Bethany Cripples Home, Kinver, Staffordshire
The Bethany Home, at Kinver, for hat were then referred to as 'crippled' children, was opened in 1907 by the 'Reverend' E.G. Hexall. The home sometimes also used the name the 'Midland Counties Crippled Children's Home'. Hexall originally planned to purchase the Edge View Hotel for the purpose but he instead acquired a property known as Hyde Hall, Hyde Park, Kinver.
Bethany Cripples Home, Kinver, Staffordshire, c.1910. © Peter Higginbotham
Bethany Cripples Home, Kinver, Staffordshire, c.1910. © Peter Higginbotham
Hexall was a former draper and the pastor of the 'Providence Church', Oldbury. His activities appear to have aroused some suspicions locally. Hexall's church appears to have had no denominational affiliation and his use of the title 'Reverend' was called into question. In May 1907, a local newspaper recalled that in 1905, a Saturday street collection to raise money for the founding of the home had been made in Walsall, with some of the collection boxes in the hands of ragged street urchins who were being paid a commission on the amount collected. A report in May 1908 recorded that collections for 'crippled children' were being made by children on the streets of Tiverton, Devon, some 150 miles from Kinver. In one of the home's annual reports, the unnamed organiser of street collections was recorded as receiving a salary of over £40 in a six-month period.
In 1911, what was described as 'the only crippled children's brass band in the world' travelled from the home in a motor-brake on a money-raising visit to Tewkesbury.
Hexall died in 1915 and bequeathed the home to a local butcher named Richard Davis, who became its superintendent. In July 1919, Davis, was fined £25 after being found guilty of thrashing one the boys in the home, 13-year-ol George Randell, with a walking stick. A doctor who had examined the boy stated that:
His skin was dirty, and there were many flea-bites, old and recent, on the chest, legs and forearms. His scalp was dirty, and so were his feet and legs, the dirt being ingrained and of long standing. The condition of his left leg was poor, due to his deformity — talipes equinis. The boy walked on the ball of his great toe. His boots were old, and the right one was a man's and worn out. His stockings were dirty and in holes, and his clothing was generally poor and dirty. Since being removed to the Union the boy's condition had much improved. His deformity was due to infantile paralysis, but although the condition was incurable it might be considerably Improved by proper treatment. The condition in which he found the boy would cause him unnecessary suffering and injury to his health.
It as also reported seven of the seventeen children then in the home went out to school, the remainder being taught shorthand and typewriting. The chapel in the home was said to have not been opened for the children for at least 18 months, although it was shown to any visitors to the home.
Following the case, the home was closed.
Records
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- None identfied at present — any information welcome.
Bibliography
- Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain s Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
Links
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Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.
