Stevenson Orphanage
The Stevenson family and the Female Orphans' Home
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This piece of work was inspired by the photo below, which I found recently in the papers of my grandparents, along with some other photos and documents relating to the Stevenson family. This article relates to the Female Orphans' Home of St John's Wood, Walthamstow, Elstree, Rickmansworth and Hampton, founded by Joseph Stevenson in 1855.
Schopwick Place
On the back of some of these photos was written 'Our old home at Elstree Herts' and 'Walter', which was intriguing as we knew something about Walter Stevenson, but not that he lived in such a grand house. From a visit to Elstree my mother discovered that the house is Schopwick Place, whose previous included an orphanage, a school dormitory, the home of Sir Percy Everett (who founded the Scout movement with Lord Baden Powell) and a doctor's surgery. It has now been carefully restored to its full glory and enhanced by Norman Schuker.
Walter and Annie Stevenson: 'Walter' was Joseph Walter Stevenson, husband of Annie Squire, my grandfather's aunt. In 1897 they opened The Orchard tea garden in Grantchester, where in 1909 for 18 months Rupert Brooke the poet was their lodger. Annie's sister Bessie Harriet was my great grandmother, and Uncle Walter and Auntie Annie were well known to my grandfather, and to a lesser extent my mother. I was interested to know when Walter had lived at this lovely grand house as there was no knowledge in the family of the Stevensons living in Elstree. My grandfather Kennedy Tew was relatively close to his aunt and uncle and as far as we were aware had never mentioned Elstree, so I wanted to find out more. Once I started looking, it turned out there was a much more interesting story than just where where they had lived; one of philanthropy, scores of orphans and intense missionary zeal.
My link to Joseph Stevenson
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| Joseph Stevenson 1813-1859 |
Walter Stevenson 1862-1937 |
Annie Squire c1855-1945 |
Bessie Harriet Squire 1869-1909 |
Kennedy Tew 1898-1995 |
Helen Tew |
Paul Orton |
Once I started looking into the Stevensons and Schopwick Place I found the 1871 census which told me that Walter's brothers Henry and Herbert were born at Elstree, presumably Schopwick Place, which was then confirmed by Henry's birth certificate. When I found the family in 1861, Joseph was living with his wife in Walthamstow- he is an accountant and she is running an orphanage of 25 children. This was a surprise as there had been no mention of an orphanage in the family. Assuming that the orphanage had moved with them to Elstree, I visited Hertfordshire Archives and the Elstree Museum where the only knowledge of the orphanage was in a book extract which described the orphanage's origins, which the people at the museum gave me. After further research including a visit to the British Library, help from a book seller in Scotland, use of Ancestry.com, some free internet resources and some details I had not noticed from the family papers, the following is the story of the orphanage so far.
Joseph Stevenson
Joseph Stevenson was born in 1813 in Beaconsfield, Bucks. He was (according to 'Sunday at Home') a very active man. Before he set up the orphanage he had already established a free day school for the poor children of his neglected neighbourhood. The article says that word soon got round and applications came in on behalf of orphans, and Joseph was led to help them, and lead them into Christianity. This is supported by the 1851 census, where Joseph is living with his morther, a schoolmistress, at Wills Road Sydenham with his two sisters Mary and Sarah along with six boys- Thomas Bedenark(?) 9, Arthur Thomas 7, Thomas Beeton 7, Raj Mead(?) 4, Henry Grancy 6 and Edward Grancy 1. The birthplaces of the boys were not known, except Raj from Sydenham. This could have been some sort of orphanage, or perhaps the free day school with some residents.
Indentures
There were some apprenticeship documents in my grandfather's papers which may relate to boys in Joseph's care in the 1850's. The names don't correspond with any I have seen in the 1851 census or elsewhere though.
