Author Topic: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies  (Read 43046 times)

Offline James Mac

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #27 on: Monday 04 May 15 22:17 BST (UK) »
Dear Hardrada
I can fully understand that your opinion of Elmleigh is coloured by the fact you left alone, after your stay there. To be honest with you, I was rather young & naive & didn't really understand it all; but I came to fully understand after around 6 months. Initially I was always told by my immediate boss, a pleasant middle aged (at that time) man called Mr Greenwood, to 'don't ask so many questions' and 'mind your own business' whenever I enquired about anything. When I say it took me around 6 months working there to fully understand, I mean this was just my own perception of things i.e. I was aware of virtually all girls leaving without their new born, and also many 'flash' cars turning up & I assumed these were wealthy families who would adopt the children. I must say I am 99.9% sure, to this day, that this was a private business, & was certainly run like one. I am really not sure how NAA have the name attached.
I must also say I was not in the main house very much at all during my employment there, we spent most of the time outside (working) or at the old stables round the back of the house. What I do know for a fact is that NOTHING was ever provided for free there. I remember I was given a hot meal every day, around 4pm (it was brought out to me in the stable house) & I thought this was great. When I received my first pay packet though - we were paid fortnighly every 2nd Friday in those days - I discovered the cost of the daily meal had been deducted from my wages. This continued throughout my period of employment.
Finally, I was thinking hard after reading your post, & I remember the other 2 women (in addition to Lady Glover) were called Francis (I cannot for the life of me think of her surname) - she used to rarely leave the small office; I could always see her through the window at her desk & on the phone; and a Mrs Clarke who was from a village near Kettering, I think (& I cannot for the life of me think of a forename, if I was ever told it). She had greyish hair & was middle aged then. All 3 spoke very well, very well educated I assumed, and extremely wealthy.
With best wishes & I hope any old information I have remembered has been of some help to you.

Offline hardrada

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #28 on: Tuesday 05 May 15 00:06 BST (UK) »
Dear James Mac,

Thank you again for bothering to recall more details.  The second woman sounds to have been Mrs Clarke and she gave every appearance of being a close friend of Lady Glover as well as from the upper middle classes if not the petty gentry. 

The NAS was involved because they managed the adoption side of things - at least they did my son's.  So far as I'm aware, paying to adopt (buying babies) was strictly illegal.  But I don't doubt that those with the means made donations to the home or others like it.

Your having to pay for your lunches doesn't surprise me.  Everything connected to being in the house had to be paid for, the doctor's fee for examining the baby plus any other related costs. 

Lady Glover and her friends clearly had a network of acquaintances and friends who were willing to take in poorer young pregnant women and give them work, pay that all important NI contribution, and pay wages.  Every penny of those wages had to be saved to help pay for the handful of days that I spent within the home before giving birth and the fortnight afterwards.  Those savings joined all of the maternity benefits (if I recall right there was a lump sum and a weekly/monthly amount for about three months) in paying the bill. 

To be honest and fair, Lady Glover and Mrs Clarke knew of my financial situation and when I had to leave a job, go into hospital for observation and bed rest, and then go back to the home for a few days (until they found me a less physically onerous job) they put me up in some kind of chalet or holiday home that was near the house (I think).  For that I did not have to pay (but what I did for food I don't remember).  Then Lady Glover's daughter and family gave me a job as cook in their apartment in London for about three weeks.  It was an easy job with plenty of time for rest. 

Of course, I still had to leave my son behind and that was the aim of the place.

You have really helped and I thank you for it. 

Anne

Offline hardrada

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #29 on: Tuesday 05 May 15 17:40 BST (UK) »
Dear James Mac,

Well, well.  I have just been in contact with Northamptonshire County Council and they have just informed me that Lady Glover was the Chairperson of The National Adoption Society at the time (certainly in 1969 when I was there, possibly over the 1960s and early 1970s).  Thus the very strong connection of Elmleigh to the NAS and very real, but not advertised (among expectant mothers, anyway) purpose of the home.  All about Adoption.

