Hidden Lives Revealed. A virtual archive - children in care 1881-1981 * Image of handwritten text

Maurice Home For Girls, Ealing

Photograph of Maurice Home For Girls, Ealing

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Maurice Home For Girls, Ealing

7 Mattock Lane, Ealing, Middlesex, London

(1913 - 1938)

In 1912 the Society took over an industrial school at 7 Mattock Lane, Ealing. After some alterations, the premises was opened as the Maurice Home for 28 girls (aged 8-14). When they reached the age of 10, the girls were taught domestic skills by the matron, which usually centred on cooking.

With help from the Honorary Secretary, Mrs Hunt, the girls regularly participated in many local sales that helped finance the Home. They were very proud of their Girl Guides Company, which is believed to be one of the first of its kind in Society. They also participated in the Central Gathering and Bazaar, which the Society held each year to raise money. During the First World War this money was sent directly to British soldiers.

In 1920 the Home stopped operating as an Industrial School due to the decrease in demand for 'committed cases'. The Society evacuated over 500 children from homes in and around London in 1938 and the girls from the Maurice Home were transferred to Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, where they stayed in a house specifically built for evacuees. The Ealing Home was evacuated again at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, but this time to Ascot. With the ongoing threat of war, the Society decided to make Ascot the permanent residence for the girls.

The building in Ealing was reopened as a Receiving Home for toddlers in 1946 and renamed Maurice House Home. In 1972 Maurice Home was closed and the residents moved to Stildon Home, East Grinstead.



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