Admin History | Canon John Rory Fletcher (1861-1944) originated from Worcestershire, before moving to London as a child. He was educated at a preparatory school in Oxford and attended Dulwich College and Epsom College. He studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, before taking up a position there as House Surgeon in 1886. He then became appointed as Resident Medical Officer to the London Lock Hospital in March 1887.
He travelled abroad to study Catholic theology before converting in 1887 at the age of 26, being ordained as a priest in 1902 and fulfilling pastoral duties in England until 1930. He maintained contact with the medical community as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and was from 1927-1930 the Vice-President of the Section for the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Canon Fletcher became a close friend of the community from 1922, and in 1923, he was admitted into the fraternity of Syon Abbey as a brother of the chapter. He was also a cousin to Sister Mary Veronica Kempson, a nun at Syon Abbey. Fletcher died in 1944 and was buried by special licence in the cemetery at Syon Abbey.
Fletcher made it his life work to collect and describe all possible material concerning Syon Abbey and its community of Bridgettine nuns in medieval and Reformation times. His work on the history of Syon Abbey was not formally committed to paper until the 1930s and 1940s, when he sent each volume to the Abbey on completion for safekeeping. He published a popular history of the Abbey under the title 'The Story of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey' in 1933. As well as studying papers held in the archive of the Abbey in South Devon, he also consulted materials held in other archives and libraries across the UK and Europe.
Syon Abbey was a monastic house of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, also known as the Bridgettine Order. The house was founded directly from the Mother House in Vadstena in Sweden in 1415, and the community followed the Rule of St Bridget of Sweden. This enclosed Bridgettine community - comprising both monks and nuns and governed by an abbess - was renowned for its dedication to reading, meditation and contemplation. In addition, it was unusual in being the only English Catholic community of religious to have continued existing without interruption through the Reformation period. Following Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, the community dispersed into smaller groups, with some remaining in England whilst others sought refuge abroad. Syon Abbey was restored for a short period in England under Mary I; however, following the accession of Elizabeth I, the community went into exile. The community spent over half a century migrating through the Low Countries and France, before eventually finding a new home in Lisbon, Portugal in 1594. In 1861, amid rising religious tensions in Portugal, the community returned to England, where they initially resided in Spetisbury, Dorset. Following a further relocation to Chudleigh, Devon, in 1887, the community finally settled in South Brent, Devon, in 1925. On account of dwindling numbers and the age of the remaining nuns, the decision was made to close Syon Abbey in 2011. The community attracts considerable research interests from throughout the world. |