Calthorpe / Handsworth Home for Girls, Handsworth, Birmingham, Warwickshire
The Calthorpe Home for Girls was opened by the Waifs and Strays Society in 1893 at 111 Church Hill Road, Handsworth, Birmingham. The home was officially opened by Lady Calthorpe on September 29th, 1893, with the Bishop of Lichfield conducting the ceremony of dedication. Lady Calthorpe was the Honorary Secretary for the Birmingham district branch of the Society, whose fund-raising efforts had made the opening of the home possible. The home could accommodate 30 girls aged from 7 to 16.
Calthorpe Home, Handsworth, c.1925. © Peter Higginbotham
Girls at Calthorpe Home, Handsworth, c.1903. © Peter Higginbotham
A major renovation of the building was carried out in 1903, during which the girls lived at other Society branches. The Bishop of Lichfield re-opened the home on July 25th, 1903.
Maypole at Calthorpe Home, Handsworth, Mayday 1911. © Peter Higginbotham
Girls at Calthorpe Home, Handsworth, c.1913. © Peter Higginbotham
Girls at Calthorpe Home, Handsworth, c.1913. © Peter Higginbotham
In 1920, the home was renamed the Handsworth Home for Girls.
Handsworth Home for Girls, c.1929. © Peter Higginbotham
At the start of the Second World War in 1939, the girls were evacuated to other branches. After the war ended in 1945, the premises were re-opened as the Handsworth Nursery, renamed the Beatrix nursery in 1964.
Records
Note: many repositories impose a closure period of up to 100 years for records identifying individuals. Before travelling a long distance, always check that the records you want to consult will be available.
- Index of the Society's first 30,000 children's case files ordered by surname.
- Index of the Society's first 30,000 children's case files ordered by date of birth.
- The Children's Society Records and Archive Centre is at Unit 25, Springfield House, 5 Tyssen Street, London E8 2LZ (email: archives@childrenssociety.org.uk). Files for children admitted to its homes after September 1926 were microfilmed in the 1980s and the originals destroyed. Some post-1926 files had already been damaged or destroyed during a flood. The Society's Post-Adoption and Care Service provides access to records, information, advice, birth record counselling, tracing and intermediary service for people who were in care or adopted through the Society.
- The Society has produced detailed catalogues of its records relating to disabled children, and of records relating to the Children's Union (a fundraising body mostly supported from the contributions of children).
Bibliography
- Bowder, Bill Children First: a photo-history of England's children in need (1980, Mowbray)
- Church of England Waifs and Strays' Society [Rudolfe, Edward de Montjoie] The First Forty Years: a chronicle of the Church of England Waifs and Strays' Society 1881-1920 (1922, Church of England Waifs and Strays' Society / S.P.C.K.)
- Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
- Morris, Lester The Violets Are Mine: Tales of an Unwanted Orphan (2011, Xlibris Corporation) — memoir of a boy growing up in several of the Society's homes (Princes Risborough, Ashdon, Hunstanton, Leicester) in the 1940s and 50s.
- Rudolf, Mildred de Montjoie Everybody's Children: the story of the Church of England Children's Society 1921-1948 (1950, OUP)
- Stroud, John Thirteen Penny Stamps: the story of the Church of England Children's Society (Waifs and Strays) from 1881 to the 1970s (1971, Hodder and Stoughton)
Links
- Hidden Lives Revealed — the story of the children who were in the care of The Children's Society in late Victorian and early 20th Century Britain.
- The Children's Society
Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.
