Sr Augusta (All Hallows Hospital)

When I joined the Community, I was told that most Sisters were either teachers or nurses; I’m not sure that was entirely true, but we have had a number of Sisters from both occupations. One of the latter was Sr Augusta, Sister-in-Charge at All Hallows Hospital for many years. Our Hospital was built in 1873, although the work started earlier in a cottage in the village of Ditchingham. The Hospital is based in the village itself, unlike the Convent which is slightly outside. Sr Mary Sophia was Sister-in-Charge in both 1881 and 1891, but Sr Augusta had taken over by 1901. She was the first trained nursing Sister to take charge of the Hospital.

Born in 1858, Ellen Augusta Healey was the daughter of Edward and Ellen Healey. Living in Lancashire, Edward is described in the 1881 census as a cotton manufacturer. Augusta was the youngest of four daughters, with a younger brother, although there may have been other children that do not appear on the census data that I have. As far as I am aware, Augusta’s brother was the only child to marry. In 1891, Edward is widowed and living with all four daughters, of whom two have ‘no occupation’ and two are registered as ‘hospital nurse’, one of whom is Augusta. I’m assuming that she trained in the 1880s sometime, as there is no mention of any occupation in the 1881 census. Quite how and why Sr Augusta came to join a Community in rural East Anglia, I’m not sure. Certainly there were other nursing orders she could have joined, although I am not aware of any in Lancashire, so she may have had to look further afield. But she was called to the Community of All Hallows and was appointed Sister-in-Charge of the Hospital soon after her Profession, which took place in January 1900; she is registered as Sister-in-Charge in the 1901 census. She was probably there for thirty years; she is Sister-in-Charge in both 1911 and 1921, but I believe she stayed until Sr Gwyneth became Sister-in-Charge in 1933. Whatever her reasons for joining, we are grateful for her expertise and dedication to the Hospital during her time there.

We know that the building itself changed over the years, although I do not have all the details; we also know something of the work while Sr Augusta was there, as we have the Community magazine, East and West, published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which includes regular articles from our various works. I know that a Board of Management was set up for the Hospital in 1904 and that, whether due to this or due to Sr Augusta’s influence, there were various improvements in the years that followed. In 1906, hot water pipes and radiators for heating were put in, and the operating room improved in the same year. Electricity followed in 1912. Based on my memory of articles in East and West, I know that there were both men’s and women’s wards; there were also some ‘incurables’, who lived at the Hospital, although most of the patients were there short term. We also nursed soldiers during the first world war.

The Census shows that Sr Augusta was not the only Sister to spend many years at the Hospital. Sr Margaret (Dempsey) was registered there during the same years as Sr Augusta, as was Sr Rachel Faith. A member of our Third Order, Sr Rachel Faith was registered at the Hospital every year between 1881 and 1921. Dying in 1936, she spent 66 years in religion, many of them at the Hospital, where she worked in the kitchen. The Sisters worked alongside nurses and servants, and at this stage they would have lived at the Hospital, although may well have travelled back to the Community House regularly. But one of the essential places in all our houses was the Chapel, so the Hospital had its’ own Chapel, where there was space for the Sisters to pray and say their daily Office together, and presumably space for those patients who were able to join if they wished. Work at the Hospital was no doubt hard, and kept the Sisters busy, but they had their rule of life, and at the heart of that was prayer. It was from this that their care for the patients came.

By the time Sr Gwyneth took charge at the Hospital, Sr Augusta was in her 70s, so may well have been relieved to hand the work over to a younger Sister; Sr Gwyneth was also a trained nurse, and also stayed at the Hospital for many years. Sr Augusta returned to the Community House, but not to retire. Sisters of Mercy do not retire, and there was more for her to do. We know from our records that she was Assistant Superior between 1934 and 1939, but no doubt there was other work that she did. It is impossible to know what. I do know she became deaf, and it seems she may have suffered from some infirmity in old age. The Warden celebrated Communion in her bedroom on Easter Thursday 1950, with the Superior and two Sisters present. I assume from this that she was either unable to leave her room, or was not able to join the Sisters in Chapel. This was repeated in August for her 92^nd birthday. On January 8^th 1951, the Community Diary notes that Sr Augusta is growing rapidly worse, having a severe chest cold. 5 Sisters and 2 visitors had flu, and it seems that Sr Augusta had it badly, and was ill for three weeks, and was taken Communion weekly. Sr Augusta last had Communion on the 29^th January, before she died on the 1^st February at 4am; she had been conscious until a few minutes before. She was 92, and had spent 53 years in religion.

[Picture: Mr Codling outside All Hallows Hospital. One of his sons was named after Sr Augusta]