Farm Home for Boys, Walsham Le Willows, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
In 1896, the Waifs and Strays Society opened its Farm Home for Boys at Summer Road, Walsham Le Willows, near Bury St Edmunds. The property, formerly the Walsham Hall estate, was donated for the purpose by Bishop Thomas Wilkinson, although the Society had to purchase the estate's buildings. As well as the house and its surrounding gardens, there was a farm of about 150 acres.
On August 3rd, 1896, the Home was certified as an Industrial School, allowing it to take up to 40 boys, aged from 7 to 14, placed there by the courts. Voluntary cases were also received. The first superintendent and matron were Mr and Mrs John Gill. Other resident staff include the schoolmaster, Mr J.L. Fish, plus an assistant matron and a labour master. On the farm were the bailiff, Mr Pulfur, and four labourers. Mrs Pulfur managed the dairy. Stock on the farm in 1897 comprised 16 cows, 5 calves, horses, and a number of pigs.
The School was primarily focused on preparing boys for emigration to Canada. They were trained in agricultural work, with carpentry and tailoring also being added to the curriculum.
An inspection in 1898 noted that a tailor was visiting twice a week and taught four of the boys to repair clothes and make trousers. Two boys were being regularly employed in the garden and 28 boys work on a new vegetable plot on alternate days. Six boys carried out laundry and housework, and 28 were occupied on the farm. A mark system was introduced where good conduct resulted in monetary rewards each month. In November, 1898, Mr Fish was succeeded as schoolmaster by Mr Walter Denny. Physical drill was carried out three times a week and the boys were also taught gymnastics.
In 1902, seven boys at the School were transferred to the Shaftesbury training ship after having expressed a wish to go to sea. In the same year, a drum and fife band was started, several of whose members subsequently went on to careers as military bandsmen.
In the summer of 1907, the superintendent, John Gill, died after a prolonged and serious illness. His widow was subsequently given charge of the School.
Sport played an important part in the boys' activities. The School football and cricket teams played matches against other sides in the area.
Each year, a contingent of the boys was prepared for their emigration.
The home relinquished its status as a Certified Industrial School in 1920 and closed at around the same time. The buildings no longer survive.
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
- Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
- Mahood, Linda Policing Gender, Class and Family: Britain, 1850-1940 (1995, Univeristy of Alberta Press)
- Prahms, Wendy Newcastle Ragged and Industrial School (2006, The History Press)
- 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.