Description:This house in North Wales was bought by the Education Committee in 1935 using a bequest from Councillor Clara Martineau.
Councillor Martineau, alongside other duties, sat on the Cottage Homes and Residential Schools Sub-committee of the Education Committee. The Sub-committee oversaw Birmingham's cottage homes, approved school and open-air schools. She died in 1932.
Martineau House was located between Abergele and Rhyl on the North Wales coast and so was ideal as a holiday base for children from the Birmingham ‘special schools’. Special schools of the time included the cottage homes, residential schools for children with disabilities and open air schools such as Hunters Hill and Haseley Hall.
The House opened as a seaside summer school in July 1935. 24 children at a time stayed there, for 13 days each between the months of April and October.
In 1940, with the advent of war, Martineau House was used as a hostel for evacuated children and a residential nursery for young children who were evacuated from Erdington Cottage Homes. In November 1947, according to the committee minutes of the time, it became ‘a kind of annexe to the Erdington Cottage Homes’. At this time, the foster mother and father of the Lodge at Erdington Cottage Homes were transferred to Martineau House to take charge.
Interestingly, the minutes of the time refer to Martineau House as a ‘scattered home’ a term that was bring used at the time in reference to the group family homes which were being planned for the newly developing council estates in Birmingham.
In 1948, the decision was taken for Martineau House to revert back to its original function as a seaside home. One change was made – instead of the children going to the House only between the months of April and October, the House became a year-round holiday home as it was felt that children could enjoy the sea and benefit from being by the sea all year round.
After the 1950s Martineau House moved to Bognor Regis and was used as a seaside holiday home for children with disabilities. It was still owned by Birmingham City Council at this point.
According to a Birmingham Evening Mail article dated 7.11.88, the Bognor Regis Martineau House could accommodate 22 children a week but was closed in 1988 in a bid to save money. The closure was controversial and a political dispute over it led to the suspension of several councillors.
The building was sold in 1989 and it appears that the funds raised from the sale are now distributed to children with special needs through a charitable trust in Clara Martineau's name.
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Image: Headline in the Birmingham Post, 6th December 1988.
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Source: This history was compiled by the Birmingham Children's Homes Project, an initiative to explore Birmingham City Council-run children’s homes between 1949 and 1990.