So, where did I leave you last time? Ah yes, I had discovered that the address given as place of birth on my great grandmother’s birth certificate, was for a Salvation Army’s home for unmarried mothers.

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please go back and read part 1 of this blog: https://whoamifamilytreeresearch.co.uk/2021/10/01/father-unknown-part-1/ )

Ivy House was opened in 1894 by the Salvation Army, in a bid to help the ‘..plight of ‘fallen’ girls and women.‘ Peter Higginbotham’s brilliant website ChildrensHomes.org.uk has a detailed description of the property’s layout: ‘..the basement of the building contained a kitchen, dining room and bathroom for the domestic staff.  On the ground floor were a dining room for midwife pupils and for nursing staff, also used for lectures, together with offices and a convalescent ward.  The first floor housed four lying-in wards, a day nursery, and the Matron’s bed-sitting room.  The toilet, also used as a slop sink, was on the half landing below this floor.  Hot and cold water sinks, used only for soapy water, were fitted in the first floor passage and second floor landing.  On the second floor were the labour room, night nursery, a further lying-in ward and an ante-natal room, also used as a receiving room.  The six wards provided a total of 22 beds plus 12 cots.  The building was lit throughout by gas.  There was no bathroom for the inmates, who made use of moveable baths in the ante-natal room and in the lying-in wards.’

If you haven’t come across Peter Higginbotham before, I urge you to check out ChildrensHomes.org.uk, and it’s sister website Workhouses.org.uk. They are invaluable sources for information on such establishments (as are Peter’s many books).

I decided to chance my luck, and contact the Salvation Army to find out whether they held any records from around 1908 (when Christina Margaret Wilkinson was born).  To my delight I received a reply from a wonderful man by the name of Kevin Pooley, of The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre in London.  He had discovered three separate records relating to my great great grandmother, Florence Wilkinson, and the birth of her daughter Christina. The Applicants’ Secretary Interview Books recorded notes of interviews and correspondence received.  The entry in Book No. 31 (General), 22 Nov 1907 to 17 Mar 1909, Page 173, told me that Florence Wilkinson (aged 25) had telephoned for a form to apply for admission into the home.  She states that she had been led astray under a promise of marriage by Benjamin Hooker (aged 24) of Kingsland Road!  I had found my great great grandfather – and his address!

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Florence stated in her telephone interview, that she would like to be fixed up in ‘situation’ (a job) following the ‘illness’ (pregnancy); and has previously worked in factories, earning between 2-3 shillings a week.  This was a pittance of a wage – far below the average weekly income for women employed in factories at the time. I made notes to follow up researching Florence’s employment history (if any records still existed), and also to investigate Benjamin Hooker, but for now, I wanted to discover as much as I possibly could about Florence’s time in Ivy House.

The two nurses present were Musker and Edwards. Florence’s entry was the first in the register to record the name of a nurse (N.N. Holmes) in the ‘Remarks’ column, but it’s not clear why.  There were some clinical notes about the birth, but I shan’t go into those here. The third record was from the Girls’ Statement Book No. 8, (London), Page 373.  The title is a little misleading, as some of the ladies in Ivy House were actually in their thirties or forties, and some even married. 

After being assessed she was transferred to Ivy House, and following Christina’s birth, she departed the home on 27^th May 1908, taking up a position in service at 1 Park Mansions, St Paul’s Avenue, Cricklewood. The Girls’ Statement Book has a column titled ‘Satisfactory or not at Departure?’ – the comment for Florrie’s entry was ‘Yes!’. This question was typically answered ‘Satisfactory’, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The addition of the exclamation mark suggests that the officer completing the form thought Florrie was much more than just satisfactory.

The book goes on to detail that the baby’s father, Benjamin Hooker, could not be traced, and was therefore not supporting the child. My great grandmother Christina Margaret Wilkinson was sent to a ‘Nursing Mother’ (a sort of wet-nurse cum foster mother) called Mrs. Shivers of 3 Anns Avenue, Old Kent Road, at a cost of 5 shillings per week. The amount was paid in full by Florence, which suggests she was receiving a good income from her position in Cricklewood.

Kevin Pooley told me that it was common for most of the babies born in these homes to be adopted. The Girls’ Statement Book even has columns specifically for recording details of the adoptions. The fact that Florence worked hard to keep her baby, fills me with immense pride.

From other research I’ve conducted, I can reveal that Florence met a widower, Harry Vinton, who had two daughters of his own, and they married in 1909. Florence and Harry went on to have 7 more children together, and my great grandmother Christina, grew up believing Harry was her father.

I’ll be forever grateful to the Salvation Army, not only for keeping such wonderful records (which allowed me over a century later, to discover the branch of my family tree I thought was lost forever), but for taking care of Florence in her time of need, and helping her find employment which made it possible for her to keep her baby.

With exception of the Ivy House image and the photo of my grandfather, the pictures are from the Salvation Army’s periodical The Deliverer, accessed via the British Newspaper Archive. ©The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre.