Shirley Oaks

Having turned up Shirley Schools yesterday (see reference 1), for some reason I carried on poking it around today. It did not seem to be as visible as one might have thought it should be and I was having trouble finding what was on the 1910 map at reference 1 in either today's Ordnance Survey or gmaps. It all seemed to be housing estate. Plus a large field of allotments.

But I did turn stuff up, starting with the silent film at reference 2, where everything looks dandy, at least for the time. Produced by the curiously named 'Bermondsey Borough Council's Health Propaganda Department'. All very Orwellian - but perhaps again, of its time.

I was very struck by this image of the Bermondsey. Presumably the children were not that different from those of Hartlepool whose teeth my father was attending to at about the same time - where it was not uncommon for a child to have lost all their teeth before he or she had left school.

All a far cry from life at Shirley, aka Shirley Oaks, from where the snap above is taken.

And there is a fair amount about the schools to be found at reference 3.

Stuff which, for some reason, is copy protected, but which did include the snip above. The welfare world of the Victorians had moved on and London then Lambeth took over.

It then occurred to me that this might be something to test Gemini on. I had found out a fair amount about these schools, so what would Gemini turn up?

He tells me that:

At the turn of the century, there was a movement away from "barrack-style" institutions. Opened in 1904, Shirley Oaks was designed to look like a normal village street rather than a prison or a hospital.

Which is fair enough - although the village was rather self-contained, in the way, of the mental hospitals of the time, with their own kitchens, workshops, laundries and so forth. But he goes on to tell me that:

While the early 1900s were seen as a period of "progressive" reform for child welfare, the school’s later history (particularly under Lambeth Council in the mid-to-late 20th century) became the subject of major public inquiries due to widespread systemic abuse.

Today, the original school building has been replaced by the Shirley Oaks Hospital, and many of the original cottages have been demolished or converted into private housing in what is now known as Shirley Oaks Village...

 The Numbers: Between 1965 and its closure in 1983, it is estimated that over 500 children were sexually abused at Shirley Oaks alone. Allegations were made against at least 177 adults connected to the home.

So what had started with good intentions, turned out to be quite incapable of stopping widespread abuse. What would now be seen as appropriate management structures and protocols were just not there. No wonder that they chose to knock most of it down. See, for example, reference 4.

There are much more substantial reports at references 8 and 9. That at reference 9 suggests that Lambeth Council was far more interested in picking fights with central government than in looking after the children that should have been in its care. It makes very depressing reading - not that I have done more than turn a few pages. It also provided the aerial view snapped above of the school at Shirley.

With what was the school at the northern end of the site now being the Shirley Oaks hospital, run by the Circle Health Group and to be found at reference 5. And also, a little confusingly, at reference 6. The business of health has moved on too.

I have not yet attempted to check Gemini in detail, but it is clear that he has brought to my attention something that I would otherwise have missed. I would have gone away with the idea of an idyllic model village set in glorious country grounds. Perhaps a little old fashioned, but well meaning and good for its time. Maybe the odd Wellingtonia, after the fashion of the cluster of mental hospitals that we used to have here at Epsom.

Gemini is the source of the snap at the top of this post.

PS 1: perhaps someone should tell the curators of reference 3 that their material ought to be updated. Maybe I will get onto it.

PS 2: Gemini is still reminding me about my passing interest in the granite of Dartmoor, over a year ago now. See reference 10. Why does he keep picking on this one, rather than one of my other passing interests - acorns for instance?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2026/01/news-from-comet.html. 

Reference 2: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-shirley-schools-1929-online. 'The care and education of Bermondsey's orphans and abandoned children - before the introduction of the welfare state'.

Reference 3: https://www.workhouses.org.uk/StOlave/.

Reference 4: 'I have suffered all my life': survivors tell of abuse at Shirley Oaks children's home: Four siblings from one family describe their experiences while in care in south London: Over £46m paid to survivors of abuse at Lambeth children’s homes - Nick Hopkins, Guardian - 2020.

Reference 5: https://www.circlehealthgroup.co.uk/hospitals/shirley-oaks-hospital.

Reference 6: https://www.nhs.uk/services/hospital/shirley-oaks-hospital/NT436.

Reference 7: https://www.iicsa.org.uk/.

Reference 8: The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse - Alexis Jay, Malcolm Evans, Ivor Frank, Drusilla Sharpling - 2022. October. HC720. 450 pages.

Reference 9: Children in the care of Lambeth Council: Investigation Report - Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse - 2021. July. HC704. 230 pages.

Reference 10: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/granite.html.