| Description | Letters and papers belonging to Cardinal Francis Bourne and his family, including papers relating to Henry Bourne (sr) and Henry Bourne (jr), post office clerks in New Brunswick, Canada, and Newcastle - upon - Tyne; letters from Henry Bourne (jr) to his son, Henry J. Bourne, during the latter's time at Ushaw, which include information on the Catholic missions in the east end of London and Kent during the mid - nineteenth century; letters from Henry J. Bourne to his mother, Ellen, which describe his life at Ushaw; and papers of Francis Bourne, archbisop of Westminster. The papers also include miscellanous items which were probably collected for historical or genealogical research into the Bourne family. |
| Admin_History | Francis Alphonsus Bourne was born in Clapham, London, in 1861. He was the son of Henry Bourne (jr), a Catholic convert and post office clerk, and Ellen. He was educated at Ushaw College, St Edmund's Ware and Hammersmith, and was ordained in June 1884 at Saint - Sulpice, Paris. Bourne held several ecclesiastical positions, including bishop of Southwark, before being appointed archbishop of Westminster in 1903. He was elevated to the cardinalate seven years later. His achievements in this post included his involvement in the campaign to protect Catholic voluntary schools, organisation of the 1908 International Eucharistic Conference in London, and the construction of Westminster Cathedral. He died in Westminster in January 1935. |