Children’s Homes surveys the wide range of institutions that, over the centuries, were used as a substitute for children’s ‘natural’ homes. This includes not only orphanages but a wide range of other establishments run by particular bodies (charities, religious groups, workhouse authorities, occupational groups, local councils, single individuals etc.) or which served particular purposes (penal confinement, moral protection, special training etc). Now, there is much evidence that some children’s institutions were indeed fearful places where children were, at least by present-day standards, badly treated, even if it was often with the best of intentions by those who ran those establishments.
From the Tudor times to the present day, this fascinating book answers questions such as: Who founded and ran all these institutions? Who paid for them? Where have they all gone? What was life like for their inmates? And where can their records be found? Illustrated throughout, Children’s Homes provides an essential account of the previously neglected history of these British institutions.
Published July 2017 by Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1526701350
