| Description | The Eyre Papers include the papers of the Eyre family (Vincent Eyre, Edward Eyre, John Eyre and Thomas Eyre), as well as the correspondence of Thomas Eyre and his personal papers. The family papers are mostly of a personal or trivial nature, although they do occasionally cover subjects of wider importance, including the education system at St Omers, and Douai College. A series of letters between John Giffard and Vincent Eyre also shed light on the difficulties of mixed-religion marriages and the religious education of children. The Eyre correspondence includes letters from some of the more notable lay Catholics and clergy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (Robert Banister, Rowland Broomhead, Matthew Gibson, George Dunn, Sir John Lawson, and Jane Silvertop). The letters are particularly valuable for their insight into the development of Catholic missions in the north east of England (notably Carlisle and Berwick) following the passing of the Papist Act (1788) and the Roman Catholic Relief Act (1791), which granted Catholics the legal right to worship and to build chapels without fear of persecution. As vicar general of the Northern District, Thomas Eyre was primarily responsible for ensuring that the Catholic clergy were adequately provided for and the correspondence reveals the financial distress of certain members of the clergy, whether in their difficulty of raising subscriptions for the establishment of missions or meeting their own living costs. The correspondence also highlights the existence of convent communities in the north east, specifically the Haggerston convent and St Ninian's in Wooler, as well as the early development of Ushaw and the dispute with the bishops over the role of episcopal power in the college. Finally, many letters also concern the wider political situation, notably the Cisalpine Club and their campaign against the oath attached to the 1791 Roman Catholic Relief Act. The personal papers of Thomas Eyre include a series of sermons, his mission notes, and his will. |
| Admin_History | Thomas Eyre was born at Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1748. He attended the preparatory school at Esquerchin, Douai, before progressing to the parent English College at Douai in 1762. Following his ordination in 1775, he accepted an invitation to take charge of a mission which covered the area west of Newcastle to Hexham. In 1794, Eyre was appointed to Pontop Hall, near Consett, before Bishop William Gibson asked him to take temporary charge of a small number of refugee students who had fled Douai because of religious persecution. Eyre was then appointed to preside over a new college at Crook Hall and, after 1808, at Ushaw. Thomas Eyre died on 7 May 1810, leaving his entire fortune (£8640) to the college. |