London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution, St Pancras, London
In around 1871, the London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution (LFPRI) opened a home for "friendless young women, and servants of good character when out of place" at 195 Hampstead Road, St Pancras, London NW1. It could accommodate 16 inmates, aged from 15 to 25. Its opening was made possible by a lady who offered the sum of £50 on condition that the Committee such a home which, unlike most of the Society's other establishments, was not aimed at 'fallen' young women.
By 1912, the establishment had relocated to new premises at New Southgate.
The Hampstead Road buildings no longer survive.
After the Second World War, LFPRI changed its name to the London Haven for Women and Girls. The organisation was wound up in 1976, with its remaining assets being passed to the Rainer Foundation which later became part of Catch22.
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.
- Galleries of Justice, Wolfson Study Centre, The Shire Hall, Lace Market, Nottingham NG1 1HN. Holds Rainer Foundation archives which include LFPRI material.
- The
Ancestry UK
website has two collections of London workhouse records (both name searchable):
- The Find My Past website has workhouse / poor law records for Westminster.
- London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R OHB. Has some records from 200 Euston Road (1907-47). The LMA catalogue notes "previous papers in parcel now missing".
Bibliography
- Thomas, E.W. Twenty-Five Years' Labour Among the Friendless and Fallen (1897)
- Taylor, W.J. The Story of the Homes (1907)
- Bartley, Paula Prostitution: Prevention and Reform in England, 1860-1914 (2000, Routledge)
- Finnegan, Frances Poverty and Prostitution: A Study of Victorian Prostitutes in York (1979, CUP)
- Hopkins, Jane Ellice, Work Among the Lost (1870, William Macintosh) Nokes, Harriet Twenty-Three Years in a House of Mercy (1886, Rivingtons)
- Taylor, William J The Story of the Homes (1907, London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution)
- Thomas, E W Twenty-Five Years' Labour Among the Friendless and Fallen (1897, Shaw)
Links
Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.
