262 Victoria Park Road Hackney - Adoption

[jim1]

But in 1925 it was a Home for Unmarried Mothers

Is it clear it's a home for unmarried mothers & not a mother & baby home.
There were many in & around the capital often called lying in homes.
These were places where mothers could go prior to birth in order to give birth safely.
These facilities were in response to the high child mortality rates in poorer areas.

[rosie99]

262 Victoria Park Road may well have been a Nursing Home in 1965 as indeed it still is. But in 1925 it was a Home for Unmarried Mothers

Does your evidence for it being an unmarried mothers home in 1925 give any details as to who was running it at that time. 

[rhgarmstrong]

262 Victoria Park Road may well have been a Nursing Home in 1965 as indeed it still is. But in 1925 it was a Home for Unmarried Mothers

Does your evidence for it being an unmarried mothers home in 1925 give any details as to who was running it at that time. 

I don't know who ran the Home although I think it may well have been called St Margaret's.
More than likely some kind of religious connection I would have thought

[rhgarmstrong]

For reference

In other cases, a child born in 1925/1926 before the Adoption Act could have been adopted after 1927 but before the age of 21 by the man who the mother subsequently married.

Yes you have the correct '2nd' husband and address

[rhgarmstrong]

Yes it looks as though she lived with Wilfred Edwards in Banstead, Surrey before their 1940 marriage.

Yes your research is correct

[rhgarmstrong]

Have you got Eva's birthplace and birthdate? Where have you found her in 1911 and 1939?

You could well be correct re Red Herring
For your information - although family folklore says that William John Scott (or JWS)
was a Scot from Aberdeen
I found him in Belfast for certain from 1929-1931

One thought - In the 1911 census in the same house in Petersfield, Hampshire was a 'Visitor'
who was in the Army. I wonder if WJS could also have been a similar 'Visitor' in later years?

[rhgarmstrong]

For your information - although family folklore says that William John Scott (or JWS)
was a Scot from Aberdeen
I found him in Belfast for certain from 1929-1931

One thought - In the 1911 census in the same house in Petersfield, Hampshire was a 'Visitor'
who was in the Army. I wonder if WJS could also have been a similar 'Visitor' in later years?

[dawnsh]

Going back to the original topic about the actual home.

There are a few topics on Rootschat about births there and subsequent adoptions.

including this of a child whose parents were married at the time of conception.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=435225.msg4149503#msg4149503

Internet searching suggests that this was a mother & baby home as well as a nursing home for geriatric patients.

It was privately run and no records exist.

A report on the Wellcome Library site

http://wellcomelibrary.org/moh/report/b19885957/57#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=57&z=-0.514%2C0.5277%2C1.9218%2C0.7502

states that at a much later date, there were only 2 maternity beds, the rest for the chronically sick.

The address is easily found on the 1939 register.

It is hard to establish what relationships were and the scenarios causing the names to be listed there but there were a couple of young single women and interestingly a number of redacted lines but 2 unredacted were shown as later adoptions.

In the days before the welfare state, I would imagine a nursing home approached by someone willing to pay for their confinement might be a better option for the mother than entering the workhouse or maybe a difficult or untimely labour urgently required the assistance of those at the address.

George Oliver & Emma Walker Eldridge, the proprietors, were there from 1934 according to the electoral registers with Mrs Eldridge being a State Registered Nurse and Certified Midwife still listed in the 1960's.

After 1948 but before the 1960's, the Eldridge's might have turned the address into more of a maternity home for unmarried mothers possibly receiving their funding for this service from the state. The lack of records doesn't prove or disprove this suggestion. Maybe they were also receiving fees for their adoption services.

Other internet searches reveal that Hackney Social Services are unable to help further.

[rhgarmstrong]

That really interesting and useful. It looks to have been a very small Home
I am intrigued why in 1925 someone would have a child in Hackney when they were reportedly living in St Pancras. Although not a vast distance, still a fair way away