History
It was established by the Society of St Vincent de Paul, a Catholic charity, as a home for working boys (Dublin Review, vol. 9, 1883)
In 1881 its director was Douglas Hope, and it housed thirty mostly teenage boys who were employed as clerks, servants, and in various trades (1881 census)
Hope was an interesting character; born in Scotland around 1849, he was a student at the famous Anglican theological training college in Cuddesdon in 1871 (1881 census; 1871 census)
However, he later converted to Catholicism and became an Oblate of St Charles, Cardinal Mannng’s society of secular priests based in Bayswater (Catholic Who’s Who and Year Book, 1908)
From the Home in Queen Square, which he was running by the age of 32, he moved to St Vincents Home for Boys (later the Crusade of Rescue and now the Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster)) in Harrow Road, but died there suddenly aged 41 in May 1889 (The Times, 13 May 1889)
He had made a strong impression in his short life; the Catholic Who’s Who and Year Book described him as “particularly loved” and “of happy and saintly memory” (Catholic Who’s Who and Year Book, 1908) but his work in Queen Square seems to have been overlooked
The Home no longer exists
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What was reforming about it?
It was a safe haven for young working boys who would otherwise have been vulnerable to mistreatment or crime
Where in Bloomsbury
It was at no. 41 Queen Square from at least 1881 to about 1883; it may have moved out when the Italian Hospital moved in
Website of current institution
It no longer exists
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Books about it
None found
Archives
None found
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