Alice Ingham was responsible for founding the "Franciscan Missionary Sisters of St. Joseph"

Born March 8th 1830 at 149 Yorkshire St, Rochdale.

The third child of George Ingham and Margaret (nee Astley) who ran a bakers shop at 149 Yorkshire St.

Alice worked in the mill as well as attending St. John's RC primary school. Her mother died when Alice was 12. Her father remarried (Elizabeth Cheetham). When her father died, Alice set up a community of Franciscan Tertiaries in the shop on Yorkshire St. They helped the poor and worked among the sick in the parishes of all denominations.

She was a very practical, able and good business woman who kept the shop going in Yorkshire St until called to London by Cardinal Vaughan.
She had great patience, waiting for Gods will to be revealed and going ahead with whatever works needed doing where she was at the time.

She was a humble person, obeying the voice of God which she heard through the Bishop and in prayer and reflection. She took advice from others, namely Father Gomair of Gorton Monastery, Mary Taylor and Bishop Vaughan.

Cardinal Vaughan said of Alice at her funeral in 1890 at Mill Hill, London: By nature, she had a good judgement and a strong will. She was devoured by the idea of Gods glory and promoting his interests on earth.
She desired to work with the poorest and most suffering members of the human family. She was obedient and full of joy at the proposal that her young sisters be sent out to Borneo to work amongst the women of the jungle tribes in 1885.

When she met trials and obstacles she was cheerful and patient. She always showed great concern for the sisters and their charges, making sure that they had enough to eat. She constantly wrote letters to them to ensure they were well and happy.

Alice spent the last few years of her life bedridden and very ill in Blackburn, where she died on August 24th 1890. Her body was taken to St Josephs College at Mill Hill, London, where she was buried near Cardinal Vaughan. (His remains recently been moved to Westminster Cathedral, which he was responsible for building).

In Rochdale today there is a small community of Alice's sisters in Sussex St. They work as Alice did, visiting the sick and elderly, teaching the children, counselling the women, caring for the asylum seekers and being available in the parish community of St. John the Baptists RC church where Alice was baptised.

Alice Ingham school and nursing home in the borough were named after this remarkable woman and a blue plaque was placed on the wall of 149 Yorkshire St in the year 2000 to celebrate her.
Alice's photograph has a place of honour in the Mayors Parlour in the Town Hall.