Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Lancashire
The Victoria Home for 'delicate and convalescent girls' was established by the Waifs and Strays Society in 1897 at Pasture Lane, Bolton le Sands, near Carnforth, Lancashire. The property, together with £120 for its furnishing, was donated to the Society by Mrs Dorothy Peacock of Slyne.
The home was officially opened on July 20th, 1898, by Mrs Moorhouse, the wife of the Bishop of Manchester. A dedication ceremony was performed by Canon St Vincent Beechey who revealed that the home had been named with the Queen's consent to mark her Diamond Jubilee. The home provided accommodation for 14 girls aged from 3 to 15.
The chaplain for the home was the Rev. Canon Beechey, shown below in front of the building in 1897.
Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, 2103. © Peter Higginbotham
The first picture below of the 'family' includes the Rev. Schofield Battersby.
Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, c.1897. © Peter Higginbotham
Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, c.1897. © Peter Higginbotham
By 1902, the house had acquired a porch at its west side.
Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, c.1902. © Peter Higginbotham
Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, c.1911. © Peter Higginbotham
Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, c.1920. © Peter Higginbotham
The home closed in 1920. The property is now a private residence.
Former Victoria Home for Girls, Bolton-le-Sands, 2103. © Peter Higginbotham
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.
