| Description | Birmingham Union opened Marston Green Cottage Homes in 1880 for the purpose of caring for children away from the workhouse. From 1797 to 1852, the Guardians (and their predecessors, the Overseers of the Poor) had provided for the children in an 'Asylum for the Infant Poor' in Summer Lane, an establishment containing accommodation for 400 children. With the building of a new workhouse in 1852 on Birmingham Heath, provision was made for a separate children's block, but overcrowding in the workhouse (originally built to house 1,160 inmates, but by 1891 containing 2,291, and a staff of 86) meant that another solution had to be found. After the failure of a boarding out system, a new approach was taken. In 1878, 43 acres of land were bought in Marston Green, and accommodation for 420 children built upon it. The transfer of children began in January 1880, and the homes continued to operate until 1933, when they were closed down.
GP B/1/1/8 is a printed order sent by the Local Government Board to the Birmingham Board of Guardians. The order contains separate sections on the government of the homes, the officers to be employed within them, and their duties, and printed examples of the forms to be used in the administration of the cottage homes. The volume also contains some hand-written additions to the orders, and some alterations. The volume is not indexed. |