Best regards,

Anne


Offline James Mac

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #30 on: Wednesday 06 May 15 16:20 BST (UK) »
Ah, that makes perfect sense then... Chairman/Woman of the NAA would have had a fair bit of 'clout' in those days, I would imagine. Enough said.
Just a few other minor things I have remembered: Anytime I was required to go to the main house, it was mostly on the ground floor & main office; I rarely ventured to any of the upper floors, probably a few dozen times in total. I do remember in the main office they had small printed booklets, about half the size of an A4 sheet of paper, with a black & white photo of the outside view of the house on the cover, and various other smaller photos inside. This booklet was titled 'Elmleigh Residential Rest Home' (or something very similar), & I remember now, this is why it took me a while to realise the true purpose of the place - it mentioned nothing about adoption, or babies, basically the booklet made it look like some sort of 'holiday home'. They must have posted these to women, as there were boxes of them in the office & also in the main walk-in storage cupboard between the office & the main kitchen. I also now remember the head cook's name, it was a Mrs O'Reilly, if this rings any bells with you. Some days she used to bring out my daily meal to me, but most of the time I collected it from the back kitchen ground floor window. She was quite elderly then (c1971 ish) I remember, although maybe she just looked old to me (I was 19 then).
I also remember the very narrow, winding & steep backstairs, that went all the way from the main kitchen basement up to the top floor accommodation. I assume the house was home to a wealthy family with servants etc long before it became an adoption home.
I hope you can find as much information as you can, & that it is helpful to you. Does any place exist where you can check records, dates, names etc? Surely this can be done if Elmleigh was affiliated to NAA? Or will all of these records have been lost through the passage of time? Anyway, best wishes to you and hopefully some other people who stayed/worked there will read these postings & get in touch with you. I am sorry my memories are pretty sketchy & to be perfectly honest with you this was not a great time in my life, (nor one of my better jobs!) however in hindsight it opened my eyes to the world, in particular how the 'other half' live, & although I had no really bad experiences there (obviously I was not a young woman going there), it is not somewhere I remember too fondly. Best regards, James


Offline hardrada

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #31 on: Friday 08 May 15 18:22 BST (UK) »
First let me thank you for your kind thoughts and comments.  And for your additional memories of Elmleigh.  As they say, every little helps.

I plugged Lady Susan Glover into Google and discovered that she had been, after the closing of Elmleigh and the cessation of the National Adoption Society, a director of four businesses.  When she died (1994-1995) she left well over two million pounds.  Clearly an astute businesswoman. 

It does raise a question about Elmleigh and its status as profit or non-profit given that everything had to be paid for by the single mothers (or whoever paid for those with outside support).  That along with her owning and running Elmleigh as a mother and baby home whilst at the same time being chair of the NAS raises - in my mind at least - ethical issues.

My best regards,

Anne   


Offline Colettebeanz

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #32 on: Tuesday 21 July 15 21:27 BST (UK) »
Hi.
I believe my mum could have been born here. Do any of you remember a lady called daryl waters in 1964 ? I've been searching for my grandparents for so long now . Any help is greatly appreciated . I believe there were 2 birth homes on harlestone road so I don't know if it was this home or the other one. Thanks

Offline hardrada

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #33 on: Tuesday 21 July 15 22:10 BST (UK) »
Dear ColetteBeanz,

I'm afraid that I was in Elmleigh on Harlestone Road in 1969, so would not have met a woman named Daryl (are you certain of the spelling?  Daryl is usually a male name) Waters in 1964. 

You say that you have been unable to find your grandparent(s).  Did your mother get her original, full, birth certificate?  Or even the original short certificate?  Unfortunately I'm unsure about what access, if any, to the original birth/adoption records the children of an adopted parent are permitted. 

Are you even sure of the birth year/place of your mother?  I think that (but cannot swear to) on adoption the new, short birth certificate granted the adoptive parents has, as the place of birth, the location of the adoption order, usually where the court in their own district is situated. 

In my son's case, for instance, I know that the adoption was formalised in Guildford Surrey in April 1970 (I still have the original of the adoption order sent to me by the court).  So I should think that a new "birth" certificate was issued on or around that date giving Surrey as his birth county and the town in which his new parents lived as his birthplace.   (I gather that only a short form certificate is issued and that has only the most basic of details: name, date of birth, town and county of birth.)

If - IF - you wish for some help in trying to find your grandmother and you have access to her name/your mother's original birth name and the year +/- 2, I would be happy to see if I could find her for you in the GRO indexes (I have subs to two very well known genealogical websites, so it is no trouble or expense). 

I'm sorry that you have not been able to find your grandmother so far.

Best regards,

Anne (Reeves)

Offline Colettebeanz

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #34 on: Tuesday 21 July 15 22:16 BST (UK) »
Thank you so much for the reply . I rang the courts where she was adopted and they have located the files and are sending me the details. I'm guessing that will be the original full paperwork? I'm sure the lady said daryl waters but maybe I misheard . I believe my mums original birth name was Angela hill.  She was born dec 1964 in Northampton . I can await the paperwork and give you the details then ? It makes me sad to think she was most likely forced to give up my mum. Were most the girls very young ? How young are we talking ? You're so kind thank you .

Offline Colettebeanz

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Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #35 on: Tuesday 21 July 15 22:17 BST (UK) »
I have the adoption certificate if that helps ?