Receiving Home for Boys, Stockwell, London
The Stockwell Receiving Home for Boys was established by the Waifs and Strays Society in 1914 at 197 Clapham Road, Stockwell. It replaced the Islington Technical Home which had relocated to Wellingborough the previous year. The home was formally opened by the Bishop of Southwark on June 3rd, 1914. It could house 30 boys aged from 6 to 14.
Like the Society's other Receiving Homes, Stockwell provided temporary accommodation for children coming into the Society's care. After being assessed, given a medical check-up, a bath and new clothes, the children typically spent two or three weeks at the home before being moved to one of the Society's branch homes or placed in a foster home. In addition, the home provided emergency accommodation for children that needed immediate shelter, and could also be used by 'old boys' of the Society's homes who needed temporary accommodation.
When the Society's Peckham Receiving Home for Boys closed in July 1925, its residents were transferred to the Stockwell home which was subsequently renamed St Cyprian's Home for Boys. However, the home closed just two later in 1927.
The Clapham Road premises no longer exist.
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.