Essex 1925 ish - Orphanage ?

[lizdb]

If he was at Hutton Poplars, then I am not sure why it would be remembered as Ingatestone? That's a completely separate village a few miles away.  I could understand if it was remembered as Shenfield, as Hutton and Shenfield meet at the railway, and Hutton Poplars is that end of Hutton, not far from the railway station (mentioned in the link I posted earlier, I think), but cant see any reason for Ingatestone to be remembered.

[..claire..]

Hi

From googling orphanage and Ingatestone I found this from another site, wonder if this is what you are looking for

“ The school your relative attended was most probably The Gate House School, Station Lane, Ingatestone. I was there myself from 1940 until 1948. It took boarders, weekly boarders and day boys. It was never considered an orphanage but a private school. The boarders were sponsored by the Post Office Orphan Homes Benevolent Society. We had all lost our fathers who had worked for the GPO “

Looks like the OP who started the thread tried here too

https://www.familytreeforum.com/archive/index.php/t-51848.html?s=0a36ed2720be5f399ec1d60e60292715

Claire

[lizdb]

If so, have a look at

http://www.brentwood.gov.uk/pdf/06022009145001u.pdf

As you scroll down there are various pictures of the gatehouse and plenty of history of the area. Didnt see a particualr reference to it being a school, but didnt read all of it!  Your father in law may recognise it from the pictures though, if this is right.

[andrew burr]

Right - I have my answer, with thanks to another blog I also looked at.  My father-in-law went to a school that had been established in The Gate House Station Lane Ingatestone.  It was not an orphanage - he (and perhaps others) boarded there with fees paid by the Post Office Orphans Benevolent Fund, since his parents died when he was 4 in 1927. This link gives some detail of the history of the building - http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2009/12/ingatestone-george-sherrin-architect.html.  Of especial interest on this link is a picture of the classroom.  The building became a school after the death of its architect and first occupant, which continued to the 1940s.  It took day boys and some boarders.  My father-in-law says there was just the single classroom.  Anyone wanting to see what the property looks like now can go to Rightmove as flats in the complex are often for sale.  I downloaded pictures of back and front from this source.  My father-in-law knew at once it was the right place when I said the name, and he was thrilled to see the pictures - especially of the classroom where, he said, he could point to his desk.  This in spite of the school leaving unhappy memories - it was, he said, where "I spent most of my flippin time"!  He said the building had a full height hallway, with the boys bedrooms off an upstairs gallery.  This area held a grand piano, which the principal often played - being a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists - or whatever its title is/was.  My father-in-law pointed to three small windows on the front, which he said were the music room.  He confirmed that there is large pond at the rear - out of bounds to the boys, but swarming with frogs in the mating season.  He also remembered a terrace across the back of the building which gave a good view over the land at the rear and the pond.  Does anyone else still have a relative who can add to these memories?