This sounds like a "Magdalen" a house for women/girls who had either been
rescued from prostitution or had got pregnant out of wedlock. I'm not
sure what the Anglican equivalent is but any town that had a catholic
church, & especially if there was a community of nuns in the vicinity,
would have had something on these lines. Women who got pregnant outside
marriage were still being packed off to this sort of place into the 1960s,
in Eire,much later, the idea being that the babies would be put up for
adoption by "good catholic families".
AEM
On 1 Mar 1999, Victoria Parker wrote:
> The 1871 census enumerator's books for a small agricultural hamlet in
> central southern Hampshire gives the following information:-
>
> "House of Mercy" - in charge is Sister Harriett from Yorkshire. Apart from
> a visiting married woman, the twelve other occupants are unmarried women
> aged 12 to 35, but mainly 18 to 25. Their occupation is "training for
> service", and they are from various parts of southern England as far apart
> as Devon and Norwich.
>
> Was this part of a network of such places or just a local initiative? The
> nearby town had strong garrison and naval connections, and a thriving Roman
> Catholic church.
>
> Any comments would be welcome.
>
>
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