Alice Brooke Home for Girls, Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire
The Alice Brooke Home for Girls was opened by the Waifs and Strays Society in 1912 at 6 Belgrave Crescent, Scarborough. The home was established following a substantial bequest to the Society by Mr and Miss Brooke. The money was initially used to support the maintenance of Scarborough children in the Society's other homes. However, the trustees of the legacy decided that the wishes of the donors would be better carried out if a home was actually established in Scarborough. The legal terms of the Brooke will did not permit the funds to be used for the building or purchase of a house but by the generosity of Mr and Mrs J.W. Drew, the way was cleared for the purchase of the property that became the Alice Brooke Home.
The formal opening of the home was carried out on October 7th, 1912, by the Rev. H.F.E. Wigram, with its dedication performed by the Bishop of Hull. The home could accommodate 24 girls aged from 7 to 16 years.

Alice Brooke Home for Girls, Belgrave Crescent, Scarborough, 1912. © Peter Higginbotham

Former Alice Brooke Home for Girls, Belgrave Crescent, Scarborough, 2013. © Peter Higginbotham

Alice Brooke Home for Girls, Belgrave Crescent, Scarborough, 1912. © Peter Higginbotham
During the First World War, the possibility of air raids led to the home being temporarily evacuated to Snainton, near York.
In 1963, the home moved to new out-of-town premises in a former farmhouse at 461 Scalby Road, in the Newby district of Scarborough.

Alice Brooke Home for Girls, Scalby Road, Scarborough, 2013. © Peter Higginbotham
From 1969, the home became mixed and received an influx of boys for the Elm Lodge home near Liverpool which was being closed. The Alice Brooke Home itself closed in 1972.
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.