St Michael's Home for Girls, Shipton under Wychwood, Oxfordshire
The St Michael's Home for Girls, at Milton Lane, Shipton under Wychwood, was opened by the Waifs and Strays Society in April 1900, having relocated from its previous premises at Hemel Hempstead. The home was a certified Industrial School, receiving girls committed there by magistrates.
The new home, located in a former ladies' college, received its official opening and dedication by the Bishop of Reading on June 19th, 1900. The building initially accommodated 30 girls aged from 6 to 14. Its official capacity was increased to 36 in June 1904, and to 40 in May 1906.
The location of the home is shown on the 1921 map below.
As at Hemel Hempstead, the girls received a basic education plus training in various domestic skills such as needlework, knitting, cookery, with the older girls also performing the duties of kitchen-maid and scullery-maid at the home. An official inspection in 1905 found that recitation and geography were 'good', singing was 'very fair', mental arithmetic 'poor', and knitting 'inferior'. A display of physical drill did not impress the inspector who judged the marching and walking as 'not satisfactory'.
In 1924, the home relinquished its status as an Industrial School and became one the Society's ordinary residential homes.
In 1930, the home switched to being a boys' home.
In 1935, it reverted to use as a girls' home when the Society's Lampson Home at East Dulwich was closed and its residents transferred to Shipton under Wychwood.
St Michael's finally closed in 1938. The building no longer survives and housing now covers 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.