Medical dates:

Medical character:

Lorne House opened in 1911 as a Salvation Army Receiving Home for unmarried mothers and their infants.  The leasehold of the building had been given to the Salvation Army by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.

The inmates belonged to a better class than those in other Salvation Army homes.  The charge for their maintenance was £1 a week per person, although some paid only 5 shillings (25p), and some paid nothing at all - the average weekly contribution was 7 shillings (35p).

The expectant mothers were admitted to Ivy House to have their babies, returning with them some three to four weeks later.  Five or six shared a room; a cot was provided for those who had had their babies.

The babies were kept out-of-doors as much as possible, as this was believed to be healthy for them.  If it was raining, their cots were placed in an old greenhouse.

The mothers and their infants remained at Lorne House for about four to six months.  They were then found a positions as domestic servants, while their babies were put out to nurse with carefully selected women.  Salvation Army officers visited the babies regularly to make sure they were treated well.

In 1913, when the Mothers' Hospital opened, the home had 14 young mothers in residence, of whom seven were aged under 16 years, and five under 15 years.

The home probably closed at the outbreak of WW2 in 1939.


Present status (May 2012)

The area was heavily bombed during the war and the house was destroyed.  After the war pre-fabricated housing was built as a temporary housing measure.

The site is now occupied by The Beckers, which was built during the late 1950s and has recently been refurbished.  The original panels were apparently blue.