten. May this reconciliation of all parties be lasting, and may the lessons taught them and me on her deathbed produce their fruit in our souls. 1838 April 30. Mrs Godfrey, formerly (maid) to the Reverend C Taylor, and long a resident of this place. She has left behind four daughters and a son grown up, and a husband, a protestant. Her complaint, which was first dropsy, deprived her for about two months of her reason and ended in a decline. She received all the last sacraments previous to her mental malady, and again the day before her death. 1838 February. Mr Godfrey, after a long and painful illness, during which he became a Catholic, and prepared for his end as a fervent Christian 1839 October 9. Mr Riley, aged 41, at St Neots, of lockjaw, caused by his nose striking against the edge of a table whilst he was dozing in his chair. Received all the rites of the Church: buried at St Neots. P Coop 1855. Died at Campton, Mrs Lucy Clarke, aged 88. A most devout Catholic. I attended her and gave her the rites of the Church, excepting H. Viaticum, which I thought prudent to keep from her. W J Poole On the tenth day of January 1857, at the infirmary, Bedford, Peter McShane (died), having received all the rites of the Church the evening before. He was interred in the Bedford Cemetery on Tuesday January 13 1857. The first time the Catholic Burial Service has been publicly read by a Priest in Bedford since the Reformation. H J Thrower, Canon Patrick Walsh died on the 19th March 1857, in Bedford. I was not in time to give him the last rites of the Church, for he died suddenly; but Mrs Williams was with him and did all in her power to prepare him for his end. - R.I.P. H J Thrower, Canon On April 19 (Low Sunday) 1857, in the seventy-seventh year of her age, Mrs Frances Theresa Lewinton, after receiving with great faith and devotion all the Sacraments of Holy Church. She was a convert, and for many years before her death was in the daily habit of reciting the Rosary, Penitential Psalms and Litames of the Holy Name and Blessed Virgin Mary - in fact, nearly he whole Garden of the Soul. She was sensible to the last, and was able to receive Holy Communion, although quite unable for many days to retain the least food or drink on her stomach. Buried at Campton - R.I.P. Confirmation The confirmation in Shefford, and the only one in Christopher Tylor's time: "On the 30th May (being the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension) were confirmed by the Right Reverend Bishop Douglass ten children of Henry and Ann Clarkson of Blomham (sic), Bedfordshire". Then follow the names of the ten children St George's day (1884). This is the last day in the old church. In the morning there was Mass at 7 o'clock, after whish Canon Collis said Mass, and after him Fr. Murray; and afterwards Canon Hammond sang a solemn High Mas of St George at 10. Fr. McShane preached a very fine sermon on St George, taking for his text, "Peace be to you - I came not to bring peace but the sword". The next day the wooden altar was removed, the seats taken away, and the old place became desolate. A part of it was turned into a class room for the boys, and the other part became a sacristy for the new church.
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