In 1930, the Boards of Guardians, who had administered the poor relief system in England and Wales since 1834, were abolished and their responsibilities were taken over by county and county borough councils. Each council set up a Public Assistance Committee to oversee its new duties, which included the operation of the various children's establishments previously run by the poor law unions in each area. The Manchester Council's Public Assistance Committee took over the Manchester Union's cottage homes at Styal, where over 700 children could be accommodated, and the Dr Rhodes Memorial Home, the former union's reception homes at Cavendish Road, Withington, which housed 134 children. The council also become responsible for the 'mental home' on Partington Lane, Salford, which had originally formed part of the union's Swinton Industrial Schools, and the union's Rose Hill children's convalescent home, Longley Lane, near Northenden. The latter was then used as a residential nursery.

Former Styal Cottage Homes, 2005. © Peter Higginbotham

By 1938, the Rhodes Home had been replaced by the much smaller premises of the Elmfield Receiving Home, at 23 Upper Lloyd Street, Moss Side, Manchester. During the Second World War, the council began placing children in its care in part of the Swinton Mental Home. By 1945, a second receiving home had been opened on Cambrian Street, Beswick.

Following the passing of the 1948 Children Act, councils were required to provide care services for all needy children in their area, especially those who lacked a normal family home. In common with other local authorities, the council established a new Children's Committee, whose responsibilities had previously been spread across separate Health, Education and Public Assistance Committees. The Committee took over the Styal cottage homes, the Elmfield and Cambrian Street receiving homes, the Rose Hill convalescent home. It also gained responsibility for a number of other children's establishments. These comprised the Brookfield Remand Home for Boys, at Wilmslow Road, Cheadle; the Alder House for Girls, at Burford Road, Whalley Range; and the Mobberley Approved School at Knutsford. At around this date, the council established a hostel for boys at Atherton Old Hall, Old Hall Mill Lane, Leigh.

Outdoor gymnastics at Atherton Old Hall

By 1951, futher new homes had been opened: Lynwood Boys' Home, 11 Holme Road, housed 27 boys, most of whom had been placed by the courts and for whom suitable foster homes could not be found; Broome House Reception and Observation Centre, 779 Wilmslow Road, carried out the assessment of long-stay children aged from 2 to 16 years; Cambrian House, 60 Wood Road, provided short-term care for 25 children; and Oakwood Farm, Styal Road, Styal. The following year, new additions comprised: the Ellerslie Receiving Home, Suffolk Road, Bowdon; Moorfield House Hostel for Girls, 135 Lapwing Lane, Didsbury; Summerhill Hostel for Boys, 60 Palatine Road, Didsbury; Remand Home for Boys, Oakwood Hall, Romiley. In 1955, the Rose Hill nursery was converted for use as a Remand Home for Boys. It was replaced by new premises, known as Royle Green, on an adjacent site at 151 Longley Lane, where 32 under-fives could be accommodated..

Playtime at Cambrian House

The 1948 Act had recommended that where children needed to be in residential care, they should be in 'family group' homes, which ideally accommodated no more than eight children, or twelve at most. In 1953, the council embarked on a programme to build 46 such homes, placed among the new council housing estates being built around the city. By March 1956, there were 27 of homes in operation.Of these, 23 were four-bedroomed houses each accommodating six children, and four were six-bedroomed houses designed to accommodate eight children. The construction programme was finally completed in 1959.

On 1 April 1956, the Styal cottage homes ceased to operate as a large children's home and the seven cottages still in use, with the 43 children accommodated in them, were reorganised and run as seven family groups home. Five of these households subsequently transferred to permanent family group homes, while the other two closed when their housemothers retired. In December 1956, the government reopened the homes as a hostel for Hungarian refugees who came to England in large numbers at the end of 1956. The hostel continued in use until 1959 and the site was then converted for use as the Styal women's prison.