The 'Sunday at Home' article (see below) writes about Joseph, before he opened the orphanage, frequently travelling along the London streets 'seeking to save the lost'. One cold night in March he was asked to buy a 'box of lucifers' from a fourteen year old girl. Taken aback by her obvious need, her lack of warm clothing and manner very different from the usual professional beggars, he pitied her. At her home he found a horrifying spectacle of misery fit for a Dickens novel. He gave some aid and went back the next evening with a friend to see if they could rescue her from 'beggary and inevitable vice and crime'. The girl's mother, a soldier's widow, had that day been arrested and was now in prison for leaving one of her starving children on the steps of the workhouse door. Joseph's neighbours took charge of the girl, and her sister was taken to the Rescue Society.
The Home for Destitute Orphans and Fatherless Girls
In late 1855 Joseph Stevenson, a City accountant, was living with his mother in a London suburb. Joseph came across three girls whose parents had died of cholera. He was able to place the two older girls in orphanages but the baby was too young to be taken in so he arranged for a Christian family in St. John's Wood to take her in, Joseph paying the costs. This was the origin of the orphanage. I have not yet found the address in St. John's Wood though.
By April 1859 Joseph was living at Cowley Road, North Brixton. One article claimed that the orphanage had relocated to Brixton, but I have not found evidence of this yet. On 19 April 1859 Joseph, a 45 year old bachelor, was married in the Anglican chapelry of Christchurch, Brixton Road, Kennington, to Charlotte Whitten from Colchester, aged only 19. She was living at Nelson Square, Blackfriars Road at the time. I wonder where Joseph and Charlotte met- she wasn't an orphan, but she gave her age as being at least 21, which was untrue. This may have been done to either avoid having to get parental consent or possibly as a effort-saving measure by the incumbent. Either way the register they signed was false in this respect, which conflicts with their religious beliefs. The marriage was by licence, which might give a little more information.
The married couple had two children whilst they lived in Newington- Charlotte Mary in about July 1860 and (Joseph) Walter at the beginning of 1862.
However in April 1861 the family is living at the Home for Destitute Orphans and Fatherless Girls at Higham Hill, Walthamstow. Joseph is an accountant, as described in the articles, and Charlotte is the Superintendent, with two resident staff. Details are shown below.
Also in 1861 at 7 Wiltshire Place, Lambeth, is Joseph's mother Mary and his sisters Mary and Sarah, both unmarried fancy workers in their early forties. With them are four girls- Mary Ann Edwards 11 (Cambridge) 'visitor'; the rest were desrcribed as boarders- Charlotte W Bishop 8 (birthplace not known); Elizabeth Willilliams 7 (Barnet? in Middlesex); Sarah Hannah 6 (Brayton? Surrey). This seems to be an extension of the orphanage.
Schopwick Place, Elstree
Between early 1862 and December 1864 the family and therefore the orphanage moved to Schopwick Place, Elstree, where Henry (middle name Estoteville, after his grandmother) was born, and Herbert Clifford in August 1868 ('by the church' according to the birth certificate). All the supporting articles refer to the orphanage as being at Elstree, and it seems safe to take it that the orphanage was at Schopwick Place. The house would have just been suitable for an orphanage of this size. My trip to Hertfordshire Archives provided no supporting evidence for the family or orphanage in Elstree from trade sirectories or voting registers, nor was there any specific knowledge of it at Elstree Museum. The Elstree parish register documents may be worth looking at to find supporting evidence, also any surviving local newspapers from the period.
According to 'Sunday at Home', when the home was at Elstree Joseph opened schools for the village children, engaged missionaries and scripture readers to visit the poor and distributed thousands of tracts both locally and to the country at large, spending hundreds of pounds in publishing and purchasing tracts for this purpose. I would like to find some evidence of this.
Frogmore House, Rickmansworth
Between August 1868 and September 1869 the orphanage relocated to Frogmore House, Frogmore Hill, Rickmansworth, where the freehold had been obtained. However, gastric fever hit the orphanage, affecting fifteen orphans, two of Joseph's children and Joseph himself. Joseph recovered enough to take a break in Ramsgate but he suffered a relapse there and died on 19 September 1859, at 3 Bedford Villas.
