| Admin_History | Campion House, Osterley, in the London Borough of Hounslow, began as a retreat house. The house, then named 'Thornbury', was acquired by the Jesuits in 1911 with money donated by Mme Leonie Blumenthal. Fr Luck SJ was the first superior and the first retreat was given by Fr Charles Plater SJ. By the start of the First World War 110 retreatants had attended. In 1915 Fr Luck SJ left to become a military chaplain and Fr Edmund Lester SJ was appointed Superior of Campion House. Fr Lester SJ continued to run retreats throughout the war years but realised that there would be surge of men wanting to become priests after the war was over. Many of these men would have had insufficient education due to interruption of war service, and many would be older than those usually looking to become priests. Fr Lester SJ aimed to provide sufficient education to these men to allow them to enter a seminary. The 'Young Priests', as the students were known, were taught Latin, French, Greek, Mathematics and Public Speaking, and were given a cultural education which included classical music concerts and trips to the theatre in London. They also maintained the garden, which was seen as a practical and a spiritual exercise.
Numbers grew rapidly. In 1918 there were seven students, in September 1919 there were 30 and soon there were so many students that new accommodation was acquired. Cleveden, a house in Osterley Road, was bought in 1919 and renamed St Tarcisius. In 1922 a new house in the grounds of Campion House was built and named Nazareth. The stables were converted to accommodation and renamed Bethlehem. Later more houses were bought, named Fisher (1945), Clitherow, Sherwin (St Tarcisius II), More, Mayne and Reynolds, and were used for housing students and staff. Overcrowding was also addressed by setting up colonies of the Osterley students - about 12 at the Benedictine monastery at Fort Augustus in Scotland, and until 1934 up to 46 at St Michael's Glossop in Derbyshire, a school run by Mr Brereton. Other Osterley students were taught by the Salvatorians at Wealdstone, an institution run by Gabriel Enderle, and at Corpus Christi House, Leigh-on-Sea, taught by Maurice Leahy, who had previously been a teacher at Campion House itself.
Staff were a mixture of Jesuits and laypeople. Fr Grafton SJ introduced rigour to the curriculum in the early 1920s. Other teachers included Mr Irvine, Mr Wallace, Mr Leahy, and later, Jim and Ann Smith.
Fr Lester SJ died in 1934 and in 1935 Fr Clement Tigar SJ became Superior of Campion House. Student numbers expanded still more, with a surge after the end of the Second World War, and a series of building works were undertaken to accommodate the larger numbers of students, first enlarging the kitchen and dining room and culminating in a new student block for 150, begun in 1961 and completed in 1963. In 1964 the new chapel was started. The works were paid for by selling four houses, Clitherow, Fisher, Reynolds and Mayne. Fr Tigar SJ expanded the gardening operation, with Campion House remaining largely self-sufficient in vegetables and fruit and honey.
Fr Lester SJ and after him Fr Tigar SJ were successive editors of Stella Maris, a monthly Catholic magazine which was important for fund raising for Campion House. At its peak Stella Maris sold 100,000 copies. Stella Maris closed and was amalgamated with The Messenger in 1969, which itself closed two years later. A publication called the Osterley Newsletter was published from the early 1970s until Campion House closed in 2004.
In the early 1960s about 160 students were resident at Osterley, but numbers had fallen by the 1970s, so Campion House started to be used for other purposes alongside the students. Refugees from conflicts in Vietnam and later in Eritrea and Kosovo were housed there. However, student numbers continued to fall. After 1965 Campion House had a rapid turnover of Superiors, in contrast to the stability of the earlier years. Fr Alan Robinson SJ was superior 1966-1971, Fr Francis O'Callaghan SJ was superior 1971-1972, Fr J. R. ('Bobby') Brooks SJ was Superior 1972-1976, Fr John Marbaix SJ was Superior 1976-1981, Fr Denis Blackledge SJ was Superior 1981-1987, Fr Michael Barrow SJ was Superior 1987-1993, Fr Chris Dyckhoff SJ was Superior 1993-1998, Fr Michael Barrow SJ was Superior a second time from 1998. Campion House, Osterley closed in 2004. There was a mass at Westminster Cathedral in May 2004 to mark the closing of Campion House, and a reunion Mass was held in 2008. Between 1918 and 2004 nearly 1500 Campion House students had gone on to become priests. |
| Related Material | Letters from Fr Blackett SJ, 10/4 :
- On the conversion of a house at Osterley, 26 August 1923, Blackett Letter Book 12, fol 195
- On the conveyance and transfer of property at Osterley, 6 May 1924, Blackett Letter Book 12, fol 495.
- On the use to which Campion House is being put, i.e. for the training of Young Priests rather than for retreats, which was its original function, 20 April 1928, Blackett Letter Book 16, fol 154.
- On the ownership of Thornbury House at Osterley, 24 March 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 357.
- On the ownership of Thornbury House at Osterley, 25 March 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 359.
- On the ownership of Thornbury House at Osterley, 26 March 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 361.
- On the ownership of property at Osterley, 7 May 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 427.
- On the revenue from Osterley, 7 May 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 428.
- On the Deeds of land purchased at Osterley which can not be found, and also about the St Tarsicius deeds, 8 May 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 429.
- On insurance for Campion House at Osterley, 8 May 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 430.
- On deeds and land certificates for Osterley, 9 May 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 431.
- On purchases at Osterley, 13 May 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 439.
- On all property at Osterley being legally held by SJ Trustees, 3 June 1930, Blackett Letter Book 17, fol 466.
- On the properties at Osterley, 28 January 1934, Blackett Letter Book 20, fol 25.
- On insurance for the properties at Osterley, 8 November 1934, Blackett Letter Book 20, fol 203.
- On religious use of the properties at Osterley, 24 November 1934, Blackett Letter Book 20, fol 212.
- To the Bank Manager about the Ecclesiastical Students' Fund, 12 February 1935, Blackett Letter Book 20, fol 285-286.
- To the Bank Manager about the Ecclesiastical Students' Fund, 21 February 1935, Blackett Letter Book 20, fol 289.
- On the Ecclesiastical Students' Fund, [13] March 1935, Blackett Letter Book 20, fol 300.
VHS of General's visit to Osterley R1.R.9.5 |