What image does the word 'orphanage' conjure up in your mind? A sunny
scene of carefree children at play in the grounds of a large ivy-clad
house? Or a forbidding grey edifice whose cowering inmates were ruled
over with a rod of iron by a stern, starched matron? In Children's
Homes, Peter Higginbotham explores the history of the institutions in
Britain that were used as a substitute for children's 'natural' homes.
From the Tudor times to the present day, this fascinating book answers
questions such as: Who founded and ran all these institutions? Who paid
for them? Where have they all gone? And what was life like for their
inmates? Illustrated throughout, Children's Homes provides an essential,
previously overlooked, account of the history of these British
institutions.