He wrote his will on the 15th, and left effects under £200, which backs the 'Sunday at Home' claim that he made no provision for the future of his family, deeeming it a burden that belonged not to him but to his god. He left what little there was to his wife and children. As the orphanage is not mentioned in the will it was probably already being run as a separate entitity in some way.
Daniel Cooper of Clarendon Villa, Woodford, Essex, one of the witnesses of the will, became took over the paperwork of the orphanage (his occupation in 1871 was 'Secretary to a Benevolent Society') until his death in 1883 [sources- ET article, Joseph's will and census information]. In 1871 Sarah Luscombe, a 53 year-old widow was Superintendent, with her 18-year old son and 44 orphan girls:
Mary Ann Tulott[?], servant, u, 32, General Domestic Servant b.Athefterers[?] Somerset [1838/9] William Thomas Tulott[?], servant[?], m, 27, Labourer on Farm ayl[?] b.Lambeth MDX [1843/4]
The 'Handbook to the Environs of London' describes the orphanage in Rickmansworth up to 1876: at Batchworth hamlet, Rickmansworth: there are large paper mills, wharf on the canal, the goods station of the railway, and at Frogmore Hill, the Female Orphan Home for 50 orphans.
Tangley Park, Hampton
At some point the orphanage moved from Rickmansworth to a freehold premises at Tangley Park Farm, Hampton, into the 'Royal Hotel' which had been built but never opened as such. According to the Twickenham museum's website the intended hotel became a Female Orphan Home in 1869. This needs clarification as the orphanage seems to still be in Rickmansworth in around 1876- I suppose it is possible that they ran concurrently but it seems unlikely. [The 1871 census may help, and the Twickenham museum may have more information]. The reason for the move is not yet known.
The first confirmation of the orphanage being at Tangley Park is from the 1880 edition of 'Dickens' Dictionary of the Thames': [Enter text]
Residents of the orphanage
| 1861 Walthamstow | 1871 | 1881 | |
| Kate Wilson, Nusery Governess | |||
| Mary Madden, Servant | |||
| Sara A Corrigan 14, Mile End | Margaret Colley 13, Australia | Elizabeth Woodward 14, n/k | |
| Louisa Corrigan 9, Mile End |
Sophia Stanbury 14, Peymouth? |
Rose Blakeborough 12, Leyton | |
| Harriet Corrigan 7, Mile End |
Eliza Ann Sell 12, Richmond |
Jane Williams 14, Wales | |
| Elizabeth Corrigan 6, Mile End |
Elizabeth Harris 14, Micklefield? |
Dora Megnall 13, n/k | |
| Jane Somerville 10, St Georges E | Catherine Harris 12, London |
Harriet Geldings? 11, n/k | |
| Ann Somerville 8, St Georges E |
Eliza Adey 13, Reading |
Annie Martin, 12, Paddington | |
| Mary A Somerville 5, St. Georges E |
Jane Christian 13, Pimlico |
Amy Read 12, n/k | |
| Mary Collie 7, Australia | Betsey Berci[?] 11, Stepney |
Mary A Sexton 14, Windsor | |
| Margaret Collie 4, Australia |
Susannah Croft 10, Ipswich |
Susanna Gikes 13, Clerkenwell | |
| Annie E Alsop 10, Hoxton | Mary Ann Read 13, Hemel Hempstead |
Catherine Lewis 12, Raspwater? Mdx | |
| Catherine A Goodwin 10, Marylebone | Margaret McGettican 14, Bishopsgate |
Annie Berman 11, Oxfordshire? | |
| Hannah Beck 9, Hammersmith | Lidia Pye 15, Woodford, Essex |
