Anglican Nuns Come to Liverpool

Abstract

Incorporated into Liverpool as part of the town’s southward expansion during the second half of the nineteenth century, the corner of Upper Parliament Street and Princes Road in Toxteth boasts three places of worship built to cater to the religious needs of those expected to populate the area.1 The sesquicentenary of one of these, St Margaret’s Church, provided an opportunity to examine documents relating to an associated church school and to the rediscovery of an almost-forgotten Church of England sisterhood which managed a local orphanage. Further enquiries uncovered the activities of other sisters working elsewhere in the town.2 This article will trace the arrival and activity of these communities between 1864 and 1900, ask why local historians have shown little interest in them and consider ways in which their foundation was a function of the development of Anglo-Catholicism in the city and intersected with the growth of opportunities for women.