Alma Terrace, Highgate

Despite massive municipal building schemes of the inter-war years, the housing crisis was more pressing in Birmingham in 1945 than 1918. Recent hou...

Analysis of Water from Gloster Cottage, 30 Metchley Lane

The Calthorpe Estate was still being developed during the 1880s as a comfortable retreat for the wealthy; but within its boundaries were many farm...

Baby, young girl and man in backyard

Slum housing, near the Malden Road, London.

Birmingham City Council Improvement Committee Minutes

The appointment of the Improvement Committee in July 1875 marked the earliest initiative by the City Council to tackle Birmingham’s slums. The orig...

Birmingham City Council Interviewing Sub-Committee Minutes

Using powers conferred by public health and housing legislation, the

Birmingham City Council Tenants Sub-Committee Minutes

The Tenants Sub-Committee was appointed in November 1922. It reported to the City Estates Committee, its chief function being to deal with applicat...

Boy with sibling, London, by Nick Hedges

Hedges tried to capture the human face of homelessness. This photograph shows that positive family relationships existed despite the difficult cond...

Boys on street corner by Nick Hedges

Child in basement, Liverpool 8 by Nick Hedges

Children’s health was often badly affected by the cold, damp spaces in which they lived. Bronchitis, asthma, and influenza were rife. Illness, and ...

Children asleep, Hackney, London by Nick Hedges

One of the main problems that homeless families faced was overcrowding. Whole families were often forced to live in one room that functioned as the...

Children playing in street by Nick Hedges

Children’s play was often determined by gender, both at home and in the street. Here the boy plays with a wheel barrow whilst the girls play with d...

Drawing of a Middlemore Girl

As an Edgbastonian, John Middlemore was proudly celebrated in the pages of the Edgbastonia magazine: ‘A benevolent Edgbaston gentleman wh...