Currently viewing the tag: "orphanage"
Henry (left) and Frank Webb with their mother soon before she died, leaving them as orphans. Henry said, “I cannot remember when I first sensed that all was not well at home. I had a childish fear that something dreadful was about to happen. My mother’s energy flagged, she quickly got tired, which was not like her. Her poor appetite failed altogether. She always insisted she would be all right, but she was not, her energy slowly sapped. Our mum was forty-six when she died. Her eyes were dark and never looked well She was tall and thin and tired looking. Through continuous hard work she was old before her time. In my early months and years at St John’s I used to have dreams about her. Dreams where we were all together again as in the old days. I used to feel warm and very happy. We would all be together sitting in a garden”. To us there had always been a godlike quality about our mum. Lined and aged before her years perhaps but she always seemed indestructible.

Harsh life in a 1930s Ipswich children’s home.

on December 18, 2010 · 2 Comments · in Town Life

St John’s Orphanage, Ipswich, stood at the corner of Freehold Road and Bloomfield Street. Henry from Ipswich was sent there with his twin brother Frank in 1932. Henry and Frank Webb had a happy early childhood living with their widowed mother Jessie at 49 Ringham Road, Ipswich.