Edith Bowerman? 10, Oxfordshire? | |
| Grace Beal 7, Westminster | Elizabeth Edwards 10, Walthamstow |
Lavenia Culmore 13, Barking | |
| Sarah E Cracknell 11, Cambridge | Plpa[??] Cox 12, Woodford, Essex |
Martha Culmore 11, Barking | |
| Mary A Pearce 8, Hoxton | Harriot Hopewell 14, Nottingham |
Emma Culmore 9, Barking | |
| Mary A Wiles(?) 7, Marylebone | Fanny Hine 11, Beaconsfield Suffolk? |
Ada Jane Rooke 10, Windsor | |
| Ann L Scaife 10, Vauxhall | Emily Murray 12, Scotland |
Alice Powell 11, n/k | |
| Angelina Arnold 4, Camberwell | Ellen Howlett 10, Colchester |
Elizabeth Hulett 10, n/k | |
| Janet Smith 11, Scotland | Emma Howlett 8, Colchester |
Amy Sear 13, Parris? Gate, Kent | |
| Eva Lawrance 10,- Reading | Sarah An Gardener 14, Braintree |
Lavina? Buckam 9, Roystone | |
| Emma Page 9, n/k | Helia[?] Dunn 9, Ireland |
Burtha Murrey 7, Rickmansworth | |
| Rose Symons 9, n/k | Mary Ann Stokes 13, Stepney |
Minnie Leer? 10, n/k | |
| Louisa MA Briggs 5, n/k | Susannah Bridges 13, London |
Minnie Max 10, Roystone | |
| Louisa Cruze 8, n/k | Charlotte Dent 10, Mile End |
Mary Luntham? 12, Rickmansworth | |
| Emma A Alford 11, n/k | Henrietta Parsons 9, Reading |
Emma Miller 10, n/k | |
| Jane Bridges 6, London |
Pricilla Hatton 11?, n/k | ||
| Caroline Jane Thompson 9, Brighton |
Edith Rewas? 8, Bayswater | ||
| 1861- 7 Wiltshire Place, Lambeth | Mary Jane Thompson 8, Brighton |
Fanny Percy Jones 10, n/k | |
| Mary Ann Edwards 11, Cambridge | Ada Johnson 10, Stepney |
Elizabeth Beisler? 12, Rickmansworth | |
| Charlotte W Bishop 8, n/k | Hannah Brown 10, Old Penton, Notts |
Ann Beisler? 11, Rickmansworth | |
| Elizabeth Williams 7, Barnet? | Mary Brown 8, Old Penton, Notts |
Florence Wormsley 10, Chelsea | |
| Sarah Hannah 6, Brayton? Surrey | Amy Dora Mary Rilor[?] 7, Maidstone |
Mary Boethwick 12, Rickmansworth | |
| Louisa Jane Hyllier 9 Paddingon |
Fany T Cliffce? 7, Birmingham | ||
| Emma Morris 5 Kensington |
Jane Bissit 8, n/k | ||
| Elizabeth Banes[?] 10, Regents St | Marie Clinton 7, n/k | ||
| Sarah Margaret Barker 10, Bermondsey |
Lavisa? Slator 8, n/k | ||
| Sibella Francis Casten 8, St Johns Wood |
Edith Dodson? 6, n/k | ||
| Kate Gratten[?] 7, Islington |
Elizabeth Seen 9, Ramsgate | ||
| Elizabeth Woodcoord[?] 4, Walthamstow |
Alice Seaker 6, Kingston | ||
| Ada Matilda Hobbs 9, Wales |
Minnie Blair 4, Bermondsey | ||
| Mary Ann Morgan 10, Dalston MDX |
Annie Noakes 8, n/k | ||
| Harriet Hannah Heaviside 8, Darlington |
Julie Caster 9, n/k | ||
| Eva Caster 5, n/k | |||
| Clara Knowles 11, Matlock | |||
| Florence Brodie 8, Paddington | |||
| Anna Brodie 5, Paddington | |||
| Rose Arrowsmith 11, Cheltenham | |||
| Ada Styles 4, Berckley? Kent | |||
| Emily Dalnford? 4, Reading | |||
| Edith Knowles 6, Duley? Norfolk | |||
| Mary Fancy 9, Richmond | |||
| Grace Powell 6, Lambeth | |||
| Margaret Collie 22, Gen. servant, Australia | |||
| Mary Phelp 40, Housemaid, Truro | |||
| Mary Porter 21, Cook, Wanstead |
Known Events
Joseph Stevenson was born in Beaconsfield, Bucks to a Joseph Stevenson and Greenwich-born Mary Estoteville in about September 1813. The portrait above is of him, as underneath it is written 'My Father- HES'. HES was Joseph's son Henry.
