Records of Lordswood Nursery, Birmingham, later Red House, Overbury, Worcestershire

BCC 10/BCH/6 Records of Lordswood Nursery, Birmingham, later Red House, Overbury, Worcs

BCC 10/BCH/6/1 Registers of religious creed

Details of the administration of Lordswood Nursery can be found in the records of the Birmingham Board of Guardians (GP/B/2/6/14/1) and Birmingham City Council (BCC 1/BV/1, BCC 1/BM/1 and BCC 1/CT).

'First Four Years: the report of the Children's Officer of the City of Birmingham for the period from February, 1949 to January, 1953' (Local Studies, L41.31) contains a section on Red House, Overbury.

Items in this collection have restricted access for 100 years because they contain sensitive information about individuals under the DPA (1998)

Lordswood Nursery was originally established by the Birmingham Board of Guardians. Prior to 1928, the only accommodation for babies within the Union was in the hospital wards at the Dudley Road and Selly Oak hospitals, with some also being housed in the workhouses. As well as being not ideal for the children themselves, the Board of Guardians felt that healthy children were taking up facilities that should more properly be reserved for the sick. In order to rectify this problem, the Board assigned the Hospitals committee the task of investigating the best way of solving it.

Reporting back to the board, the committee agreed that the establishment of a separate nursery was the best solution. Suitable premises - the Lordswood residence, on Lordswood Road in Harborne - were found and renovated, and the first children were admitted in 1928. At this stage, the home was restricted to the care of between 30 and 40 children under two years of age - the babies' mothers were to be maintained separately, where necessary. The running of the home was undertaken by the Lordswood Nursery Ladies sub-committee, which was also founded in 1928. Consisting of five Guardians, its job was 'to consider and report to the Hospitals committee on all domestic matters relating to Lordswood Nursery' (see GP/B/2/6/14/1).

Following the abolition of the Boards of Guardians in 1930 and the transfer of responsibility for the Poor Law to local authorities, the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee took over the Lordswood Nursery (see BCC 1/BV/1). In November 1933, the committee was merged with the Public Health Committee to form the Public Health and Maternity and Child Welfare Committee (see BCC 1/BM/1). In 1948, administration of the nursery passed to the new Children's Committee (see BCC 1/CT).

On the outbreak of war in 1939, Lordswood Nursery was evacuated to Red House, Overbury, Worcestershire. It remained there, under the name of Red House, until its closure in June 1954.