St Anne's / St Winifred's Home for Girls, Balham, London
The St Anne's Home for Girls was opened by the Waifs and Strays Society in 1911 at 20 Thornton Road, Balham. The home had previously been located on Clapham Road.
Unfortunately, the home's name caused confusion with other locations in the area and so in 1914 was renamed St Winifred's Home for Girls.
The location of the home is shown on the map below, published in 1916 but still showing the original name.
St Winifred's provided temporary accommodation and other support for up to 40 girls aged from 15 to 21 who were in between posts as domestic servants, or in need of training in order to obtain work.
The home had its own training laundry which was operated by the girls.
In 1921, St Winifred's became the new home of the children and staff from the St Barnabas' Home For Girls in Newark which was being closed.
Girls at the home were given plenty of exercise. Below is a gymnasium class in 1923.
Part of St Winifred's was used as a receiving home for children coming into the Society's care. They were given temporary accommodation until being placed into adoption or transferred to one of the branch homes. In 1925, the receiving home moved into large new premises that were erected in the St Winifred's grounds and became known as the Receiving Home of St Peter and St Paul.
St Winifred's closed in around 1934 although it is believed that the laundry training department continued in operation until the Second World War. The premises were later occupied by the Rudolf Memorial Home.
The St Winifred's building no longer exists and Primrose Court flats now occupy the site.
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.