Joseph Stevenson was born in Beaconsfield, Bucks to a Joseph Stevenson and Greenwich-born Mary Estoteville in about September 1813. The portrait above is of him, as underneath it is written 'My Father- HES'. HES was Joseph's son Henry.
1851: Wills Road, Sydenham
In 1851 Joseph, an accountant aged 37, was living with his mother Mary, a 71 year old widowed schoolmistress, at Wills Road, Sydenham and his two sisters Mary, 32, and Sarah, 31, both unmarried, all three born at Beaconsfield. Also living with them were six boys- Thomas Bedenark[?] 9, Arthur Thomas 7, Thomas Beeton 7, Henry Grancy 6, Mead Raj[?] 4 (born Sydenham) and Edward Grancy 1. I don't know if these were orphans, but one article said he ran a day school at some point.
In 1851 Joseph, an accountant aged 37, was living with his mother Mary, a 71 year old widowed schoolmistress, at Wills Road, Sydenham and his two sisters Mary, 32, and Sarah, 31, both unmarried, all three born at Beaconsfield. Also living with them were six boys- Thomas Bedenark[?] 9, Arthur Thomas 7, Thomas Beeton 7, Henry Grancy 6, Mead Raj[?] 4 (born Sydenham) and Edward Grancy 1. I don't know if these were orphans, but one article said he ran a day school at some point.
Indentures:
There were some indentures in my grandfather's possession which I believe may have been in Joseph's possession, which implies the boys may have been placed by Joseph. The names do not correspond with the names in the 1851 census above.
Move to Brixton: Some time after late 1855 and before 19 April 1859 the orphanage may have moved to Brixton.
1859: Marriage of Joseph and Charlotte, 19 April
Joseph Stevenson married Charlotte Whitten in the Anglican chapelry of Christchurch, Brixton Rd., Kennington by licence. Witnesses were Thomas, Mary and Sarah Stevenson. Mary could have been Joseph's mother or sister, and Sarah was post likely his sister. Both parties are recorded as being of full age, Joseph actually being about 45 and Charlotte only 19. He was a bachelor, living at Cowley Rd., North Brixton, father Joseph Stevenson, Gentleman (who was dead by 1851). Charlotte was a spinster, living at Nelson Square, Blackfriars Rd., father James Whitten, farmer.
- Charlotte presumably didn't want to have to provide parental consent, for some reason. I wonder if Charlotte could have been the fourteen year old in the Sunday at Home article? She would have been 14 in 1853-4, but she was no orphan as her father was a farmer.
Charlotte's family
Charlotte was born in Colchester, Essex in early 1840. In 1841 and 1851 the family is living in Colchester. Charlotte was born around July 1839 living with her parents and sister in 1851 (and with brother George in 1841, aged 10). Her father James was a journeyman shoeing smith, born in Colchester c.1810. Her mother Mary Ann a non-resident house cleaner (charwoman), born in Gt. Oakley, Essex c.1803. Sister Hannah was born in Colchester c.1837.
