Society of Saint Margaret
The Society of Saint Margaret (SSM) is an order of women in the Anglican Church. The Order is currently withdrawing from Scotland, but remains active in England, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and the United States.
The Sisters of St Margaret were founded in 1855 by Dr John Mason Neale at Rotherfield, England. As their numbers increased, they moved into their first convent, Saint Margaret's in East Grinstead, Sussex. The society began its overseas activities in 1873.
St Margaret's, East Grinstead, had a total of 201 inhabitants in 1881: 57 staff, 6 "Industrial Girl scholars", 69 "Orphanage scholars", and 60 "St Agnes School scholars". The 66 staff were made up of: 42 "Sisters of Mercy", 4 "Teachers in St Agnes School", 10 servants, and a Catholic Chaplain, Laughton Alison; the remaining inhabitants were the gardener's family and a few visitors. The Convent thus already included both Sisters and teachers, and the people cared for included orphans, poor "industrial" girls and schoolgirls from wealthier families.
In 1891, St Margaret's, East Grinstead had 205 inhabitants. The pupils were now divided into: 20 girls in "Training for domestic service"; 57 "Pupils in Ladies School"; 61 "Scholars in Orphanage School" aged between 3 and 16. There were also 7 orphans aged 15 or 16 "Training for service". There were 42 "Sisters of Charity", 4 teachers and a needlewoman "in Ladies' School", 2 "Caretakers in Orphanage", and 2 "Teachers in Day School" - the Ladies' School was for boarders.
Photographs show "St Margaret's Convent" at Moat Road until 1936, and the Orphanage at Moat Road until 1910 (when the photograph shows the orphans in white sleeveless smocks with hoods, worn over darker dresses).
The society had a difficult start. Many Anglicans in the mid-19th century were very suspicious of anything suggestive of Roman Catholicism. The founder, J.M. Neale, was attacked and manhandled at a funeral of one of the Sisters. However, Neale eventually won the confidence of many who had fiercely opposed the order.
The rapid growth of the Order led to the development of a series of autonomous convents and priories within the SSM, originally under the direction of the Founder. Whilst all such autonomous houses practice the same SSM Rule of life, and recognise each other as a single Order, each house elects its own Mother Superior, and is independent in its work and decision making. Since the death of Neale, there has been no single figure with authority across the entire Order. Several of these autonomous convents have dependent priories, which are smaller units of the Order, not having autonomous status, but whose sisters are under the authority of the Mother Superior of the 'parent' autonomous convent.
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