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  1. #1
    sulee
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    Default St Mary's Home. Alton. Hampshire.

    Hi, Does anyone know anything about St Mary's . I have just discovered that after spending most of her childhood in the workhouse my great aunt Louisa Rathbone was sent there in 1911. aged 16.
    It would be good to finally find out what happened to her. Thankyou.

  2. #2
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    There's a reference in the Hants Archives catalogue online. It's rather wordy.

    "Annual Reports of the Winchester Diocesan Union for Preventive and Rescue Work, later Winchester Diocesan Council for Moral Welfare and Winchester Diocesan Council for Social Responsibility... including St Mary's Home, Alton (under the Community of St Mary the Virgin, Wantage)"

    This was an Anglican foundation (nothing at all to do with the Roman Catholic church in Alton called St Mary's)

    The chapel is a listed building.

  3. #3
    sulee
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    Thanks Peter. Hardly seems possible for a young lady raised in the workhouse to have "moral" problems!

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    Was she actually in the workhouse all the time? It was common for children to be boarded out (fostered) and by the age of 16 to have been sent off to work (often domestic service).

  5. #5
    sulee
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    Hi Peter, Unfortunately Yes she was. In 1899 she was in and out of the workhouse in Mint st and Constance road Southwark with her parents. By the 1901 census she was in a scattered home and she was still there in 1905 when she was admitted back to the workhouse because she had scabies. She went back to "Newlands" a month later. In the 1911 census she was still in Constance Road. Her discharge was on 24 April 1911. I have checked her birth, [No birth certificate but the date on the original admittance in 1899] 21-5-1894, she would have been almost 18.

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    Try googling the Children's Homes uk website which has info about st mary's Alton, apparently a Magdalene home.

  7. #7
    sulee
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    Thanks Grisel. I did find that reference to the home, but it still doesn't make any sense. I've tried googling not only why they went into such homes but how long would they stay. I can find nothing. Most of my findings were in Ireland. It really doesn't seem right to label my great aunt as immoral! I am even more curious about her now.

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    Some recordsare at Hampshirerecord office -ref 100M97/C1/1 Annual diocesean union for preventative and rescue work 1914 - 1972. Mentions that st Mary's home was under the community of St Mary the Virgin Wantage.

    Googling that- I came to a photograph from Hampshire libraries of St Mary's, Windmill Hill, Alton with description. States that it was bought in 1910 by the Anglican community of st Mary the Virgin Wantage as a residential training centre for 30 mentally handicapped women and girls.

    Would that be a possibility for Louisa do you think?

    On another site I found reference to it being open from 1910 to 1983 and being home to mentally handicapped girls for 60years - suggesting that may not have beenitsoriginal purpose. That site also stated that there were many baptisms in alton chapel with no mother's or father's name - just st mary's. So maybe Louisa was unfortunately pregnant when she went there?

    Mind you I didn't find any Rathbone births that seemed to fit that scenario..

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    Quote Originally Posted by grisel View Post
    Some recordsare at Hampshirerecord office -ref 100M97/C1/1 Annual diocesean union for preventative and rescue work 1914 - 1972. Mentions that st Mary's home was under the community of St Mary the Virgin Wantage.

    Googling that- I came to a photograph from Hampshire libraries of St Mary's, Windmill Hill, Alton with description. States that it was bought in 1910 by the Anglican community of st Mary the Virgin Wantage as a residential training centre for 30 mentally handicapped women and girls.

    Would that be a possibility for Louisa do you think?

    On another site I found reference to it being open from 1910 to 1983 and being home to mentally handicapped girls for 60years - suggesting that may not have beenitsoriginal purpose. That site also stated that there were many baptisms in alton chapel with no mother's or father's name - just st mary's. So maybe Louisa was unfortunately pregnant when she went there?

    Mind you I didn't find any Rathbone births that seemed to fit that scenario..
    Sorry Peter! I hadn't read your post#2 carefully enough !

  10. #10
    sulee
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    Thanks Grisel. Although it is possible that Louisa conceived a child whilst she was in the workhouse it seems unfair to label her or any other young girl in that situation with an immoral label. Who would make that decision. As for being mentally handicapped.. well there are no others in my dads family [10 siblings and descendants.] But It isn't impossible. Their label would probably cover a lot of illnesses. Were the inmates of these homes ever able to leave? I have never found a death or a marriage for her.

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