1859: Marriage of Joseph and Charlotte, 19 April
Joseph Stevenson married Charlotte Whitten in the Anglican chapelry of Christchurch, Brixton Rd., Kennington by licence. Witnesses were Thomas, Mary and Sarah Stevenson. Mary could have been Joseph's mother or sister, and Sarah was post likely his sister. Both parties are recorded as being of full age, Joseph actually being about 45 and Charlotte only 19. He was a bachelor, living at Cowley Rd., North Brixton, father Joseph Stevenson, Gentleman (who was dead by 1851). Charlotte was a spinster, living at Nelson Square, Blackfriars Rd., father James Whitten, farmer.
- Charlotte presumably didn't want to have to provide parental consent, for some reason. I wonder if Charlotte could have been the fourteen year old in the Sunday at Home article? She would have been 14 in 1853-4, but she was no orphan as her father was a farmer.
Charlotte's family
Charlotte was born in Colchester, Essex in early 1840. In 1841 and 1851 the family is living in Colchester. Charlotte was born around July 1839 living with her parents and sister in 1851 (and with brother George in 1841, aged 10). Her father James was a journeyman shoeing smith, born in Colchester c.1810. Her mother Mary Ann a non-resident house cleaner (charwoman), born in Gt. Oakley, Essex c.1803. Sister Hannah was born in Colchester c.1837.
1860: Charlotte Mary born, probably July
Charlotte Mary Stevenson was born about July 1860, the birth being registered in in Newington RD. [1861 census and FreeBMD- Q3 1860. Her birth cert. might give info on where they were living.]
Move to Walthamstow probably between about July 1860 and April 1861
The orphanage moved from Brixton to Walthamstow, where it ran for five years before moving to Elstree.
I have yet to find this original orphanage- it could have been in Newington, where Joseph and Charlotte's first two children were born in 1860 and 1862, or in Walthamstow where the orphanage was in 1861. Certainly he was living with his mother in 1851 in Walthamstow. [NB There is a death of a Mary Stevenson in Newington in Q2 1854, which is not Joseph's mother. Could this be Joseph's first wife?- No- he didn't have one]
1861: Home for Destitute Orphans and Fatherless Girls, Walthamstow
In the 1861 census Joseph is an accountant, aged 47. Charlotte, now 21, is the Superintendent of a House for Destitute Orphans and Fatherless Girls in Higham Hill, Walthamstow. In the household is their daughter Charlotte, 9 months, Kate Wilson the Nursery Governess and servant Mary Madden. There are also 25 girls aged between 4 and 14, including one group of three sisters and one group of four. [I am hoping to make a trip to Waltham Forest Archives in due course to see if there is more information to be found]
The girl who was originally taken in as a baby in (late) 1855 would probably now be about six. [check girls of about this age in list]
1861: 7, Wiltshire Place, Lambeth
In 1861 Mary Stevenson is an Annuitant, living at No. 7 Wiltshire Place, Lambeth, with daughters Mary and Sarah (both unmarried Fancy Workers) and four girls from 6 to 11, seemingly not family members. Was this an extension of the orphanage?
1862: Walter born, Newington
Walter's birth was registered in Q1 1862 in Newington. [The birth certificate may help]
1862-4: Move to Schopwick Place, Elstree
Joseph and Charlotte moved to Elstree after the two children were born in Newington/ Kennington. They were living at 'Shopwick Place' when Henry Estoteville was born on 27 December 1864, and 'near the church'- presumably still Schopwick Place, when Herbert Clifford was born on 20 August 1868. For each the birthplace is given just as Elstree.
The orphanage must therefore have moved to Schopwick Place between early 1862 and 27 December 1864. Next steps- go through the parish minutes for Elstree.
According to the Sunday at Home .....
Schopwick Place
Schopwick Place in Elstree is next to the parish church. It was built around 1722, and is famous for being the home of Sir Percy Everett, who effectively set up the Scout movement under Lord Baden Powell. Sir Percy bought Schopwick Place in 1921 from a Mr. Kershaw and his daughter Winn lived there until her death in 1998 [from The Wynn Everett Story by Avril Chick, 1999]. It is now owned by Norman Shuker, who has restored the house to more than its former glory, and kindly arranged for me to be shown round the house in March 2009.
