Soldiers' Daughters' Home, Hampstead, Illustrated London News, 19 June 1858.

Soldiers' Daughters' Home, Hampstead

[PB, Nov 2013:What date are these buildings? After 1900, i.e. later than our period?

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Soldiers' Daughters' Home, Hampstead

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The Soldiers' Daughters' Home was instituted in 1855, in connection with the Central Association for the Relief of the Wives and Children of Soldiers on Service in the Crimea, and, as the report tells us, "for the maintenance, clothing, and education of the daughters of soldiers, whether orphans or not." This 'Home' is one of the most popular among the various charitable institutions in the metropolis."

[PB, Nov 2013: EJB wrote the following in 1986 in relation to Katherine O'Brien, possible daughter of 1021 Edward O'Brien, 4th Light Dragoons:]

In 1986, on a chance visit to the churchyard of St. John's, Church Row, Hampstead, a large double-sided monument was seen to Soldiers' Daughters from the Home of that name on Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead.

Over 40 names are recorded, all with the father's unit shown.

The Home was originally the "Soldier's Infant's Home", a charitable organisation opened in 1855 to:

"board, clothe and educate, and for the maintenance of destitute female children, whether orphaned or not, of soldiers in Her Majesty's Army or the East India Company's Army... any girl being eligible who was born during the service of, or subsequent to the honourable discharge of the soldier... Previous to the adoption of a child on the list of candidates, satisfactory proof of the father's military service, the marriage of the parents and subsequent birth of the child, certificate of baptism or otherwise, and no child was placed on a list of candidates unless recommended (in writing) by a Subscriber or Life Governor."

Girls were accepted from infants to 13 years of age - but no child was allowed to remain after reaching 16, nor were two sisters admitted at the same time unless under peculiar circumstances. The average number of girls in the Home was 160. The girls were trained in industrial habits and for domestic service, but scholarships were awarded to the most industrious.

These scholarships were endowed in the names of fallen officers in the Crimea and children instructed as pupil-teachers in the Home were eligible candidates for such scholarships to the value of £20, which they were allowed for two years whilst they were being prepared as Regimental or Parochial-mistresses.

1986: The Home is still in existence, although all the old buildings are now demolished and new ones erected. The Home is now known as the "The Royal Soldiers' Daughters' Home", and is fee-paying, with reduction in the case of hardship. The girls are no longer there under the same conditions as formerly but all the children are daughters of serving or ex-serving soldiers, and whose education would be upset by the movements of their fathers in service life. Educational schooling takes place in local schools, and the Home is now more of a Hostel.

A survey of Hampstead, published 1878, decribed the Home in some detail:

The Soldiers' Daughters' Home was instituted in 1855, in connection with the Central Association for the Relief of the Wives and Children of Soldiers on Service in the Crimea, and, as the report tells us, "for the maintenance, clothing, and education of the daughters of soldiers, whether orphans or not."

This "Home" is one of the most popular among the various charitable institutions in the metropolis. The present buildings, which are spacious, substantial, and well adapted to their purpose, were erected in 1858, from the designs of Mr. Munt, and they have since been enlarged.

The "Home" was inaugurated under the auspices of the late Prince Consort, and has ever since been under the patronage of royalty, including Her Majesty, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and others.

The annual fête on behalf of the institution, held in the charming grounds of the "Home," is attended by the élite of fashion, and has always been quite a gala day at Hampstead.

In 1874 the committee of the institution unanimously resolved to add three girls to the number of admissions into the Home by election, to be called the "Gold Coast Scholars," one from each of the regiments serving in the African war, as a tribute to the gallantry and self-sacrifice displayed by the troops employed under Sir Garnet Wolseley during the campaign in Ashantee.

A fourth scholar from the Royal Marines has since been added.

The Regimental Scholarships' Fund, established in 1864, was then very liberally responded to, but the contributions have since fluctuated greatly. These contributions are all funded; and when they accumulate to a sufficient sum, according to the age of the girl, and to the scale of payment in force, enable regiments to nominate a scholar for direct admission into the Home independently of election.

The average number of girls in the institution is about 150, but there is accommodation for 200 when the income is sufficient for their maintenance.

[Source: 'Hampstead: Rosslyn Hill', Old and New London: Volume 5 (1878), pp. 483-494. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45252 (accessed 29 November 2013).]