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| From the British Newspaper Archive Morning Advertiser 22 December 1865 The result of the ballot for entry into the Home for Little Boys |
“Alfred Titheridge, inmate, unmarried, age 11, scholar, “no information available” for where born.
Alfred was one of 270 inmates at The Home for Little Boys on the 1871 census. Since first finding this record I have asked the questions “What was the Home for Little Boys? and “Why was Alfred in a Home for Little Boys, 25 miles from home, when both his parents were still alive?”
What was The Home for Little Boys?
In 1863 W H Williams, Robert Culling Hanbury MP and A D Charles met and agreed to create a home for little boys. These three philanthropists wanted to create an alternative to the grim institutions that were available in Victorian London. Unlike the other institutions they planned to only take children under 10 years old, whereas the other institutions only took older boys. They wanted to provide a place for homeless and destitute boys and those that were in danger of falling into crime. The aim was to feed, educate, clothe and train the boys. The children were to be educated “in the fear of God and the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures” but the education was to be unsectarian.
The home was established in 1864, with the original premises situated at Coombes Croft House, on the Tottenham High Road. The first inmates were admitted in April 1864 and by August of that year the home had 77 boys. In less than 2 years the house was full. The committee decided more space was needed and in January 1866 the committee agreed the best land on offer for expansion was in rural Kent, near the Farningham Road Station, in Horton Kirby. They purchased the 19 acres of land for £1800. Later they expanded with the purchase of more acres. On 7 July 1866 Princess Alexandra of Denmark (wife of Edward VII) laid the foundation stone for the new buildings.
The new premises were organised on the “cottage home principal” with a little village of cottages. There was a husband and wife in charge of each house, with 30 boys living under their roof. The first five houses were staffed by a tailor, baker, gardener, farmer and drill sergeant. Other houses were added later making 10 in all and further trades were added to include printing, carpentry, boot making and laundry. Buildings included a school (which was also a chapel), workshop, stores and dwelling houses. The aim was to educate the boys and to teach them a craft and to give them an opportunity to take an apprenticeship in a trade, then send them out to the world equipped for life.
On 5 June 1867 the first four houses at Horton Kirby were complete and the boys were brought from Tottenham to Farningham Road Station. From there they marched a mile to the home, led by a drum and fife band.
The home was financed by subscriptions from benefactors. It took in boys of all ages under 10 and from all backgrounds. The boys that were admitted to the home were destitute, extremely poor and with no means to provide for themselves. Some were orphans, some were forsaken by their parents and in some cases the parents were just unable to look after them. One of the aims of the home was to prevent the boys becoming vagrants or criminals. In the year 1862, in Victorian London, 311 boys under the age of 10 had been apprehended by the Metropolitan Police for a variety of offences. There were certainly more children needing the home than there were spaces.
Admission was done periodically on a ballot system. Each benefactor had one or more vote depending on how much they had donated. A list of applicants was put together and the benefactors voted for who they thought were the most deserving cases. Each child was seen and approved before being added to the list. The particulars of each child were on the voting paper and subscribers were asked to vote on the merits of each case. The children with the most votes in the ballot were awarded places, the number of places depending on the number of vacancies.
For over 80 years the home flourished. However, the Children’s Act of 1948 had an adverse effect on the institution and financial difficulties followed. In 1952 it was taken over by Kent County Council and closed in 1961.
Who was Alfred Titheradge?
Alfred was the son of Edward Eatrill Titheradge. Edward’s family had left Portsmouth in search of work and a better life and had arrived in the Paddington area of London in 1836. They lived in the Moscow Road area of Bayswater. The road was just a quarter of a mile from Queen Victoria’s Royal Kensington Palace, but London brought together the richest houses with the poorest slums. While many of the roads in the area were full of large houses belonging to wealthy men, Moscow Road was an area of poverty. Perhaps not quite the utopia that the family had been hoping for when they left Hampshire.
Edward married Eliza Peters on 31 May 1852 at Paddington, St James. They too settled in Moscow Road, moving around the rented properties. In 1861 they were at 85 Moscow Road, in 1869 at 69 Moscow Road and 1871 at 75 Moscow Road. There is evidence to show that in 1869 Edward and Eliza lived with their children in a small 2 bedroomed terrace property. They shared the house with another family of four. The Titheradges occupied a parlour, one bedroom and a basement kitchen. The front of the property was a little confectioners shop where they made a living. Eliza also took in washing to make enough money to feed the family. The conditions were overcrowded and almost certainly unsanitary and squalid. Edward initially worked as a painter but by 1861 his trade was a plumber. However, Edward suffered from poor health and by 1869 was an invalid suffering what was described as “rheumatic gout”. He was forced to give up plumbing and make his living from the confectioners shop at the front of their house, with his eldest daughter Sarah as the salesperson.
