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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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The Berhampore
Children's Home was built as an orphanage in 1912. Its single building,
surrounded by six hectares (15 acres) of land, housed up to 50 children. Two more buildings, for
older boys and for girls, were added later. By 1923 there were 103 children
in fulltime care in the three buildings. As well as taking in
orphans, the home later opened to children from families who were unable to
support them. Eventually, the boys'
and girls' homes merged into one at the Top House, formerly the boys' home.
But when numbers dwindled, the home was moved to the Bottom House. The Top House was used
as a women's hostel from 1962 and was later leased as a halfway house till
the upstairs portion was gutted by fire in 1989. The building was bulldozed
18 months later. Walter Lake, who was
made an OBE for social services and who was a justice of the peace, took over
the running of the home in 1959 and was there till shortly before it closed
in 1985. --------------- Captions:
An
institution: The home, which was set up as an orphanage, but later took
children from families who could not support them. |
