A Catholic Orphanage in Enfield

[lancaster.jim]

The children's home, St Joseph's, Enfield, was run by the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) for the 'social service' arm of the Archdiocese of Westminster - “The Society of the Crusade of Rescue and Homes for Destitute Children”. It has already been pointed out that the records of such establishments have rarely survived. This is because about 1970 the attitude of society to the care of children in need was changing, from large institutions to smaller units, and then to fostering and adoption. The underlying philosophy had been that children in need should be encouraged to start a new life and leave their old one behind. One consequence of this was that records of their earlier life were not considered valuable, and so could be lost (think Windrush!). When it was later realised that people who had been in care or been adopted were helped by knowing of their background, the authorities gathered the surviving records as best they could. For Catholic homes, the diocesan children's services usually were the collectors of these records.

As Enfield is in the Archdiocese of Westminster, I would suggest that you contact the diocesan archive service. This service has a website at https://rcdow.org.uk/diocese/archives/ There are some helpful articles and there is a contact link.

This site suggests that there MIGHT be some records with the religious organisation, in this case the Sisters of Charity. They have a website at https://www.daughtersofcharity.org.uk/ and there is a contact link with a postal address and email address for their archives.

I think it unlikely that records of employment have survived, but if you do not ask you will not know.

[Josephine1951]

I am also looking for 1962 records

[lancaster.jim]

If you are looking for records for St Joseph, Enfield, in 1961, have you contacted the two organisations I mentioned in my earlier post?

If you are looking for records from another institution if you provide some details, one of us may be able to suggest possible sources of information.

There is no central collection of records from child care institutions in the UK

[sandersson434]

Hi all
My name is Louis Boyce
I was brought up at St Joseph in Enfield. I spent 10 years there, from 1949-1959
What was your dads name?

I believe my Uncle was there from 1939-1950. His name is Sam Hayes.

[susanblowers]

Hi Danny

I knew Carmella .
My father was the caretaker there and my mother was the housekeeper. My sister and I used to play with Carmella. I remember her being quite a striking woman with dark hair.
I was born in 1953 so i wasn't that old.
Sue Blowers