Table Of ContentA Child for Keeps
The History of Adoption in England, 1918–45
Jenny Keating
A Child for Keeps
Also by Jenny Keating
THE DROUGHT WALKED THROUGH: A History of Water Shortage in Victoria
PEOPLE’S PLAYGROUND: A History of the Albert Park (with Jill Barnard)
A Child for Keeps
The History of Adoption in England,
1918 – 45
Jenny Keating
© Jenny Keating 2009
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-51788-2
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First published 2009 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-35555-6 ISBN 978-0-230-58284-2 (eBook)
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Keating, Jenny.
A child for keeps? : the history of adoption in England, 1918-1945 /
Jenny Keating.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Adoption—England—History. 2. Adoption—Law and legislation—
Great Britain—History. I. Title.
HV875.58.G72E5446 2008
362.7340942'09041—dc22 2008025121
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
Secrecy 3
Attitudes to adoption 6
Adoption histories 8
1 Setting the Scene: The Historical and Legal Background 11
Changing families 11
New views of childhood 18
The development of child protection legislation 22
Parental rights before 1926 27
Marriage breakdown and custody 28
Illegitimate children and unmarried mothers 30
2 Developments in the Voluntary Sector 39
The beginning of organised adoption 39
The formation of the first adoption societies 42
The establishment of the National Council for the
Unmarried Mother and Her Child 62
3 Pressure for Government Action 67
The first conference on adoption 67
The Hopkinson Committee 71
The Hopkinson Report 83
The 1920s – an era of legislative reform 87
The years after the Hopkinson Report 89
4 Legislation Takes Shape 94
The Tomlin Committee’s report 95
Parliamentary debates on adoption 103
The Adoption of Children Act 1926 113
5 The First Years of Legally Sanctioned Adoption 117
Initial reactions 117
Court procedures 120
In re Carroll 126
v
vi Contents
Other legal issues 128
Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act 1930 129
The London County Council 130
Who were the adopters, the adopted, and the
relinquishing parents in the early years? 137
6 Action on the Adoption Societies 144
Concern about the role of adoption societies 144
The Horsbrugh Committee 153
Report of the Departmental Committee on Adoption
Societies and Agencies 154
The Adoption of Children (Regulation) Act 1939 167
The death of Miss Clara Andrew 172
7 The Second World War and Its Aftermath 175
Implementing the Adoption of Children (Regulation) Act 177
Servicemen’s wives and adoption 180
Unmarried mothers 182
Renewed pressure for adoption reform 185
Adoption legislation 190
8 Conclusions – And Later Developments 195
Attitudes to adoption 195
The rise of adoption 197
Who was adoption for? 199
Secrecy 201
Adoption and women 203
Adoption since 1950 205
Final conclusions 208
Notes 213
Biographical Notes 244
Bibliography 252
Index 266
Illustrations
Figure 2.1 M iss Clara Andrew and an adopted child
(from the London Metropolitan Archives) 44
Figure 2.2 T ower Cressy, the NCAA hostel, Campden Hill,
Kensington (from an NCAA leaflet,
The National Archives) 49
Figure 2.3 ‘ Two little girls some months after adoption’
(from an NCAA leaflet, The National Archives) 56
Figure 2.4 D ay nursery, Tower Cressy (from an NCAA leaflet,
The National Archives) 59
Figure 2.5 P rincess Alice, Countess of Athlone,
with an adopted child (from the London
Metropolitan Archives) 61
Figure 3.1 S ir Alfred Hopkinson, 1928
(from the ©National Portrait Gallery, London) 73
Figure 5.1 Adoption order, 1928 (from a private collection) 124
Figure 6.1 Miss Florence Horsbrugh, 1931
(from the ©National Portrait Gallery, London) 154
vii
Acknowledgements
Ultimately the person responsible for this book is my grandmother,
Bridie Moran, who signed a relinquishing form for my father in 1928
when he was three-and-a-half-years old and then disappeared from his
life forever. I know nothing whatever of her story; who she was, why
she gave up my father, and what happened to her afterwards, but the
little I knew of my father’s early years led me to a wider interest in the
history of adoption, and nine years ago, returning from Australia to
the UK, and trying to think of a subject for a thesis, I came up with
adoption.
So this book started life as a DPhil, and I must thank the supervi-
sors I had over the years – Professors Eileen Yeo, Pat Thane and Carol
Dyhouse – whose support and positive challenging of my ideas was
so helpful. I would also like to thank my examiners Professor George
Behlmer and Dr Claire Langhamer who, far from being the terrifying
interrogators I envisaged, were enthusiastic, and encouraged me to
publish the thesis. I am grateful for the help given to me by all the
staff of the libraries and archives I visited, in particular the University
of Sussex Library, but also those at the National Archives (formerly
the PRO); the London Metropolitan Archive; the London School of
Economics Library; the Women’s Library; the Family Records Centre;
the British Library Newspaper rooms; the Elizabeth Roberts Archive at
the Centre for North-West Regional Studies, Lancaster University; and
the Records Offices of Bath, Exeter, Bristol and East Sussex. I would also
like to thank the Royal Historical Society who gave me a grant for travel
and copying.
Thanks to all the people – strangers and friends – who helped in so
many ways, responding to email enquiries, reading and commenting,
and checking for errors. Special thanks to Patricia Wreford King, who
contacted me out of the blue and shared her fascinating papers relat-
ing to Miss Clara Andrew, Princess Alice and the National Children
Adoption Association with me. Finally, my thanks to Andy, Robin, Lily
and Rosa for enduring the adoption saga for so many years.
Jenny Keating
viii
Abbreviations
ASCMI Associated Societies for the Care and Maintenance
of Infants
COS Charity Organisation Society
CWC Child Welfare Council
HCAAS Homeless Children’s Aid and Adoption Society
HO Home Office
LCC London County Council
LCO Lord Chancellor’s Office
MH Ministry of Health
MOH Medical Officer of Health
NAS National Adoption Society
NCAA National Children Adoption Association
NCH National Children’s Home & Orphanage
NCUMC National Council for the Unmarried Mother
and Her Child
NCSS National Council of Social Service
NCVO National Council for Voluntary Organisations
NCW National Council of Women
NSPCC National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children
NUSEC National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship
ix
