Society of Saint Margaret

The Society of Saint Margaret is an Anglican order of women founded in 1855 by the Reverend John Mason Neale, initially at Rotherfield, England, before establishing its main convent at East Grinstead, Sussex, in 1870, which became a center for orphan care, education and nursing. The founding sisters faced hostility from Anglicans suspicious of anything suggestive of Roman Catholicism, but the order expanded considerably and today operates in England, Haiti, Sri Lanka and the United States, with a former presence in Scotland. Its convents and priories are autonomous, each electing its own Mother Superior and conducting its own ministries, which range from hospital, hospice and prison work to educational programs.