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SUMMARY:Saturday 9th August\, 11.30am Eucharist celebrating life and work 
 of Mary Sumner
DTSTART:20250809T103000Z
DTEND:20250809T113000Z
DTSTAMP:20260411T050436Z
UID:12139442025-08-09 10:30:00+00:00achurchnearyou
CATEGORIES:
DESCRIPTION:Mary Elizabeth Heywood was born on 31 December 1828 in Salford
 \, Lancashire\, the third of four children. The family moved to Ledbury\, 
 Herefordshire in 1832\, where her mother started to hold regular mothers' 
 meetings. Educated at home\, young Mary learned to speak three foreign lan
 guages and to sing. To complete her musical education\, she travelled with
  her mother and elder sister to Rome. \nWhile in Rome she met her future h
 usband\, George Henry Sumner\, the son of Charles Richard Sumner\, the Bis
 hop of Winchester. The couple married were on 26 July 1848\, 18 months aft
 er George's ordination as an Anglican priest\, and had three children: Mar
 garet\, Louise and George. In 1851\, Rev. George Sumner received the livin
 g of Old Alresford\, Hampshire\, in his father's diocese\, and Mary dedica
 ted herself to raising her children and helping her husband in his ministr
 y by providing music and Bible classes.\nIn 1876\, when her eldest daughte
 r Margaret gave birth\, Mary recalled how difficult she had found the burd
 en of motherhood\, and was inspired to set up meetings for mothers in the 
 parish so they could offer oneanother mutual support. Her plan was quite r
 adical for its day as it involved women of all social classes supporting o
 ne another\, and seeing motherhood as a profession as important as the pro
 fessions that were held by men. The first meeting was held in Old Alresfor
 d Rectory\, but Sumner was so nervous that she had to ask her husband to s
 peak. \nIn 1885\, Mary was part of the audience in the Portsmouth Church C
 ongress\, where the first Bishop of Newcastle\, Ernest Wilberforce\, had b
 een asked to say some words to women churchgoers. But he felt that he had 
 very little to say to women and so he invited Mary to speak instead. Altho
 ugh nervous once again\, she gave a passionate address about national mora
 lity and the importance of women's vocation as mothers to change the natio
 n for the better. \nA number of the women present went back to their paris
 hes to establish mothers' meetings along the lines of Mary’s meetings. T
 he Mothers' Union concept spread so rapidly throughout the UK that by 1892
 \, they had 60\,000 members in 28 dioceses\, and by the turn of the centur
 y\, they'd grown to to 169\,000 members. In 1897\, during her Diamond Jubi
 lee\, Queen Victoria became patron of the Mothers' Union\, giving it an un
 precedented stamp of approval. \nMary died on 11 August 1921 at the age of
  92\, and is buried with her husband\, in the grounds of Winchester Cathed
 ral. ‘Mary Summer House’ at 24\, Tufton Street\, Westminster in London
  is the Mothers' Union headquarters\, named in her memory.
GEO:-4.298266529747012;37.12525560245366
LOCATION:Salinas Anglican Congregation
URL:https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/8488/service-and-events/events/1
 213944/
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