This directory contains information and documents about Catherine Cheeper-Spilsbury and Anthony Jacques Cheeper's 2nd child, Catherine Spilsbury Junior, who became Sister Janet Mary some time in her 30s.
Catherine Lisabel Spilsbury was born on 21 Jun 1860 and baptised on 19 Jul 1860. Her birth certificate shows her father as Anthony Jacques Cheeper, gentleman, and her mother as Catherine Ann Cheeper formerly Spilsbury. Their address is shown as Clifton Villas, Darnley Road, Gravesend.
She appears in the 1861 census, at 9-months of age, at 11 Ivy St, Birkenhead.
Her father came down in the world shortly afterwards, in 1862, when he was declared bankrupt.
In the 1871 census, she was 10, and living with the family at 44 Annaken’s Court, Blake Street, St Wilfred, Bootham in the City, York.
In the April 1881 census, she was 20, and living at 56 Darville Rd, Hackney. She was shown as a cousin of the head of house, Charles Bokenham. (Bokenham was her paternal grandmother's name). Her Occupation was shown as Governess.
In the April 1891 census, she is shown as Catherine Cheeper, 30, Sister of Mercy, Nun, born Gravesend. She was at St Savior's Priory, Gt.? Cambridge St, St Leonards, Shoreditch (inner east London). Also present was Clarinda Bokenham, 54, Sister of Mercy, Nun, b. London Islington. Clarinda was possibly an aunt of Catherine's. There was a Clarinda Bokenham on the 1881 census, at that stage 69, who was probably this Clarinda’s mother. Catherine was staying with that family in 1881.
[Catherine adopted the name Sister Janet Mary sometime during the next 10 years; but I've lost track of how we came to know that. Anne? Just by interpolation from the death notice? That includes the name Cheeper, which was rare enough, but especially so when combined with Catherine]
[The death notice implies that she became a nun at 33, in 1893. But the 1891 census already showed her as a nun. Is Sister of Charity (1901) superior to Sister of Mercy (1891)? Or was 'taking up the profession' in such Orders associated with the adoption of a new name?]
In the April 1901 census entry, she is shown as Sister Janet Mary, 40, born Gravesend, Head of St Ann's Mansion, 59 South Lambeth Road, Lambeth, with another Sister of Charity aged 38, and four Mission Workers aged 29-36.
Her death notice, published in The London Times of 12 April 1938, shows that she died on 7 April 1938, at 77, at Canvey. She was shown as Cheeper, Janet Mary, "Mother Foundress of the Society of the Good Shepherd, in the 44th year of her profession". The Society of the Good Shepherd is the subject of very little documentation at the National Archives.
I've found only one place-name Canvey. Canvey Island is on the northern bank of the Thames Estuary, 10 miles downstream from Catherine's birthplace Gravesend, but on the opposite side of the river. Although she may have travelled a lot in her first 15-20 years, she appears to have spent her remaining 55-60 mostly in south-central London, with some part of her retirement (whatever that meant for a nun in the 1930s) east of London, near her birthplace.
We're missing a lot of information; and we'd love to know more!
This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site
Contact: Roger Clarke and/or Anne Kratzmann
Created: 14 October 2005; Last Amended: 1 September 2006
