Father Nugent's importance to the generations of Liverpool
people who followed him is immense. He saw the deprivation suffered by the
people of the city and did something to help by highlighting the issues facing
them and encouraging those with power, money and influence to help.
Father Nugent was born in Hunter Street, Liverpool on
3 March 1822. He was the eldest of nine children born to John and Mary Nugent.
At that time educational facilities for Catholics were few, so he was educated
at a private school under the patronage of Reverend James Picton of Christ
Church, Liverpool.
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| Hunter Street |
His family wanted James to pursue a business career but
instead he chose to train for the priesthood and in 1838 went to the College of
St Cuthbert, Usher. After 5 years there he went to the English College, Rome
and was ordained as a priest at St Nicholas', Liverpool in 1846. On New Year's
Day 1849, after serving in parishes in Blackburn and Wigan, Father Nugent was
back at St Nicholas' Parish as their curate.
Living conditions in Liverpool in the 1840s were terrible.
There was great poverty and sickness and thousands of children were homeless.
Father Nugent decided to do something about this situation.
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| The Statue of Father Nugent in St Johns Gardens |
In 1849 he opened a Ragged School at Copperas Hill to take
homeless children off the streets offering them shelter, food and clothing.
Father Nugent also brought the teaching order of Notre
Dame to the city to staff the Catholic Poor Law Schools. Later a night
shelter and refuge giving homeless boys food and lodging was established, but
in 1867 with over 48,000 boys receiving supper and 3,000 a night lodging,
Father Nugent realised that more was needed. It was clear that a residential
school was essential. The Boys' Refuge (a certified Industrial School) was
opened in 1869 teaching shoe making, tailoring, joinery and printing, which
continued until 1923. As well as accommodation Father Nugent was keen to provide
educational opportunities. It only took him two years to raise the money and
lay the foundation stone for the Catholic Institute in Hope Street. There was
no such resource in the city when he went to school. He was appointed Director
of the Institute and lived at 26 Hope Street until 1863. This work is continued
to this day through St Edward's College.
Another concern of Father Nugent was the fate of women after
their discharge from prison. He had seen first hand the need to provide support
for women on their release during his 22 years chaplincy at Walton Prison.
Father Nugent persuaded the Order of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God to
establish a refuge to help such women.
Some years later a home for mothers and their babies, the
House of Providence, was established in Dingle. In its first year Father Nugent
reported that 33 mothers and their babies had found shelter there.
Father Nugent also pioneered child emigration to Canada from
1870, an activity that continued until 1930. In 1880 he took over 300 people
from Galway to a new life in St Paul's, Minnesota, USA.
Pictured right are some of Nugent Care's children leaving
Liverpool for a new life in the new world in the 1920s. Father Nugent took the
first group of 24 children to Canada on 18 August 1870 on the SS Austrian.
On 16 May 1905, whilst returning home from a trip aboard the
RMS Oceanic, Nugent had a bad fall on the deck, sustaining a head injury and
impairment of sight.
Monsignor Nugent died on 27 June 1905 at age 83 at the
Harewood House, Formby after contracting pneumonia.
Links
Sources
Liverpool Museum
Liverpool Central Library
Liverpool Records Office
Robert F Edwards
