The Changing Face of Hornchurch

Tony Benton, (Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1999).

Extract reproduced with kind permission from Tony Benton

From July 1921 the North Street school took in older children from the Hornchurch Cottage Homes, who had previously been taught at the Homes separate school. This change was not a success as in 1924 the Inspector felt that most of the sixty Cottage Homes girls, nearly one-third of the girls school roll, were backward for their age and that their presence seriously affected the organisation of the school and the quality of work. The school formed a special class of older girls, mainly made up of those from the Cottage Homes.

The Hornchurch Cottage Homes had been built for children in their care by the Guardians of Shoreditch, St Leonard's Poor Law Union on the eighty-six acre estate and farm of Harrow Lodge, bought from Edward Dawson in May 1886 for £6,300. The Guardians developed about four acres as a small scale self-contained village of cottages, a school and other facilities at a cost of over £48,000. Sixty acres were let to a local farmer and the rest kept to grow all the garden produce needed to support the homes.

At the opening ceremony on 28 August 1889, Prof Stuart MP, described the buildings as places where "the homeless would be brought up without the fear and away from the shadow of the workhouse", allowing the children the chance to "escape the taint of pauperism and to become faithful citizens of the country they loved", and to "take the first step which would lead to a decent citizenship". At the entrance was a porter's lodge and a probationary ward in which the newly arrived children spent two weeks before transferring to one of the cottage homes flanking the main avenue through the site. Each of the cottage homes (initially there were eleven with two added later) was meant to be a home in itself, housing up to thirty children in three rooms under the care of a foster mother. There was an infirmary, an isolation hospital, where children were kept when suffering from the numerous infectious diseases then common, a school and a chapel. Each child attended elementary school before being trained in a "suitable" trade. The girls learned "household duties" under the instruction of their foster mother, while the boys were trained by an industrial tutor (usually the husband of one of the foster mothers) in either shoemaking and mending, painting and decorating, baking, gardening, or as a mechanic. The Superintendent was in overall charge, James Cowley being the first Superintendent at an initial salary of £170 p.a., with his wife Elizabeth, employed as Matron at £80 p.a.

Cottages were either occupied by girls and younger boys, or by boys alone. The girls' homes were named after flowers or plants (Hawthorne, Laurel, Woodbine, Rose, Ivy and Myrtle) and were usually looked after by a foster mother alone, helped by the older girls. The boys' homes had more masculine names of famous characters (Wellington, Nelson, Milton, Landseer and Napier) and were headed by both a foster mother and her husband. Life in the homes was the subject of the 1900 novel A son of the state by Pett Ridge.

Children leaving the homes were provided with clothing for their first year and regular checks were made on their progress. After leaving many boys entered army and navy service, some transferring to one of the training ships moored on the Thames, such as the HMS Goliath or HMS Chichester. Many boys found places in military bands due to the training they received in the Homes' thriving band. At any time up to forty boys were in training under the eye of Matthew Larter, bandmaster until 1910, or his successor Henry Allden. However the practice which this involved was not always viewed positively by the school inspector who in 1922 urged that "if possible, the boys should not be taken for band practice during school hours". The training under the foster mother was meant to prepare the girls for domestic service. But in 1909 the visiting school inspector reported that "knowledge of domestic subjects is acquired in a somewhat casual and haphazard manner".

Administratively, the Hornchurch Cottage Homes passed to the London County Council in 1930, transferring to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets when local government in London was reorganised in 1965. Changing practices in the 1970s led to more children being fostered in the community, and for a decreasing need for children's homes. Finally in 1984 the London Borough of Tower Hamlets closed the home and sold the site for development. Planning permission was granted for the development of 250 homes on the site, provided the cottage homes were restored and formed part of the scheme. A new housing development known as St Leonard's Hamlet sprang up during the late 1980s, but during the declining housing market of the early 1990s, the developers dragged their heels on the commitment to restore the Victorian buildings which gradually fell into disrepair. Following pressure from the local council and an upturn in the housing market, the former Cottage Homes were converted into residential accommodation from 1993 onwards, securing the future of this unique part of Hornchurch's heritage.

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