The Reverend John Gilberd Pearse, Rector of All Hallows-on-the-Wall Church, was increasingly concerned about the welfare of the many poor families who lived in the West Quarter of Exeter.  He founded the Community of St Wilfrid’s, a Church of England Order of nuns, in 1866.  The Community, based in Bartholomew Street, visited and nursed the sick and elderly, set up soup kitchens for the unemployed, established an orphanage and gave practical help to disadvantaged families.

Their legacy today is St Wilfrid’s School on St David’s Hill.