1868/9: Move to Frogmore House, Batchworth, Rickmansworth
The orphanage moved from Elstree to Frogmore House, Rickmansworth at some point between August 1868 (birth of Herbert) and September 1869 (Joseph's death). The 'Sunday at Home' article stated that gastric fever hit the orphanage not long after the move, and Joseph caught it, was in remission, and then died from it (on 19 September 1869). The site now appears to be a Tesco superstore.
1869: Joseph Stevenson's Death
Joseph died on 19 Sep 1869 at 3 Bedford Villas, Ramsgate, Kent. The family were living at the time at Frogmore House, Rickmansworth, where his widow Charlotte was living. His effects were valued at less than £200, which backs up the Sunday at Home claim that he made no plans for his family's future. He left everything to his wife (the sole executrix) and children. The article said that he was in remission from gastric fever, sojourning at Ramsgate. He wrote his will on 15 Sept, so he obviously knew the end might be nigh. The witnesses to the will were Daniel Cooper of Clarendon Villa, Woodford, Essex and Annie A Pawley, 2 Bedford Villas, Ramsgate, Kent.
Daniel Cooper took over the running of the orphanage at this point. [find in census]
1871: Frogmore, Batchworth
In 1871 the orphanage is next to Frogmore Wharf and Frogmore Cottage (so presumably still Frogmore House), Batchworth, Rickmansworth, being run by Sarah Luscombe (who still runs it in 1881 in Hampton). [Enter details from 1871 census, Rickmansworth]
1876: Frogmore, Batchworth
Handbook to the Environs of London, Part 1, 1876: Rickmansworth: Batchworth hamlet. S. of the town and the Grand Junction Canal there are large paper mills, wharf on the canal, the goods station of the railway, and at Frogmore Hill, the Female Orphan Home for 50 orphans.
1869?-1880: Move to Tangley Park
The orphanage moved at some point to Tangley Park Farm in Hampton, for which it had obtained the freehold. Information from the Twickenham Museum's website tells us that the Royal Hotel (which never opened as such) in 1869 became a Female Orphan Home. The building was demolished in either 1936 or in the 1960's. The building seems to have also been called Tangley Park Farm, Old Farm House, Newhouse, Newhouse Farm, Chalk Farm, Marling Park Estate and The Old House. The untitled book (see above) tells us that the orphanage transferred there from Rickmansworth, but I also wonder whether this orphanage could have opened whilst the Rickmansworth one was still open.
Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to the Nore, for the years 1880-1894 inclusive. At Tangley Park, near Hampton, is the Female Orphans' Home, the object of which is to train children for domestic service. All children of the ages from 4 to 10, who have lost both parents, and have no relatives able to provide for them, are eligible for admission. There is no election, but candidates are received as vacancies occur. The present number is limited to 50. The institution is supported by subscriptions. [1886 was not in the collection at the British Library]
In 1881 the orphanage is at Hanworth Road, Hampton, being run by Sarah Luscombe, widow. [Enter details]
1883: Death of Daniel Cooper. Mr JD Cooper succeeded his father, and assisted by a Board of Management sought to further the interest and welfare of the Home and its inmates until 1912, when the present [in ca. 1916] Secretary was appointed.
1841: I haven't found Joseph or his father yet. [Joseph may have been a teacher lodging at Forden?, Minested Tything, Minested Lodge, Redbridge, Hampshire. No other family members there. No positive confirmation that this is him though.]
