Author Topic: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies  (Read 43047 times)

Offline JaneDuston

  • RootsChat Pioneer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #45 on: Sunday 12 November 17 10:28 GMT (UK) »
I spent a short time in Elmleigh as an unmarried teenage mother.  Although I find it hard to remember the actual dates, I do recall my daughter's early fetal movements and she was born summer 1980, so sometime between 1979~1980.
At that time there was an older posh-speaking lady playing housekeeper.  She brought her adult dependent son in with her and I think he gardened.  She came across as helpful, though at times bless 'er I recall her micro~managing the simplist of cooking tasks to be efficient.  There was an older married mum~to~be there who was always drinking tea.  She said she was there to give her unexpected last child up for adoption.  Also a new teenage mother arrived with her new born (she had been taken totally by suprise by her child's existence and birth).  She seemed to be going back to her parents home shortly afterwards with her son.  I stayed in a huge downstairs room at the back of the house.  The walls were painted orange (I think it might have been a converted garage).  I was to use the smallish spiral type, a servants back staircase up to the bathrooms.  The bathrooms only gave out a small amount of hot water.  The home just seemed so stripped back to the past and quite austere.  Of an evening the TV played host to "Tales of the unexpected" and I would go to bed early, wake early and listen to the birds singing.  I was happy to be reunited with my mother before my daughter was born, and although we were looking forward to bringing baby up, she died at a few days old.  The past has gone, the future isn't here yet, today is always the moment to live in, peacefully and fully.

Offline MelodieAnita

  • RootsChat Pioneer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #46 on: Tuesday 15 January 19 16:11 GMT (UK) »
Wow!  I can't believe I've found this about Elmleigh!  My mother worked at this mother and baby home when I was about 9 years old in 1977.  She was a kind of "in house" mother and we lived in a couple of rooms in the home and my mother was the one that the pregnant girls would come and wake up if they went into labour during the night when no other staff were around.  I can remember the cook at the home was called Mrs Thorpe or Thorn and her daughter, who was a similar age to me, was called Emily.  I can't remember any of the names of the very young mothers but I can remember being very intrigued by all these young mums and I used to lay awake at night listening to some of them crying through the night because their babies had been taken away from them or hearing parents rowing with the teenagers about the disgrace and shame they had brought on the family by getting pregnant out of wedlock etc.  I don't know how long we lived there for but I have never forgotten the time.  There was a children's home next door and I went to school locally somewhere with Emily and some of the children from next door.  Memories.

Offline PMD

  • RootsChat Pioneer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #47 on: Friday 11 June 21 13:02 BST (UK) »
I have only just found this thread but in view of all the recent publicity around Forced Adoption, it would be good to get in touch with others that have been in this situation, particularly at Elmleigh in Northampton.

Offline Kingy553326

  • RootsChat Pioneer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #48 on: Friday 02 July 21 23:21 BST (UK) »
Miss J B Baker (Social Worker)
Miss D M Dye (General Secretary)
Mrs Clarke (role unknown; assumed senior as she transferred me, as a baby, to my foster mother)


Offline Chris Perkins

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 5
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #49 on: Saturday 20 November 21 16:54 GMT (UK) »
I think that in the 1950's / 1960's there was a home for unmarried girls in Holyrood Rd, off Harlestone Rd. Northampton.

Offline TravelDog

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 68
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #50 on: Saturday 29 January 22 18:50 GMT (UK) »

Offline Lululady

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 2
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #51 on: Saturday 16 July 22 00:01 BST (UK) »
Dear all, following the news programmes today and much talk about adoptions and mother and baby homes, I began to look into Elmleigh House where I was 16 years old, pregnant and sent here by my family as they were horrified at my becoming pregnant. My parents told family and friends that I was at Agricultural college, until I was able to return home. I was here in Jan-March 1980. It has been very interesting reading these posts. I must admit that i’m now nearly 60 years old and I feel so naive at the prospect of my baby possibly being sold to wealthy people who could not have their own children. My memories are of the lovely gardens with very tall trees and squirrels. I remember someone I called matron who used to sit in the office. It was to her that we went to get our allowance, i do not remember how much it was, but the rest of the money paid for our stay. I remember sharing cooking and cleaning duties, cleaning the windows with newspaper and vinegar. I remember some of the young mothers keeping their babies and living in one room. When I arrived I was in an attic room and as I got bigger I moved to the ground floor. I remember the lounge and tv and a picture on the wall, it was of a very young child with tears from his eyes, not a photo but a painting. I copied this myself and still have it. I only remember one young girl who became my friend. Her name was Helen and she called her baby James, she had her baby after me and she came from London. I would love to hear more about Elmleigh. I also went back to visit once when I was working in the area in early 1990’s i would have been and by then it had been split into two residential properties.

Offline LynneP1960

  • RootsChat Pioneer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #52 on: Saturday 03 September 22 09:51 BST (UK) »
Hi Traceyelizabeth, I was born in St Saviours too .. April 24th 1960

Offline Poppins

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 3
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: N0RTHAMPTON - Home for illegitimate babies
« Reply #53 on: Saturday 14 January 23 09:49 GMT (UK) »
Please can anyone remember a woman called Hilary who was there at Elmleigh in November 1963 ? .