Detail
Collection Fegans Childrens Charity
Summary
The Fegans Children’s Charity collection comprises twenty-four films dating from the mid-1930s to the early 1970s, which were largely made for publicity purposes - promoting the work of Fegans which was to provide a safe upbringing for orphaned and abandoned girls and boys. Founded by James Fegan, a Christian philanthropist, in 1872, the organisation created several homes and schools throughout southern England during the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Fegans continues its charitable work by providing care and support for children and families.
Many of the films in the collection feature daily life at Fegans’ schools with class-room scenes, celebrations of birthdays and Christmas festivities, day-trips to a variety of venues, sporting events and seaside holidays. A number of the films show life at Fegans’ Goudhurst Farm School in Kent, where boys were taught agricultural skills in preparation for their adult working lives, which in many cases was overseas, particularly Canada.
Collection ID | 1611 | Reference code | K 180417 |
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Title | Fegans Childrens Charity | ||
Dates | 1936 - 1970 | ||
Production | ca. 1930s to 1970s | ||
Materials | Film 9.5mm 16mm Documentation | ||
Access status | Copyright and access restrictions apply, contact Screen Archive South East for details |
Description
The Fegan collection is made up of 9.5mm and 16mm films, shot on both black & white and colour stock. Produced to publicise the work of the organisation, the films depict life at Fegans’ schools in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, Buxted House in Buxted, and Beechwood House in Heathfield, both in East Sussex and Goudhurst Farm in Kent, where boys can be seen training for future careers in agriculture. Besides showcasing the educational side of the organisation’s work, the films reveal many other aspects of the children’s lives whilst in the care of Fegans and its staff. Some films show daily activities in the schools; woodwork classes, model-making, housekeeping and daily chores - both inside and outside. We see children helping in the kitchen at mealtimes, making beds, cleaning shoes and being attended by Matron when they are unwell.
At the farm schools, boys can be seen learning how to plough fields with horse-drawn ploughs and later tractors. Harvesting scenes, horticulture and animal husbandry also feature throughout the collection. Boys are also seen assisting staff in the London Head office of Fegans, located at Millbank as well as on many out door trips and visits to other parts of the UK.
Sporting activities feature prominently throughout the collection with cricket, football and swimming being especially prevalent. Novelty sports like sack-races, jousting and tip-the bucket add to the mix of physical activity and play. There are many trips and holidays featured; to Liverpool, Whipsnade Zoo, the Isle of Wight, pre-war Croydon Airport, Cornwall and numerous visits to beaches, fun-fairs and seaside resorts. Camping holidays are also seen many times, with the boys organising themselves; erecting tents, building bonfires, cooking meals, playing lots of games and exploring the countryside.
Many films feature ‘open days’ at the schools, where the children and staff put on sporting, gymnastic or theatrical pageants for the entertainment of visiting dignitaries, governing board members and people of influence as well as the children themselves. There are numerous films which feature ‘Old Boys Re-unions’ where adults who grew up within the Fegans Family, return to visit the schools across the organisation. One particularly interesting film [Tid_12272] shows a young ‘graduate’ of the Buxted Farm school packing his suitcase and being waved off by the staff and children, to a new life, possibly in Canada.
Another interesting film from 1942 shows bomb-damage at Goudhurst Farm, where tragically, the widow of James Fegan, who set up the organisation, was herself killed during the air-raid.
Earlier films in the collection reflect the single-sex tradition of schools at the time, so they feature either girls or boys in their respective schools. The later films show more mixing, especially at events, both sporting and theatrical. The same is true for ethnicity, which as time goes on, sees films beginning to show children of colour coming under the care of the Fegan Family.
Films in this collection:
Showing 15 results.
![TID 12266 [Odd Pieces; Jim Bryant], (1930s)
A wide black and white still image taken from TID 12266, showing a group of boys from the Feagan's home standing on a platform waiting for a narrow gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway locomotive with carriages, to pull into the station platform.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12266/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Odd Pieces; Jim Bryant]
Date | 1930s | ID | 12266 |
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An amateur film of Fegans Children's Home trips to Cornwall, Hythe and Croydon featuring miniature railways and period airliners.
![TID 12260 [Fegans Early Days; Visit to Zoo; Sports; Open Day], [ca. 1936]
A wide black and white still image taken from TID 12260, showing an external view of the L.M.S. Edge Hill Station Goods warehouse with locomotives and tenders stationary on the track outside. The multi-storey brick building has the words L.M.S. Edge Hill Goods Station sign written in large white letters on the outside.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12260/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Fegans Early Days; Visit to Zoo; Sports; Open Day]
Date | [ca. 1936] | ID | 12260 |
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Boys from Fegans Childrens Homes visit the zoo, go camping and travel to Liverpool before assembling back at school for an Open Day.
![TID 12261 [Goudhurst Farm; Harvest; Gardening], [early 1940s]
A wide black and white still image taken from TID 12261, showing a group of boys aged between 12-15 years old stood or sat on a flight of brick steps, outside of a large brick building. The boys are dressed in a uniform consisting of a short sleeved shirt and shorts.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12261/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Goudhurst Farm; Harvest; Gardening]
Date | [early 1940s] | ID | 12261 |
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Scenes at Fegans Goudhurst Farm School in the early 1940s.
![TID 12262 [Goudhurst Farm; Hay Making and Fruit Packing], [1940s]
A black and white still image taken from TID 12262, showing two older teenage boys loading produce from Goudhurst Farm on to the back of an open commercial vehicle. One boy is stood on the tail end of the truck, whilst the other boy passes up produce from the ground.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12262/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Goudhurst Farm; Hay Making and Fruit Packing]
Date | [ca. 1940s] | ID | 12262 |
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Boys from Fegans Childrens Homes work at the school's Goudhurst Farm on a variety of tasks involving livestock, harvesting and fruit picking and processing.
