St Aldhelm's Home Printing Works, Frome, Somerset
In around 1893, the Sunnyside Home for Boys at Frome, run by the Waifs and Strays Society, set up a printing facility. This allowed boys at the home to learn the trade of printing, and also provided a useful means for the Society to print its own publications, stationery, posters etc. Printing work was also done for outside organisations and businesses.
When the home moved to a new building at Oakfield Road, Frome, in 1898, a self-contained printing works was set up at the premises, now known as St Aldhelm's Home. Publications printed there were identified as coming from the 'St Aldhelm's Home Press'.
Printing works at St Aldhelm's Home, Frome, c.1923. © Peter Higginbotham
In 1923, the printing facilities was enlarged to make space for extra machines and to take on more apprentices.
Printing works at St Aldhelm's Home, Frome, c.1924. © Peter Higginbotham
Printing works at St Aldhelm's Home, Frome, c.1925. © Peter Higginbotham
In 1926, St Aldhelm's received a group of five aspiring printers transferred from the Society's Gordon Home for Boys at Croydon.
Croydon boys at St Aldhelm's printing works, c.1926. © Peter Higginbotham
Although the St Aldhelm's home closed in 1951, the printing office continued in operation until 1962. The building was then adapted to become St Aldhelm's Hospital, providing care for the elderly. The building has now been converted into flats.
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.
