Albion Hill Home, Brighton

[yvonneinherts]

Hi everyone

My uncle was born in 1924 in Albion Hill Home, could anyone tell me more about the place

I'm assuming its a home for Unmarried mothers as my Uncle was illigetimate.

I tried searching the name but it just comes up with the area in Brighton

Many thanks

[Elaine ..Spain]

There is a reference to it on a document at the TNA -

CHILDREN: Reformatory schools run by the Church Army: Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, Old Southgate, London; London Cottage, Albion Hill Home, Brighton; St Elizabeth's West Drive, Brighton
Covering dates 1913-1922

I wonder if the following link is the same place -
My Brighton and Hove | Places | Streets | Queen Square | St Mary's Home

Update: There is a reference to it on that page:
In 1868 a new building, the Brighton Home for Female Penitents, was opened on the eastern side of Finsbury Road where it was generally known as the Albion Hill Home.

[Jill on the A272]

I'm sure you will already have come across this by googling,

My Brighton and Hove | Areas | Albion Hill | Introduction to Albion Hill | History, 1900s-1990

there are many knowledgeable locals on that site, if you post a question they may be able to help

I see Elaine & I are thinking along the same lines

[yvonneinherts]

thanks for the link Elaine and Jill, I did look on the site earlier but didn't find the home mentioned but had another look with Elaine's link and there's a reference to Albion Hill Home run by nuns.

[tanawj]

Hoping somebody is still interested in this subject, I found my grandmother listed as "inmate" in the 1911 census. She was one of 72 persons listed there. The home was in Finsbury Road at that time, and my grandmother's name was Hazel Aldous, born USA (Dubuque, Iowa - 1895). I would love to find a new, as yet unknown to me, descendant of hers. She was a wonderful lady (in spite of a very strange and tragic life), I adored her. Sadly she died when I was but 7 in 1954. Hoping something comes from this.

[Catherine404]

My grandmother (Emma Ashton) age 17 was also listed as living at Albion Hill Home in the 1911 census. The home seems to have had a checkered history and from what I can find out, was originally a home for young prostitutes. I think by 1911 that had changed and it was possibly a home where young unmarried women went to have a baby? I would love to find out if that was the case as I cannot imagine why she was there otherwise. She was born in Hartney Wintney in Hampshire and was one of about 10 children. Her mother died at 45 when Emma was about 7 but the family seemed to stay together.

[Frazzled]

From the National Archives site it seems the home was called, The Brighton Home for Female Penitents, Albion Hill, Brighton, when it was founded. Records are kept at the East Sussex Records Office.