Hastings Poor Worse than London Poor

March 18, 1905

A meeting was held in Christ Church parish room, Ore, on March 15 to establish a crèche and children’s cottage hospital for Ore and Clive Vale.  The proposal gained warm support.  The meeting was convened by neighbourhood practitioner Dr A H Huckle, with Harvey Du Cros presiding, and William Ransom present. Dr Huckle said that “one of the first things to appeal to him when he started his work in the district was the utter destitution and poverty of the poor.  Poverty was relative; it depended not only upon the amount of money, but the purchasing power of that money, and in Hastings, unfortunately, the amount of money received by the working classes was very small. The poor of the town were poorer and more destitute than in the worst parts of London in which he had practised. In every poor home it was the children who felt the pinch … at a time when they should be considered and cared for.” Clive Vale and Ore were a very poor district where women had become breadwinners because men’s wages were so low, if any.

Mothers took in washing, because that work needed female labour, so mothers left their children to work.  “The rudiments of hygiene seemed to be absolutely unknown and the proper feeding of a baby never seemed to occur to the people.  It was not altogether poverty.  There was a certain amount of ignorance, and for this ignorance parents were to be pitied rather than blamed.”  The idea of a crèche had been in his mind for a long time.  A suitable house was available on the [north-west?] corner of Saxon and Canute Roads, with six rooms.  Next door lived two qualified nurses who had volunteered to look after the crèche and small hospital. ……. But the result of working was neglect of children. Du Cros offered to give the £30 needed to start the crèche and many other donations were made at the meeting. A committee was set up.

The Mail of 25 March reported that the organisers of the Crèche and Children’s Hospital said they already had enough money to open it but needed £150 pa to run it. – Hastings Chronicle Archive