Metropolitan Asylums Board Small Homes for 'Mental Defectives'
In the mid-1890s, the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) decided to make use of the scattered homes model that was becoming popular with poor law authorities for the housing of pauper children away from the workhouse. The system placed children in family-style groups, under the care of a house 'mother' ot 'father', in ordinary suburban houses. The MAB's scheme was to adopt scattered homes for some of the 'mentally defective' children in its care as an alternative to large institutions such as its residential school at Darenth.
The premises used by the MAB for this purpose included:
| Address | Date of Opening | Accommodation |
|---|---|---|
| Lloyd House, Lloyd Street, Islington N1 | January 16th, 1899 | 20 girls |
| 12 Lloyd Street, Pentonville WC1 | October 18th, 1901 | 8 girls |
| 16 (now 26) Elm Grove, Peckham SE15 | January 25th, 1901 | 14 boys |
| 60-64 Kingwood Road, Fulham SW6 | September 17th, 1900 | 22 boys |
| 81 Earlsfield Road, Wandsworth SW18 | July 17th, 1903 | 10 girls |
| Surrey House, 66 St Ann's Hill, Wandsworth SW18 | December 11th, 1903 | 16 boys |
(16 Elm Grove was renumbered as number 26 in about 1909.)
Lloyd House (left) and 12 (right), Lloyd Street.
Most of the homes appear to have closed by 1910.
Bibliography
- Ayers, Gwendoline, M. (1971) England's First State Hospitals and the Metropolitan Asylums Board (Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, London).
- Powell, Sir Allan (1930) The Metropolitan Asylums Board and its Work, 1867-1930. (MAB, London)
Links
- None.
For US readers 
Unless otherwise indicated, this page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.