Ever wondered what to do with that unwanted girlchild? Whitaker's Almanac Classified 1916

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

If one were, for instance, to find oneself the sudden ... guardian of a girlchild of unknown origins (eg. a seven-year-old had been left on your doorstep in a basket, and you really had no way to care for the child yourself), you could deliver the child to the Royal Female Orphan Asylum, where she would be taught reading, writing, needlework and how to be a maid-of-all-work, and then delivered to a suitable family as their drudge once she was 16. An inconvenient problem sorted for the measly sum of £60.

If, however, you were the mother of this child, who unfortunately lacked a father, you could do the same for an annual charge of £12.

There are orphanages for children under the age of 7, which tended more to the mixed gender. I'll keep reading this delightful tome and see what I can find.

Comments

[cactuswren.livejournal.com]

I find myself wondering what was done with children who were not "thoroughly sound and healthy".

[meleth.livejournal.com]

Workhouse, Bedlam, Magdalene Laundries, prostitution.