Brent London Borough Council Homes
Children's establishments run at some time in their history by Brent London Borough Council.
Berkshire
London (N/NW Postal Areas)
- 49 Comber Close, Dollis Hill NW2
- 14 Nicoll Road, Harlesden NW10†
- 1 Clement Close, Milverton Road, Kilburn NW6
- 6-8 Prout Grove, Neasden NW10†
- 68/70 The Limes Avenue, New Southgate N11
- 8 St Gabriel's Road, Willesden NW2
- Willesden Children's Homes, Acton Lane, Willesden NW10
- Reception Centre, Barrett's Green Road, Acton Lane, Willesden NW10
- Homefield, Barrett's Green Road, Acton Lane, Willesden NW10
- Barrett's Green Residential Nursery, The Bungalow, Barrett's Green Road, Acton Lane, Willesden NW10
- Grangemuir Residential Nursery, 2 South Side, Wimbledon Common SW19
Middlesex
- 97 Woodcock Hill, Kenton, Harrow
- 12 Owen Road, Hayes†
- 5 Hornbeam Road, Hayes†
- 74 Goshawk Gardens, Hayes
- Stanmore Residential Nursery, 304 Honeypot Lane, Stanmore
- 69-71 Kingston Lane, Teddington†
- 80 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley†
† indicates homes at some time also run by a county council.
Records
The involvement of local authorities in the running of children's homes dates from 1930, when they took over the running of the poor relief system previously administered by Boards of Guardians. Surviving records for council-run children's homes may be held in each council's own internal archives. Prior to 1991, however, when a legal requirement was introduced for councils to retain records of children leaving their care, the survival of such records is very variable. Contact details for local authorities in the UK can be found on the website of the Care Leavers Association (CLA). The CLA also provides guidance on accessing childhood care files, which are normally only open to the individuals they relate to.
Locating local authority records has been complicated by the various local government reorganizations that have taken place in recent times, such as the abolition of the London County Council in 1965, and the major nationwide restructuring in 1974 in which many administrative areas were created, amended or eliminated.
Older records may sometimes be placed with the relevant county or borough record office. Many of these repositories have online catalogues of their holdings and also contribute to the National Archives' Discovery database. Note that records containing personal data usually have access closed for a period of fifty years or more.
Older material relating to Brent Council homes may exist at:
- Brent Museum and Archives (currently in temporary premises at George Furness House, 2-12 Grange Road, Willesden NW10 2QY - check the website for updates.)
- The
Ancestry UK
website has two collections of London workhouse records (both name searchable):
- The Find My Past website has workhouse / poor law records for Westminster.
- London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R OHB.
Some records relating to council-run homes, for example inspection reports (though not resident lists etc.), are held by The National Archives (TNA). A closure period may apply to these records.
Bibliography
- Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
- Urquhart, Gloria (2020) Nobody's Child: The True Story of Growing up in a Yorkshire Children's Home
- Cooke, Allan Institutionalized in a Children's Home: Skellow Hall 1950-1963 — a true story of a child and children in a home (2012, Authorhouse)
- Cummings, Les Forgotten: The Heartrending Story of Life in a Children's Home
- Limbrick, Gudrun The Children of the Homes: a century of Erdington Cottage Homes
Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.