Community of St John Baptist

The Community of St John Baptist, also known as the Sisters of Mercy and formerly the Clewer Sisters, is an Anglican religious order of Augustinian nuns founded in 1852 at Clewer, Windsor, England, by Harriet Monsell, a clergy widow who became its first Superior, together with Thomas Thellusson Carter, priest of St Andrew's Church, Clewer. It was established to help marginalised women, mainly single mothers, the homeless and women in the sex trade, by providing shelter and teaching them a trade, and its work later expanded into orphanages, schools, convalescent hospitals, soup kitchens and women's hostels. By 1901, when Carter died, the community numbered about 300 sisters and at its peak operated around 45 priories and branch houses in the United Kingdom, United States and India.