North Riding of Yorkshire County Council Homes

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 North Riding County Council's Public Assistance Committee took over the work previously carried out by seventeen Poor Law unions, although not all of these had operated their own children's homes. After reviewing the stock of accommodation it had inherited, the council initially kept five homes in use:

The Malton home was closed in March 1934. At around the same time, the Pickering home transferred to part of the former workhouse site at 5 Whitby Road, where 44 children could be accommodated. The Northallerton home closed in around 1937.

By 1943, a residential nursery for 16 children had been opened in the former workhouse at Dale End House, Kirkbymoorside. The Guisborough home was also now in use as a nursery home. Another establishment, the Oak Mount Nursery Home, with 30 places, was opened at Northallerton in 1944.

Dale End House, Kirkbymoorside. © Peter Higginbotham

By 1947, the Guisborough nursery had relocated to Park Lane and now had 20 places. Three new hostels had also been opened: the Beechgrove Hostel, Malton (22 places); Farmanby House Hostel, Thornton-le-Dale (10); and the Grange Hostel, Strensall (15).

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. As well as its existing accommodation, several new homes and nurseries were opened. The establishments for which the Children's Committee was responsible in 1949 is shown in the table below.

Throxenby Hall, near Scarborough.

Ten years later, in 1959, the stock of children's accommodation comprised:

In 1967, the homes at Thornaby, Grangetown and Eston were transferred to the new Teesside Borough Council.

The 1948 Children's Act recommended taht children in residential care should be placed in 'family group' homes, with at most twelve residents in each, though ideally eight. In 1959, only three of the North Riding Council's homes met or came near this target. By 1972, the two residential nurseries had closed, while the number of children's had reduced to six, with still only three of these having fewer than twelve places. The homes in operation 1972 are listed below.

Oak Tree House, Norman Road, Richmond. © Peter Higginbotham

Following the local government reorganisation that took place in 1974, the North Riding County Council was replaced by the North Yorkshire County Council. The area covered by the council included much of the northern rural part of the West Riding as well as the city of York and the northern and western fringes of the traditional East Riding. A major change in its children's accommodation resulted, with eight establishments being inherited from York Borough Council and one from the former West Riding Council. North Yorkshire Council's children's premises in 1975 comprised:

Children's establishments run at some time in their history by North Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

• The Close Children's Home and Residential Nursery, Northallerton Road, Brompton
• Cherry Tree House Family Group Home, 27 Clynes Road, Grangetown-on-Tees
• Guisborough Union / North Riding Council Home, 109 Bolckow Street, Guisborough*
• Residential Nursery, Guisborough
• Leadhall Grange Residential Nursery, Leadhall Drive, Harrogate
• Willow Tree House, Calf Close, Haxby
• Residential Nursery, Dale End House, Kirkbymoorside
• Beechgrove Hostel / Home, 41 Middlecave Road, Malton
• Malton Union / North Riding Council Cottage Homes, St Leonard's House, 45 Old Maltongate, Malton*
• Eston House Nursery, 236-238 High Street, Middlesbrough
• Northend, Northallerton
• Oak Mount Residential Nursery, Thirsk Road, Northallerton
• Pickering Union / North Riding Council Home, 18 Hall Garth, Pickering*
• 5 Whitby Road, Pickering
• Oak Tree House, 37 Norman Road, Richmond
• Richmond Hill School, Gallowgate, Richmond
• Scarborough Union / North Riding Council Home, 'Sunnyside', Whin Bank, 53 Stepney Road, Scarborough*
• Throxenby Hall, Throxenby Lane, Scarborough
• Rose Tree House, 4 Derwent Road, Skelton-in-Cleveland
• The Grange Hostel, 59 The Village, Strensall
• Thornaby Family Group Home, 36 Northumberland Road, Thornaby-on-Tees
• Thornaby Home, Thorntree House, Bassleton Lane, Thornaby-on-Tees
• Farmanby House Hostel / Home, Roxby Road, Thornton-le-Dale
• 103A Danebury Drive, Acomb, York
• 249 Kingsway North, York
• 6 Nursery Drive, Acomb, York
• 9 Ashford Place, Acomb, York
• St Hilda's Garth Reception Centre, Ousecliffe Gardens, York
• Stockton Hall School, Stockton on the Forest, York
• The Elms, 160 Hull Road, York*

Records

The involvement of local authorities in the running of children's homes dates from 1930, when they took over the running of the poor relief system previously administered by Boards of Guardians. Surviving records for council-run children's homes may be held in each council's own internal archives. Prior to 1991, however, when a legal requirement was introduced for councils to retain records of children leaving their care, the survival of such records is very variable. Contact details for local authorities in the UK can be found on the website of the Care Leavers Association (CLA). The CLA also provides guidance on accessing childhood care files, which are normally only open to the individuals they relate to.

Locating local authority records has been complicated by the various local government reorganizations that have taken place in recent times, such as the abolition of the London County Council in 1965, and the major nationwide restructuring in 1974 in which many administrative areas were created, amended or eliminated.

Older records may sometimes be placed with the relevant county or borough record office. Many of these repositories have online catalogues of their holdings and also contribute to the National Archives' Discovery database. Note that records containing personal data usually have access closed for a period of fifty years or more.

Older material relating to North Riding of Yorkshire Council homes may exist at:

• North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton DL7 8TB.

Some records relating to council-run homes, for example inspection reports (though not resident lists etc.), are held by The National Archives (TNA). A closure period may apply to these records.

Bibliography

• Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
• Urquhart, Gloria (2020) Nobody's Child: The True Story of Growing up in a Yorkshire Children's Home
• Cooke, Allan Institutionalized in a Children's Home: Skellow Hall 1950-1963 — a true story of a child and children in a home (2012, Authorhouse)
• Cummings, Les Forgotten: The Heartrending Story of Life in a Children's Home
• Limbrick, Gudrun The Children of the Homes: a century of Erdington Cottage Homes

Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.

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