![TID 12263 [Goudhurst Farm], (1943)
A wide black and white still image taken from TID 12263, showing a group of boys working in the fields at Goudhurst Farm. A cart filled to overflowing is being drawn by a pair of horses through a field, as a group of boys load the cart from the ground and from ontop of the straw on the cart.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12263/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Goudhurst Farm]
Date | 1943 | ID | 12263 |
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An amateur film with intertitles throughout of boys at work and play at Fegans Goudhurst Farm School in the early 1940s.
![TID 12264 [Goudhurst Farm; Bomb Damage], (ca 1943 - 1947)
A wide black and white still image taken from TID 12264, showing a group of boys stood in two neat rows facing forward, on a parade style military inspection. The boys are dressed in their winter woollen farm uniform, in the entrance to a shelter style farm barn building on the Goudhurst Farm home estate.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12264/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Goudhurst Farm; Bomb Damage]
Date | [ca. 1943 - 1947] | ID | 12264 |
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An amateur film with intertitles of Fegans Children's Home at Goudhurst.
![TID 12265 [Goudhurst Park Farm Camp], (1946)
A black and white still image taken from TID 12265, showing a large group of boys gathered together on a station platform as a steam train locomotive pulls into the station.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12265/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Goudhurst Park Farm Camp]
Date | 1946 | ID | 12265 |
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An amateur film of a boys camp at Fegans Children's Home at Goudhurst.
![TID 12270 [Christmas; Life at the Home], [ca. 1948; 1949; early 1950s]
A black and white indoor still image taken from TID 12270, showing a group of boys sat around a dining table eating a meal together. The boys are dressed in their Feagan's uniform talking to each other.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12270/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Christmas; Life at the Home]
Date | [ca. 1948; 1949; early 1950s] | ID | 12270 |
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An amateur film of everyday activities at Fegans Children's Home at Stony Stratford in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
![TID 12268 [Camping at Park Farm], (1948)
A colour still image taken from TID 12268, showing a group of large pale brown canvas tents erected in a field, with a group of Feagan's boys stood in the foreground talking to each other.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12268/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Camping at Park Farm]
Date | 1948 | ID | 12268 |
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An amateur film with intertitles throughout of Fegans Children's Home camping trip to the coast near Dymchurch.
![TID 12269 [Sports; Old Boys Reunion 1949; Camp], (1949)
A close up still image taken from TID 12269, showing two boys aged around 13 years old dressed in fancy dress clothing in a field. The boy on the left is dressed as a clown in a white suit with red pom-pom buttons and a blonde fluffy wig, and the boy on the right is dressed in a red and white shirt style riding jacket and bowler hat. Both boys have make up on their faces with drawn in moustaches and beards. The boys pose and make humorous faces for the camera.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12269/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Sports; Old Boys Reunion 1949; Camp]
Date | 1949 | ID | 12269 |
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An amateur film of a sporty Visitors Day at Fegans Children's Home at Stony Stratford along with an Old Boys Reunion, a camping trip to the seaside and a Commemorative Day event in 1949.
![TID 12267 [Old Boy's Reunion; At Home Day; Sports], [Ca. early 1950s]
A colour still image taken from TID 12267, showing a narrow gauge railway locomotive with the words 'Lady of the Lake' 'LSR' painted on her pale brown gloss paint work, in a pale yellow colour. The locomotive is stationary on a track within a vast open garden.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12267/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Old Boy's Reunion; At Home Day; Sports]
Date | [Ca. early 1950s] | ID | 12267 |
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An amateur film of an open day at Fegans Children's Home in Stony Stratford.
![TID 12271 [Yardley Gobion Boys Home], [ca. 1954]
A colour ultra wide still image taken from TID 12271, showing the multi-storey exterior of the Yardley Gobion Feagan's Boys Home, with a large garden filling the foreground.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12271/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Yardley Gobion Boys Home]
Date | [ca. 1954] | ID | 12271 |
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An amateur colour film with intertitles of the boys at Fegans Yardley House Home for Little Boys in Northamptonshire.
![TID 12273 Visitors Day at Cheltenham, [ca. 1955]
A colour still image taken from TID 12273, showing a group of 15 girls aged between 6 and 14 years old demonstrating an acrobatic pyramid display, during a trip taken by the film maker to visit a School in Cheltenham.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12273/image_a_thumb.jpg)
Visitors Day at Cheltenham
Date | [ca. 1955] | ID | 12273 |
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An colour amateur film with black and white intertitles of Visitor's Day at a Cheltenham girls educational establishment.
![TID 12272 [Buxted Farm; Seaside Outing], (1954)
A colour still image taken from TID 12272, showing a group of boys and Feagan's staff waving good-bye to one of the boys as he leaves the home. The group are gathered outside the entrance gate to the Buxted Farm Feagan's Home.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12272/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Buxted Farm; Seaside Outing]
Date | 1954 | ID | 12272 |
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An amateur film of Fegans Children's home and farm at Buxted.
![TID 12275 [London Office], (1958)
A black and white still image taken from TID 12275, showing the interior main hall stage area with organ of Central Methodist Hall, Westminster. A large group of boys and girls fill the stage in neat rows. A man sits playing the organ on the wooden plinth in the middle as a second man stands to his left. The boys and girls are dressed in their own organisation uniforms.](/wp-content/uploads/films/12275/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[London Office; Methodist Central Hall Westminster]
Date | 1958 | ID | 12275 |
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An amateur film with intertitles on the work of the staff in the London head office of Fegan's Children Homes in Millbank followed by scenes showing highlights of staged entertainment acts at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster.
Showing 15 results.