Archives and Records
So far I have only looked at the records for the years for which my mum was in the Homes. There is still plenty of research to be done as I have not viewed every record listed below - that's half the fun: looking through the original sources - (I couldn't take your enjoyment away!) I have detailed them to give you a flavour of what is out there waiting for you.
Firstly the bad news: the records for the Cottage Homes after 1930, when the London County Council took over from the Shoreditch Board of Guardians, are CLOSED, but see below. Their reasoning is, that many people in the records from that time are still living.
The good news, for some, is that they have not closed the records pre-1930, (although there are people in the records who are still living, my mum, for example.) A little more good news in that the records are now on ancestry.co.uk, of course you have to pay to view but are free to view online at London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives or perhaps your local library may subscribe.
To view on ancestry.co.uk:
London, England, Poor Law and Board of Guardian Records, 1430-1930
Select Hackney, then Shoreditch, for Cottage Homes records.
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1557
You can take out a fourteen day free-trial on ancestry.
Many thanks to Dee Lodge, a member of our facebook group, for this invaluable information:
I have found the address for you any person that wants to get hold of their records during their time in the cottage homes.
I contacted Family Placement Services in 1996 and was able to obtain my and my siblings records.
Family Placement Services
Hannah Long House
23 Swedenborg Gardens
Wapping
London E1 8 HP
They did have to pass this over for acceptance with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Social Services Fostering and Adoption dept.
I have also another address for the Greater London records office which holds coded cards relating to each child.
Head Archivist
London Metropolitan Archives
40 Northampton Road
London
EC1R OHB
Phone: 0171 606 3030
I do hope this will be of help to you all.
A word of WARNING. You will be asked questions as to why you want your records, sadly the comments written about each child from their social worker can be very personal and very unpleasant to read, hence records will not be given out freely, they would prefer that your records are sent to a councillor who will talk to you before access to your records.
Good Luck x
LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx
SHOREDITCH BOARD OF GUARDIANS Catalogue Ref. SHBG Creator(s): Shoreditch Guardians of the Poor, 1858-1868 Shoreditch Board of Guardians, 1868-1929
Minutes of the Board and its Committees:
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes. Visiting Committee, signed minutes - ref. SHBG/91/1-16 - date: 1889-1930
Reports of Committees
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes Visiting Committee - ref. SHBG/102/1-3 - date: 1889-1902
BOARD MISCELLANEA
FILE - Printed report of Visiting Committee of Hornchurch Cottage Homes and statement of expenditure - ref. SHBG/110 - date: 1892
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes, programme of events, childrens sports - ref. SHBG/111/1-4 - date: 1897, 1900 1911, 1914
Orders of and Correspondence with Government Departments
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes, regulations and accounts - ref. SHBG/121/1-2 - date: 1889
Financial and Statistical Records
FILE - Return of expenditure, Cottage Homes, Hornchurch - ref. SHBG/180 - date: 1908-1914
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes, weekly wages - ref. SHBG/191/1-9 - date: 1900-1930 [Access Conditions] DESTROYED (Oh! dear, what a shame.)
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes, monthly salaries - ref. SHBG/191/10-23 - date: 1914-1930 [Access Conditions] DESTROYED
FILE - Returns, reports, etc., for Cottage Homes, Hornchurch - ref. SHBG/199 - date: 1906-1929
Staff Records
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes, list of officers and servants - ref. SHBG/209/1 - date: 1889-1912
FILE - Hornchurch Cottage Homes, list of officers and servants - ref. SHBG/209/2 - date: Early 20th century
Plans
FILE - Cottage Homes Hornchurch, contract drawings - ref. SHBG/211/1-11 - date: 1925
HORNCHURCH CHILDREN'S HOME: MINUTES AND PAPERS
HORNCHURCH CHILDREN'S HOME: ADMISSION AND DISCHARGE REGISTERS
Hornchurch Children's Home: REPORTS FILE - General survey of establishments transferred from the Poor Law authorities, 1930 - Survey report and block plan on each establishment - Vols 4&5 - Residential Schools and Children's Homes transferred from Boards of Guardians and Poor Law School Districts - ref. LCC/CL/ESTAB/2/88 & 89 [n.d.]
