Papers of the Home and Hospital for Jewish Incurables, Tottenham

Scope and Content

Minute books, 1889-1989 (22 vols.); annual reports, 1896-1995 (incomplete series); legal and financial papers, including deeds for High Road, Tottenham, 1897-1914; correspondence, photograph albums and loose photographs, including albums for Berthons House, Walthamstow, c.1899, and one for the Home, Tottenham, 1906

Minute book of the trustees of the British Tay-Sachs Foundation, 1966-74 (1 vol.)

Administrative / Biographical History

The Home was founded in 1888. Its object was the care, maintenance and medical treatment of persons of the Jewish faith resident in the United Kingdom permanently disabled by chronic disease, accident or physical handicap. The first Home opened at 49-51 Victoria Park Road, E9, with nine inmates. In 1896 the Board of Management purchased four acres of land in High Road, Tottenham. After building work at this site, the Home was formally opened on 3 July 1903 by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. When the building at Victoria Park Road became unsuitable in 1898, patients were moved to Berthons, Wood Street, Walthamstow, and the lease of the old property was sold. A new wing was completed at the Tottenham Home in 1913 and a new synagogue was opened in 1914. In 1918 the Home was approached by the Ministry of Pensions seeking to use the new wing to accommodate incurable Jewish soldiers. A scheme was agreed whereby twenty-eight soldiers were admitted for twelve months. In 1939 fear of air raids led to the evacuation of the Home to Chesterfield House near Saffron Waldon. The accommodation at Tottenham was taken over by Middlesex County Council in May 1940 to accommodate refugees. In 1992 the Home merged with Jewish Care.

Access Information

Open for consultation

Note

Compiled by Gwennyth Anderson

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