Alice Ingham

Alice Ingham (1830–1890) was a Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She founded the Franciscan order of Sisters of St. Joseph's Society for Foreign Missions.^[1][2]

Biography

She was born in Rochdale and after an elementary education went to work in a woolen mill, after which she was apprenticed to her father, a draper based in Yorkshire Street. By 1861 she was running the family business, which was then called "Ingham's Caps and Confectionery". She was known locally for her charitable work.^[1]

Her father died in 1865 and, after receiving advice and encouragement from a Franciscan priest, she started a small religious and charitable organisation of women in 1871. She became a lay member of the Franciscan order in 1872. As the community grew, she opened a second shop on nearby John Street.^[1]

In 1878, Herbert Vaughan, then Bishop of Salford, suggested that Ingham's group take on domestic duties at St Joseph's Foreign Missionary College, in Mill Hill, London. Although some of the women preferred to continue with their local welfare work, the shops were sold and the community moved to London.^[1]

In 1883 Ingham and eleven of her congregation took temporary vows, and her congregation became established as the "Sisters of St. Joseph's Society for Foreign Missions".^[2] In 1884 she took her full vows. She was given the name "Mother Mary Francis". In 1885 five of the sisters went as missionaries to Borneo and Kenya.^[3]

In 1886 the sisters moved back to Lancashire, first running the Children's Rescue and Protection Society at Ardwick Hall and moving to Blackburn in 1888.^[1]

Ingham died in 1890.^[1] Today the Sisters of St. Joseph run homes at Patricraft, Mill Hill, Blackburn, Freshfield, Waterford, Cork, Rozendaal and various stations in Borneo.^[2]

References