Victorian Values - Citizenship and Local Democracy

This extract, from the Sheffield Red Book of 1896, describes the House of Help for Girls and Young Women, Paradise Square, Sheffield.

'The institution is for the rescue of girls placed in moral danger and from miserable surroundings; also as a temporary refuge for girls coming as strangers to the city. The case of any friendless girl is considered by the committee and steps taken to fit and prepare her for earning an honest living. The number of applications is very large, some of the saddest cases being of children between six and fifteen years of age'.  

The original House of Help case books are hand written and very difficult to follow - see the two sample images on this page.  

You can download a transcription that gives full details of Case No. 45, Lucy Ennis, age 13 (see Downloads link below), describing how she originally came to need their help and listing the occasions she had stayed there.