Now I may be wrong but I think the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges were the first children’s charity to stop migrating children to Canada.
They had started a little later than most and never sent as many as some of the migrating societies.
And in 1916 as part of the cut backs forced on the charity by the war it closed the emigration department indefinitely, having decided that, “for years to come the young men of the nation will all be needed at home.”*
Even more significant was the decision three years later to leave the city and relocate to the countryside.
“An estate of 22 acre has been bought at Cheadle in Cheshire, and it is proposed to adapt the buildings already on the estate to the needs of the children. Part of the estate will be put under cultivation and give employment to some of the elder boys.
The scheme also entails the erection of cottage homes for the use of young children at present compelled to live at orphan homes of the city, and would allow for the establishment of central offices and a central receiving home.”**
This marked a huge shift from an organisation which started as a response to the desperate plight of destitute and needy children into something which sought to integrate young people into the community by sending them to local schools and fostering the links with the area.
But more than this it was a recognition that “the day of great buildings had gone, and collectivism had given place to individualism.
The method now in practice in the Children’s Garden Village was to divide the mass into small families.
In pursuance of this plan two more homes would be ready for occupation in a few months, one giving accommodation for 20 boys and the other for 20 girls.”***
This was to be the Children’s Garden Village and it anticipated both the Curtis Report of 1946, and the Children’s Act of 1948 which put great emphasis on the idea of homes not institutions.
The charity retained a presence in the twin cities of Manchester and Salford but in time it would move completely into what was then still countryside, and underwent a series of name changes culminating with its present title of the Together Trust.
For anyone interested in the history of child care the story of the Trust pretty much charts the changes in how we have cared for young people over the last century and a bit.
The move to Cheadle forms part two of the history of the charity which I am writing with their archivist.****
Now I know this is not strictly British Home Children but it will I suspect prove interesting.
Location; the twin cities and Cheadle.
Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-together-trust.html
*Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes Special Christmas Appeal, Manchester Guardian, December 20 1916
** The Children’s Refuge, A Fifty Years’ Record in Manchester, An Appeal for the Future, Manchester Guardian, March 10, 1920
*** The Children’s Refuges A Manchester Charity’s Year, Manchester Guardian, April 9, 1925
**** A new book on the Together Trust https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20Together%20Trust
 |
| The Children's Garden Village, date unknown |
And in 1916 as part of the cut backs forced on the charity by the war it closed the emigration department indefinitely, having decided that, “for years to come the young men of the nation will all be needed at home.”*
Even more significant was the decision three years later to leave the city and relocate to the countryside.
“An estate of 22 acre has been bought at Cheadle in Cheshire, and it is proposed to adapt the buildings already on the estate to the needs of the children. Part of the estate will be put under cultivation and give employment to some of the elder boys.
 |
| The development in Cheadle |
This marked a huge shift from an organisation which started as a response to the desperate plight of destitute and needy children into something which sought to integrate young people into the community by sending them to local schools and fostering the links with the area.
The method now in practice in the Children’s Garden Village was to divide the mass into small families.
In pursuance of this plan two more homes would be ready for occupation in a few months, one giving accommodation for 20 boys and the other for 20 girls.”***
For anyone interested in the history of child care the story of the Trust pretty much charts the changes in how we have cared for young people over the last century and a bit.
The move to Cheadle forms part two of the history of the charity which I am writing with their archivist.****
Now I know this is not strictly British Home Children but it will I suspect prove interesting.
Location; the twin cities and Cheadle.
Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-together-trust.html
*Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes Special Christmas Appeal, Manchester Guardian, December 20 1916
** The Children’s Refuge, A Fifty Years’ Record in Manchester, An Appeal for the Future, Manchester Guardian, March 10, 1920
*** The Children’s Refuges A Manchester Charity’s Year, Manchester Guardian, April 9, 1925
**** A new book on the Together Trust https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20Together%20Trust
No comments:
Post a Comment