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Liverpool Sheltering HomesThe archive (D715) contains Committee minute books 1873-1933, Annual Reports 1873-1907 (including letters received by Mrs Birt from parents and children) and other items 1903-1973
including a 1909 appeal leaflet Our Work in England and Canada and a 1911 Christmas Letter - to our young Folks in Canada
In the late 1860s, Liverpool shipowners Alexander Balfour and Stephen Williamson became concerned at the numbers of destitute and orphaned children in Liverpool. Having heard Annie Macpherson lecture in London on her work concerning child migration, Balfour and another Liverpool shipowner John Houghton approached her to give a lecture in Liverpool. The invitation led to a public meeting held in November 1872, in the Law Association Rooms in Cook Street, at which her sister and colleague Louisa Birt explained the objects and methods of her work. It was resolved that a society be established in Liverpool to further this work, with the fund-raising and management of the home to be kept separate from the London organisation. John Houghton offered the use of premises adjoining the old Byrom Hall Baptist Chapel in Bryom Street, free of both rent and running costs. Formally opened on the 1st May 1873, the purpose of the Liverpool Sheltering Homes was to rescue destitute and neglected children, train them in the home and to accompany groups to a new life in Canada. From Marchmont House in Ontario they were to be placed with good families, but still supervised and visited until they reached the age of eighteen. With the death of John Houghton in 1883, Liverpool Sheltering Homes had to make the payments for the rent and running costs of the premises, which were felt to be overcrowded and unsuitable. Work began to build a new Home in Myrtle Street, formally opened by Mrs Balfour on 16th November 1889, with a further block of adjacent land given to the Homes in 1895. Mrs Birt ceased active work in the Homes in 1911 but the family involvement was continued by her daughter Miss Lilian Birt. Mrs Birt died on the 7th May 1915, aged 74. During Louisa Birt's lifetime an estimated 6000 children were emigrated to Canada by the Liverpool Sheltering Homes [figure quoted in the Christmas Letter, see D.715/11]. The Homes closed temporarily during the First World War, reopening in 1919. Six years later it was amalgamated with Dr Barnardo's, who closed their own Home in Liverpool and operated out of Myrtle Street. Miss Lilian Birt retired at the time of the amalgamation, though continued her involvement in an advisory capacity. After the amalgamation the Home became used as a migration and training centre for boys who had left school before they migrated to Canada. In the late 1920s as migration to Canada ceased, it became used as a home for schoolboys until it was eventually closed in 1935 and the building was purchased by the Corporation of Liverpool for use as a Juvenile Employment Centre. |
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