The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
11 January 2004
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Visit
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Where
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Sparked
by ‘tongue of fire’
Parish honours ‘linchpin’ of
Vinnies conference
Maria finds family link in UK college
The day Br Nicholas dropped the pin
Maria finds family link in UK college
Maria holds the 1814 yearbook; below: a ‘wild’ family connection
Maria Crosby travelled half way around the world to spend a gap year at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and then was amazed to discover a family connection with the ancient Jesuit school.
Her great, great, great grandfather, Charles Crosby, was a pupil in 1812-1814, and there are several entries in the college record books to prove it.
Maria, 19, left Australia a year ago with fellow student James Brotherson to spend a year assisting pupils at St Mary’s Hall, the preparatory school for Stonyhurst College.
Stonyhurst College and St Mary¹s Hall are Catholic co-educational boarding
and day schools in the Jesuit tradition,
In the middle of the year, her parents flew to England to visit her.
But before they left they contacted a relative who had compiled a family
tree,
to see
if there were any places that had a connection with their English ancestors.
“ To their amazement, my aunt told them to visit Stonyhurst College where I was already staying,” says Maria.
“ She said that my great, great grandfather Walter Crosby had started his training as a Jesuit priest at the college in the 1850s, then moved to Australia to complete it.
“ But he fell in love and got married instead, in 1861, and our family has remained in Australia ever since.
“ When I looked in the Stonyhurst yearbook I discovered that Walter’s father Charles had been a pupil and the entry against his name reads: ‘Wild, good natured and troublesome’.”
In spite of his lively personality, Charles obviously applied himself to his studies because he won an award for the best Latin and French translation and achieved distinctions in three major exams.
Maria, who was school captain at Catherine McAuley College, in Grafton, has been helping to coach pupils at St Mary’s Hall in sports and assisting with art and computer classes in the Reception class.
“ It has been an experience of a lifetime coming to Stonyhurst,” she says.
“ It is such a beautiful place and it’s just amazing walking into buildings that were constructed so long ago, which are much older than anything we have back home.
“ The pupils and staff are wonderful and made me so welcome during my stay.”
Maria and James were the star turn at a recent Leaving Assembly at St Mary’s Hall when they described what life was like in Australia, told stories and performed a mini play about Aboriginal culture.
They have now returned to Australia.
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