Education Officer's Department: SPECIAL SCHOOLS
General
FILE - Residential schools and homes - welfare of friendless children - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/17 - date: 1934
FILE - Corporal punishment in transferred residential schools and homes - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/22 - date: 1935-1936
FILE - Dietary at residential schools and homes - correspondence with establishments - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/32 - date: 1932-1935
FILE - Dietary at residential schools and homes - bread, flour - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/33 - date: 1935-1936
FILE - Dietary at residential schools and homes - butter and margarine - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/34 - date: 1934-1935
FILE - Dietary at residential schools and homes - fish - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/35 - date: 1935-1936
FILE - Dietary at residential schools and homes - meat - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/36 - date: 1932-1937
FILE - Dietary at residential schools and homes - vegetables and fruit - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/37 - date: 1936
FILE - Residential schools and homes - Holiday camps - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/38 - date: 1919-1948
FILE - Residential schools and homes - Holiday camps - specific cases - ref. LCC/EO/SS/1/40 - date: 1934-1937
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Box 9; Entertainments, holidays, etc. - General Files
FILE - School journeys for residential schoolchildren - ref. LCC/CH/M/9/6 - date: 1937-39
FILE - Transferred children's homes - Reports on institutions prior to transfer - ref. LCC/EO/SS/8/13 - date: 1930
FILE - SHBG/209/2 LIST OF OFFICERS AND SERVANTS
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COMPTROLLER OF THE COUNCIL'S DEPARTMENT: SUBJECT AND POLICY
Registers of staff transferred from the Poor Law authorities on 1 April 1930 (showing details of dates of birth and appointment, pay, allowances and emoluments and superannuation and other deductions) - ref. LCC/CO/GEN/9 FILE - Bermondsey Board of Guardians - Shoreditch Board of Guardians - ref. LCC/CO/GEN/9/20 - date: 1 Apr 1930
Box 8; Boarding-out and after-care - General files
FILE - Placing and after-care of girls - difficult cases - ref. LCC/CH/M/8/4 - date: 1934-40 FILE - Holidays of girls with wages subsidised by the Council (Homes for working girls) - ref. LCC/CH/M/8/6 - date: 1937-1939
FILE - Poor Law staffs transferred to L.C.C in 1930 under Local Government Act, 1929 - Questionnaire sent to Poor Law authorities on 1 Jany 1930 - Shoreditch - Summary - ref. LCC/CL/ESTAB/1/51 - date: 1930
SHBG/164/05 Whole file is UNFIT - (too fragile) REGISTER OF CHILDREN ( I'll check it out to see if they have made it fit to view)
LCC/CH/E/HOR/1/5 Hornchurch Children's Home: photographs (3 photographs - that's all!)
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SHBG/161/10 Admission and Discharge Register
SHBG/168 Clothing & Bedding
SHBG/163/02 Creed Register
SHBG/167/01 Exempted Girls Emp. Bk
SHBG/169 STock & Stores
LCC/CH/M/82 After Care
LCC/CH/M/18/1 Emigration
LCC/CH/E/GR/8 Reg Girls Placed In Emp
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EXTRACT FROM A REPORT ON DOMESTIC SUBJECTS RE NEEDLEWORK: 27th MAY 1915
"Standards were good. The children need more material. Many of the pinafores are made of strong linen which is difficult for the children to handle."
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"OUR LONDON POOR LAW SCHOOLS" BY W.MONNINGTON AND F.J. LAMPARD
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Registers of paid staff MH9
Correspondence with Poor Law authorities MH12
ESSEX RECORD OFFICE
D/P 115/1/18 St. Leonard's Cottage Homes Hornchurch; baptism of residents, 1931 1931-1937
2 D/P 115/1/17 St. Leonard's Cottage Homes Hornchurch; baptisms of residents, 1920-1930 1920-1931
3 D/P 115/1/16 St. Leonard's Cottage Homes Hornchurch; baptisms of residents, 1907-1919 1895-1920
Full title: Diets in poor law children's homes, November 1931
http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref8580.html (link broken)
"In generals the children in the various types of Homes were better fed than they would have been in ordinary homes,, of a like class, though the standard of feeding was better in Northern than in SOuthern Homes. The food supplied was sufficient. The main faults were due to a desire to keep cooking down to a minimum, a lack of knowledge of food values and a tendency to monotony. Almost all the first-class protein was content rated into the midday meal; there should be a more equable distribution of nutritive values over the meals, and hot breakfasts should be provided. A pint of milk per day per child should be allowed, and an ample supply of vegetables, and green vegetables and raw fruit provided. The weekly cost of the suggested meals, including milk, would be 4s 6 and a half d. per head if provisions were bought at contract prices.
Full title: Criticism and improvements of diets, December 1932
http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref8581.html (link broken)
Medical Officers are often asked to pronounce upon the nutritional value of a diet, and the memo indicates useful lines of criticism and means of improvement. THe diet may be that of an individual, but is more likely to be that of a group of people in an institution. A satisfactory diet must yield 3,000 calories and 37 grams of first-cass protein per man per day (with proportionate amounts for women and boys and girls of various ages), contain proper proportions of protein, fat, carbohydrates and the minimum quantities of specified minerals and vitamins. TO be satisfactory, a diet must satisfy all these essentials and no defect in one essential can be compensated for by excess in another.
Full title:Nutrition, 1934
http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref8582.html (link broken)
The recommendations (see above ed.) of 3000 calories for an average 'man' were intended only as a rough guide to M.Os. to assist them in planning the nutrition of communities and institutions under their charge (some containing people leading comparatively inactive lives) and were not meant to be applied to individuals or single families; and they did not contain any suggestions of a financial nature. The BMA's Report on Nutrition set out the minimum weekly expenditure on foodstuffs, based on 3,400 calories, which must be incurred by families of different sizes if working capacity were to be maintained. The conference put forward a sliding scale of calories required by persons of varying age and type of work, as a basis on which to determine the needs of individuals. (a little difference of opinion going on there I think Ed.)
HACKNEY ARCHIVES
http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ca-archives.htm#.VUnjrvlViko
ST.LEONARD, SHOREDITCH.
Catalogue Ref. P/L
Creator(s):
St Leonard Parish, Shoreditch, Records of the Trustees of the Poor. - ref. P/L/P FILE - Cottage Homes, Hornchurch: Report of the Visiting Committee, and Statement of Expenditure. - ref. P/L/P/19 - date: Apr.1891 - Mar.1892.
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BATHS AND WASH-HOUSES COMMISSIONERS, LATER COMMITTEE PITFIELD STREET BATHS AND WASH-HOUSES (and LIBRARY) FILE - Letter from Clerk to Guardian to Vestry Clerk, concerning use of Hornchurch Cottage Homes Band. - ref. L/B/83 - date: 23 Apr 1897