Frances Margaret Taylor - Final Years

Final Years

The congregation grew rapidly, and by 1900, the year of Frances Taylor’s death, the Poor Servants of the Mother of God administered over twenty convents and institutions, including the Providence Free Hospital, St. Helens, Lancashire. The congregation was based mainly in England and Ireland, but there were also convents in Paris and Rome. The work was focused on refuges and hostels, schools and orphanages, and health care. As a result of her traumatic experiences nursing in the Crimea, Frances Taylor suffered greatly from insomnia. She also suffered from oedema for many years, and in 1894 diabetes was diagnosed. She died in the convent, Soho Square, London on 9 June 1900, after a long and painful illness. In the sermon preached at her funeral, Father Francis Scoles SJ, stated that ‘with pains and prayer she has left a perfect work.’ Frances Taylor's death was noted widely in Britain and abroad, and a large quantity of written condolences came from clergy and religious, including from as far away as Australia and the USA.

In September 1959, Frances Taylor’s remains were transferred from Mortlake Cemetery, Surrey, to the chapel of the Generalate and Novitiate of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God at Maryfield Convent, Roehampton, London, and placed in a vault in front of the Sacred Heart altar.