# Agnes Mason

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**Agnes Mason** (10 August 1849 – 19 December 1941) was a British nun, notable as the founder of a [religious order of the Anglican Communion](/source/Former_religious_orders_in_the_Anglican_Communion), the [Community of the Holy Family](/source/Community_of_the_Holy_Family).

## Family and education

Mason was born in [Laugharne](/source/Laugharne), Carmarthenshire, Wales in 1849.[1] She was the daughter of George William and Marianne Mason of [Morton Hall](/source/Ranby,_Nottinghamshire) in Nottinghamshire. Her brother [Arthur James Mason](/source/Arthur_James_Mason) was to be a Professor at Cambridge and her sister [Harriet](/source/Harriet_Mason) was a [Poor Law](/source/Poor_Law) inspector and [botanical illustrator](/source/Botanical_illustrator). Another brother, George Edward Mason, was rector at [Whitwell](/source/St_Lawrence's_Church,_Whitwell), Derbyshire, and later principal of a theological college in the Transkei (now [College of the Transfiguration](/source/College_of_the_Transfiguration) in South Africa).[2] Mason spent some years educating Edward before, in 1883, she went to [Newnham College, Cambridge](/source/Newnham_College,_Cambridge) to read moral sciences.

## Career

After gaining her degree she lectured at [Bedford College, London](/source/Bedford_College,_London).[1]

From 1892 to 1895 she worked at the [Guild of the Epiphany](/source/Guild_of_the_Epiphany). She started the [Anglican religious order](/source/Anglican_religious_order) of nuns, the [Community of the Holy Family](/source/Community_of_the_Holy_Family) with the help of several supporters. The purpose of the community was to improve women's education. Her supporters were [Charles Gore](/source/Charles_Gore), [Bishop of Oxford](/source/Bishop_of_Oxford); [Walter Frere](/source/Walter_Frere), [Bishop of Truro](/source/Bishop_of_Truro); [William Collins](/source/William_Collins_(bishop)), [Bishop of Gibraltar](/source/Bishop_in_Europe); George Congreve of the [Society of St John the Evangelist](/source/Society_of_St_John_the_Evangelist); [Charles Lindley Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax](/source/Charles_Lindley_Wood,_2nd_Viscount_Halifax), president of the [English Church Union](/source/English_Church_Union); and the Roman Catholic theologian [Baron von Hügel](/source/Baron_von_H%C3%BCgel).

[Frederick Temple](/source/Frederick_Temple), [Archbishop of Canterbury](/source/Archbishop_of_Canterbury), was another of her supporters and he used his authority to establish her as the [Mother Superior](/source/Superior_(hierarchy)) of this new group. The community remained small but it did establish teaching locations in London, St Leonards-on-Sea, Leeds, and Cambridge, and in India at All Saints' College, [Nainital](/source/Nainital).

In 1913 it obtained its headquarters, or [mother house](/source/Motherhouse), at Holmhurst St Mary, St Leonards.[1] This was a house once owned by [Augustus Hare](/source/Augustus_Hare) and it had been extended using the profits from his writing.[3]

Mason died at Holmhurst St Mary on 19 December 1941.[1]

## Works

In 1909 Mason published *[Saint Theresa](/source/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila): The History of Her Foundations*, which she had translated.[4]

## References

1. Julia Bolton Holloway, ‘Mason, (Frances) Agnes (1849–1941)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 12 Nov 2016](http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/58485,)

1. Katherine Field, ‘Mason, (Marianne) Harriet (1845–1932)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [accessed 17 April 2017](http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48847,)

1. [Augustus Hare and Holmhurst](http://www.umilta.net/holmhurst1.html), Umilta.net, Retrieved 13 November 2016

1. Agnes Mason & E. M. Satow (24 November 2011). [*Saint Theresa: The History of Her Foundations*](https://books.google.com/books?id=GfEZGGoHr70C). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-65545-4.

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