Edward and Eliza had 8 children. These were
• Emma Eliza Titheradge born 1852, died 1862 age 9
• Sarah Ann Titheradge born 1854 died 1910
• Henry John Titheradge born 1855 died 1915
• Annie Sophia Titheradge born 1857 died 1929
• Alfred Titheradge born 1859 died 1902
• Elizabeth Emma Titheradge born 1862 died 1869 age 7
• Emma Eliza Titheradge born 1864 died 1869 age 5
• Edward Hetrell Titheradge born 1866 died 1869 age 3
How did Alfred come to be at the Home?
In December 1865 the family consisted of 6 children Sarah 11, Henry 10, Annie 8, Alfred 6, Elizabeth 3 and Emma 1. Saturday 16 December 1865 was the day that gave Alfred the chance of a new beginning as there was a vote for places at the Home for Little Boys and Alfred’s name was on the ballot paper. We do not know what was written on the ballot paper, but whatever it was must have been very convincing that Alfred needed help. The ballot paper had 33 names and the results gave Alfred 204 votes, the second highest, and he was one of the 6 boys that was given a place at the home. We do not know why he was admitted. Had he got in trouble with the police, perhaps for stealing? Had he run away from home and was a vagrant? Or did his parents request he be taken into the home either because they couldn’t feed all their children or because they could not look after him?
We believe his admission to the home, which was then on Tottenham High Road, was on 22 December, his age just 6 years old. Nothing in known of his life in the home, although research suggests the records exist but are not accessible. Presumably he was clothed, fed and educated. While many of the boys at the home were orphans, Alfred had two parents alive; how he must have missed them and how lonely he must have felt separated from his parents and siblings. It is not clear if parental contact was encouraged but from reading the minutes of the committee meetings it appears that parents were allowed to visit the boys at Christmas but the boys were not allowed to return home. The committee did their best to provide things for the boys and committee meetings show that a space for a playground was provided, that fireworks and bonfires were organized for 5 November and Christmas presents were provided.
Originally at the age of 11 boys had to leave the home, but after a few years this was raised to 13. Alfred celebrated his 13th birthday on 3 September 1862 and he left the home and returned to his parents in Moscow Road. The school records for St Matthews School, Paddington show he began school there on 16 September 1872. The entry showing he had come from the Home for Little Boys, the family were living at 75 Moscow Road and his father was a described as a huckster (a person who sells small items from a stall).
Life after the Home for Little Boys
Alfred returned home to very different family circumstances than he had left seven years earlier. His three youngest siblings had suffered a tragic death while he was away (a topic for another blog) and sister Sarah was married. This left brother Henry age 17 and sister Annie age 15 at home. His father’s health was deteriorating and two years after he arrived home his father died age 42. Two years later his mother remarried. By the 1881 census Alfred was married to Phoebe Perrett and working as a saddler. By 1887 he had emigrated to America, apparently without Phoebe. In Philadelphia he had 8 children with Elizabeth, but sadly all but one of the children died before they were a year old. Alfred died in Philadelphia as the result of a freak accident in 1902 age 42 (details of this can be found at this link).
A new beginning for better or worse?
The story raises many unanswered questions
- How must a 6-year-old child feel when sent away from his parents? And how must a mother feel having to let her 6-year-old son go into a home?
- Did Alfred feel rejected and abandoned when he was sent away or was home life so awful that he felt blessed and realised it was an opportunity for a better life?
- How often, if at all, did he see his parents during the seven years in the home?
- How did he feel when reunited in the family home after 7 years away, happy, or sad? And did he struggle to fit back into family life?
- Did this opportunity of a new start in life at the Home for Little Boys save him from becoming a criminal and ending up in prison or some other institution?
While I appreciate that this new beginning in a children’s home might have provided Alfred with a better life, I find the story very sad. The founders of the Home for Little Boys had the boys’ welfare at heart and offered orphans and destitutes a chance of a new life. In a time when there was no welfare state there can be no doubt that Alfred received food, clothes, education and training which he would not have received if he had stayed at home. However, he paid the price of being separated from the love of his parents, siblings and wider family. How awful to be removed from your family, for whatever reason, at such a tender age.
How lucky we are not to live in Victorian England and to live at a time where there is a welfare state.
