The Society began in London in 1883, the brainchild of Herbert Hamilton Kelly [see The Founding Spirit]. It's initial purpose was to train men for the Korean mission, as it was then known. But its real mission turned out to be the training of men for the priesthood in England and overseas who would not otherwise have been accepted.

Within a few years, the Society and its college had grown and moved to Kelham Hall [top] where by 1960 it had about 80 students. The College's chapel at Kelham was famous for two things : the UK's largest concrete dome of the time (1928) and the Jagger Rood [left]. Falling numbers closed the Kelham College in 1973.

In time, the Society's training work extended to the the founding of a large theological college in Adelaide, Australia, which has also since closed. Today two priories of the Society still serve the Church in Australia - one in Melbourne and one in Adelaide.

Meanwhile the Society had expanded its work to South Africa and Lesotho, where its members developed Christian centres, schools and a teacher training college. Much of its work there ceased with the introduction of the Bantu Education Act by the then Nationalist Party's Apartheid government.

Today there is a small but thriving priory in Maseru [left], the capital of the independent country of Lesotho. Its young members engage in education, service of a small leper community and ministries to street children and HIV/AIDS victims. Some of its number are training in South Africa for the priesthood.

In South Africa, Michael Lapsley [left] heads the unique Institute for the Healing of Memories. Michael was himself badly wounded by a letter bomb during his time as a chaplain to the African National Congress. His work now focuses on helping those scarred by the struggle in South Africa during the Apartheid days before 1994. But he also conducts workshops in other areas recovering from strife, such as East Timor and Rwanda.

 In 1998 the Society started a new project at its priory in Durham, England. Situated in the poorer north-east of the country, the Ecumenical Spirituality Project is intended to help meet a need amongst people of all faiths and persuasions for prayer, meditation and spiritual growth in general.

A large part of the Priory's ministry involves hospitality at quiet days and other functions [left]. The Project is funded in part by the Society (a registered charity) and partly by donations. [See How we started]