Agatha Stacey Homes

[Nephrititi]

Has anyone ever come across any information on Agatha Stacey Homes.

I believe there was one in Bath Row (c1930s) and also one in Rednal some time later (I think the home in Rednall was more specific to mentally ill residents).

Having searched on google it would be appear that Agatha Stacey took in prostitues and tried to put them back on the straight and narrow, and also took in "feeble minded" people and unmarried pregnant girls.

The rest of my topic is a little long winded but I hope you will bear with me.

I visited Birmingham Archives on Saturday to view records of an ancestor of mine that was admitted to Highroft Hospital (before it became a hospital for the mentally ill).

She was admitted in 1938 aged 19 suffering from Hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body) and died less than a month later. Cause of death would have been the reason for her paralysis).

The records showed where she was admitted from (her home adress in Aston) but someone had added above those details "Agatha Stacey Homes".

The "story" that came from a relative of mine was that our ancestor went missing for 3 days as a teenager, and that a man brought her back but she was "never the same"afterwards.

I know I should have enquired at the Library whilst I was there but I am only just going over the notes I made trying to make sense of everything.

Fay

 

[beatrice]

The Agatha Stacey Home in Rednal was in Eachway Lane, demolished a few years ago and replaced with a set of houses - Stacey Grange Gardens.

I think you are correct about the Rednal one housing mentally ill ladies. As I child I would often see groups of them walking in procession on an outing to the shops etc.

 

[Nephrititi]

Beatrice

Thank you for responding.

I have a feeling that if my aunt was in an Agatha Stacey Home then it would have been in Bath Row - which would have been closer to Aston, plus I think the home in Rednall didn't open until after or around 1940's (but I may be wrong).

Looks like another trip to the Archives to see if they hold any records, and if they do, then another letter requesting permission to view closed records.

Regards

Fay

 

[Phil]

beatrice

have a look on this site, it mentions a girls night shelter opened by Agatha Stacey in 1888 on Bath Row.




https://www.midlandhistory.bham.ac.uk/issues/2000/bartleyp.pdf

pmc1947

 

[beatrice]

An interesting read PMC1947. I'm sure Fay will appreciate the information.

I didn't realise how important Agatha Stacey and her work was. I thought our Rednal place was the only one. That's the great thing about this forum, you learn so much.

 

[Phil]

beatrice,

I'm sorry, I wasn't wearing my glasses when I posted and I thought it was you making the enquiry. I would think that Fay Lewis will realise that and chase up the lead.

apologies.

pmc1947

 

[Nephrititi]

pmc1947

Yes I did guess you thought Beatrice had posted the original message - not to worry.

I had previously read that very interesting article before I posted my query - hence that's where I got my info from.

Have e mailed Birmingham Archives today to find out if they hold any records relating to Agatha Stacey Homes i.e. patient records etc.

Will keep you posted as to if I find out information on my ancestor.

Fay

 

[kenh]

agatha stacey home

I went past the home in Eachway lane a lot during the war years and remember seeing the girls. I think they did laundering and I always thought it was connected with the nearby Nazareth House run by nuns

 

[fergie]

Hi I realise that it has been some time since this was originally posted. Agatha Stacey in Rednal Eachway Lane was part of Monyhull Hospital when it closed in 1985/6. People with Learning Disabilities lived there at that time, but I beleieve that its use was predominantly for women in the early years. I'm not sure if Agatha Stacey may have left the home as part of a bequest when she died. There is a photo of Agatha Stacey in one of the homes.

 

[Pedrocut]

Ellen Pinsent is mentioned in the Harbourne thread, being the first women to be elected to Birmingham City Council in 1911.

“In 1911, Elizabeth Cadbury expounded on the importance of social work amongst the urban poor in eradicating another perceived moral and social ‘evil’, that of homeless unmarried women. Expressing her desire that every large town should establish a hostel for such women, Cadbury was touching upon a theme that was receiving much contemporary discussion, that of the contribution of the ‘feeble-minded’ to the deterioration of both morals, principally through prostitution, and the racial stock in general.

Indeed the following May, the Association of Municipal Corporations heard an address from Cadbury’s associate, Mrs. Hume Pinsent, highlighting the prevalence of this group in such Rescue Homes, contemporary evidence revealing that up to a third of residents in these institutions fell within this classification, argued, there was an urgent need for new legislation to review the formal assessment of feeble-mindedness, to facilitate greater powers of detention and segregation; moreover, in so doing, Pinsent echoed calls emanating from a number of groups offering a solution to a seemingly deepening national crisis and one in which, locally, the Cadburys had been actively participating since the 1890’s, with the founding of ‘The Laundry and Homes of Industry’, in 1892, a body which later became the ‘Agatha Stacey Homes’”

(Kevin Dowd....Manipulative Capitalism)

 

[Martyn Turland]

My father told me when we were walking on the Lickey Hills in the 1950’s that the Agatha Stacey homes looked after young pregnant, single girls until their child was born. The babies was were given to childless couples through channels established via the Catholic Church. The girls worked in hospital laundries attached to the home until their baby had been born, they were then discharged into the community. I believe the Cadbury family provided the Rednal building on land they owned on or close to the Lickey Hills.
Martyn Turland