In 1859 Joseph married 1859: Marriage of Joseph and Charlotte, 19 April
Joseph Stevenson married Charlotte Whitten in the Anglican chapelry of Christchurch, Brixton Rd., Kennington by licence. Witnesses were Thomas, Mary and Sarah Stevenson [who were these?]. Both are recorded as being of full age, Joseph actually being about 45 and Charlotte only 19. He was a bachelor, living at Cowley Rd., North Brixton, father Joseph Stevenson, Gentleman. She was a spinster, living at Nelson Square, Blackfriars Rd., father James Whitten, farmer.- Charlotte presumably didn't want to have to provide parental consent, for some reason. I wonder if Charlotte could have been the fourteen year old in the Sunday at Home article? She would have been 14 in 1853-4, although her father was described in ...... as a deceased soldier, whereas Charlotte's was a farmer in .....
The 'Sunday at Home', 1870.
Early in my research I came across an article giving much background information on Walter STevenson's father, Joseph (1813-1869). The article says that he spent much of his spare time in visiting the poor- he came across a family where both parents died of cholera, and he saved the three girls from the workhouse by getting the older two in an orphanage, but the youngest was too young, and as a last resort placed her with a Christian family, paying the costs himself. This took place in late 1855. [The Sunday at Home says fourteen years ago, backed up by a different article [I have not found the title yet] which puts it at late 1855, which is consistent.] From this developed the Female Orphan House of Elstree, then Rickmansworth.
Early in my research I came across an article giving much background information on Walter STevenson's father, Joseph (1813-1869). The article says that he spent much of his spare time in visiting the poor- he came across a family where both parents died of cholera, and he saved the three girls from the workhouse by getting the older two in an orphanage, but the youngest was too young, and as a last resort placed her with a Christian family, paying the costs himself. This took place in late 1855. [The Sunday at Home says fourteen years ago, backed up by a different article [I have not found the title yet] which puts it at late 1855, which is consistent.] From this developed the Female Orphan House of Elstree, then Rickmansworth.
Joseph died in the autumn of 1869, and had already established a free day school for the poor children of his neglected neighbourhood, when he undertook the cause of the orphans. Word soon got round and applications came in on behalf of orphans. Joseph was led by his religion to make every effort to help these children and lead them into Christianity. He therefore established the “Female Orphans’ Home”, which grew over the years until there were around fifty.
When the home was in Elstree he opened schools for the village children, engaged missionaries and Scripture readers to visit the poor and distributed thousands of tracts locally and to the country at large, spending hundreds of pounds in publishing and purchasing tracts for this purpose.
The children were not just orphans- in one case he took on the children of a jealous husband who killed his wife in a drunken attack, and the four girls were later restored to the reformed father in 'the distant land to which he was banished', presumably Australia. More than a hundred children passed through the home, and completed their training under his care. He was by profession a city accountant, and in addition to his business he collected around £1,000 a year for the orphanage.
Before the orphanage Joseph used to travel the London streets 'seeking to save the lost'. One cold night in March he was asked to buy a 'box of lucifers' from a fourteen year old girl. Taken aback by her obvious need, her lack of warm clothing and manner very different from the usual professional beggars, he pitied her. At her home he found a horrifying spectacle of misery fit for a Dickens novel. He gave some aid and went back the next evening with a friend to see if they could rescue her from 'beggary and inevitable vice and crime'. The girl's mother, a soldier's widow, had that day been arrested and was now in prison for leaving one of her starving children on the steps of the workhouse door. Joseph's neighbours took charge of the girl, and her sister was taken to the Rescue Society. [I need to look into this organisation]
Not long after the home moved to Rickmansworth gastric fever 'laid low' [I assume this means that they were ill, but all recovered. There was no sign of any likely deaths on FreeBMD.] fifteen of the orphans and two of Joseph's own children. Joseph also fell foul of it, recovering enough to take a break in Ramsgate, where he suffered a relapse and died. At that time there were forty-two in the orphanage. Joseph, had made no provision for the future of his family, deeming it a burden which did not belong to him, but to God.
[The 'Sunday at Home' by the Religious Tract Society, vol. 17, 1870, pages 74-5, dated 1 January 1870. PHotocopy provided very kindly for me by Peter and Rachel Reynolds of Dingwall.]
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