A Street for Clara Lloyd (1809-1880): promoter of Mount Notre-dame in Sherbrooke
Clara-lloyd Street was opened in 2016 by builder Éric Fréchette in the section of Rock Forest. Sherbrooke town council had chosen the name at it’s December 21, 2015 meeting in order to feature Clara’s role in the education of young girls in the Eastern Townships, mostly in Sherbrooke.
Clara Lloyd was born in Quebec City, January 30, 1809. She was the daughter of Thomas Lloyd, a British army surgeon. On August 6, 1835, in Quebec’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, she married William Locker Pickmore Felton (1812-1877), lawyer and bar chairman. He was the son of Anna Maria Valls (1787-1875) who hailed from Spain, and of William Bowman Felton (1782-1837), a very important Ascot landowner, in particular of Belvidere Farm, located between Felton Street, Dunant Street and North Hatley Road. They had a son, William Hughes, who would, one day, become a lawyer in Arthabaska. The family settled on Belvidere Farm, with Clara’s in-laws, since William Locker would belong to the St. Francis Judiciary District until 1875.
As Clara had at heart the Catholic education of French and English young girls, on May 14, 1850, she petitioned His Grace Joseph Signay, archbishop of Quebec, to which Sherbrooke belonged, to be allowed to organize a collection of funds in order to establish here a first convent. Clara managed to collect 100 British pounds (between $400 and $500). Then Saint-michel parish was detached in 1852 from the diocese of Quebec when it became part of the diocese of Saint-hyacinthe, and a delay occurred. In 1853, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith of Quebec donated $240. Clara’s husband, William Locker Felton, at the time Crown Attorney (1853-1864) and Sherbrooke-wolfe representative (18541857), was surely instrumental in missionary pastor Alfred-élie Dufresne’s obtaining a grant of $600 from the government of United Canada. Under Rev. Father Dufresne’s guidance, construction of the future Mont Notre-dame got underway in 1855 and was finished in 1857, at the cost of $5 070. The debt was to be paid off in the coming years. Rev. Father Dufresne’s sister Luce started teaching in the spring of 1856 or of 1857. The sisters of the Congregation Notredame took over in November. Clara Lloyd died in St-jean-de-dieu hospital on January 27, 1880.