Shaftesbury Society

The Shaftesbury Society was a Christian-based organisation that, during its long history, ran a number of services for children in need, including a number of children's homes / residential schools.

I am endeavouring to compile a list of homes run by the Society. Please do let me know if I have missed any out (I am sure I have!).

Please note that thehomes liosted were not necessarily run by the Shafetsbury Society for the entirety of their history. Responsibiity may have been held by another organisation or authority for periods of time.

Children's Convalescent Home, Beaconsfield

Burton Hill House, Malmesbury. Opened 1947. Closed 
A residential school for girls with disabilities (boys admitted from 1960)
A history of the school can be found here

Shaftesbury School for Little Girls, Royston, Hertfordshire

Opened 1908. Girls were trained in domestic service.
Closed during the First World War or soon after.

The following homes were listed by the society as being open in the annual report of 1925 (above)

Arthur's Home for Girls, Bognor Regis

Victoria Home, Bournemouth

Princess Christian Home, Windsor

Rob Roy Home, Margate

Russell-Cotes School of Recovery, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset

Sandon Home, Chelmsford See below

Southend on Sea

Shaftesbury Society Holiday Home, Hastings

Sea Salter Camp, Whitstable

Shaftesbury Open Air School for Delicate Muscular Dystrophy Children 1923 - 1937, Ashley Camp House, Staples Rd, Loughton See below

Wright-kingsford Home, North Finchley

Beulah Home for Boys, Upper Norwood

See also our page on Shaftesbury Homes

Extract from Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council 1935

Source: Wellcome Library

The experimental camp school for mentally defective children at Loughton was initiated owing to the desire to give the children in the special schools the same advantages as those enjoyed by the children of the ordinary elementary schools.

With the assistance of the Shaftesbury Society, arrangements have been made upon a permanent basis to conduct a residential open-air school at the Society's premises at Sandon Home, Chelmsford. It is intended that the benefits of this home shall not be confined to children from the schools for the mentally defective only, but shall be extended to other classes of special school children, including the physically defective and the partially deaf. The accommodation is for 20 children, and it is
proposed to send from 120 to 200 children a year. The home was opened for the purpose on 26th October, 1935, when 20 mentally defective girls went for a stay of four weeks.

To explore other convalescent homes, have a look at our Directory

LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION?

Some records of the Shaftesbury Society are held by