The Ayahs' Home in Hackney

19/6/2016

What an astonishing photograph! It appears in George Sims' Living London, published in three volumes from 1901. The Ayahs' Home at that time was on King Edward's Road, close to the southern end of Mare Street.

Ayahs are Indian nannies - hundreds came over with British colonial-era families returning from India, and quite a few ended up abandoned, or homeless as they sought new employment. An ayahs' home seems to have been set up in Aldgate from the 1820s or a little later. The home had moved to a large house at 26 King Edward's Road by 1891, when it came under the management of the London City Mission.

This photo of the exterior of the Ayahs' Home appeared in the London City Mission magazine in 1900. The mission of course was trying to save souls as well as help the distressed - and clearly seeking to reassure its donors that this was a well-run enterprise.

The building still stands - none of the signage survives, but otherwise it is much as it was when ayahs sought refuge here a century and more ago. I went down to King Edward's Road today - this is what No. 26 looks like:

The First World War made it all but impossible for ayahs to return home. And during or more probably just after the war, the home moved one-hundred yards or so to slightly bigger and more modern premises at 4 King Edward's Road. And that building too is still standing - again with none of the old signage, but with the porch and rudiments of the exterior design little changed, and perhaps even the same railings:

Its not clear when the Ayahs' Home closed - perhaps in the mid-1920s, though one imagines that the problem of stranded ayahs may well have persisted into the 1950s. Perhaps as the Indian population in the UK grew, ayahs were able to seek help from within the community.

You can find out more about the Ayahs' Home at the following sites and in an article by Suzanne Conway in a volume entitled Children, Childhood and Youth in the British World. And thanks to the Geffrye Museum in Dalston - it was a mention of the Ayah's Home in their current exhibition 'Swept under the Carpet?: Servants in London Households, 1600-2000' which put me on this track.

http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/ayahs-home
http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item124195.html
http://the-history-girls.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/celia-fiennes-and-ayahs-home-very-short.html

14 Comments

Nitin Srivastava

20/6/2016 00:07:17

What a brilliant find, Andy! Only a few months ago did I read 'Sahibs India: Vignettes from the Raj' which also discusses the issue, albeit a century earlier.

Andrew

20/6/2016 09:06:44

Thanks Nitin - tell me more about that book, I haven't come across it and it sounds intriguing.

Wendy Hallam

20/6/2016 13:47:32

Dear Andy,

Having read about abandoned Ayahs in the past, I had not realised the home had been in King Edward's Road until visiting nearby St Joseph's Hospice for Open Garden Squares Weekend the day before your visit. I then went down KE Road but had not registered the number and that the house still stands. My brother was born in KE Road in 1948, and we grew up in Hackney. Our mother was born in India in 1922, her father having been a British soldier based there until late 1929. She used to tell us stories of her time in India, and how the cook had wanted to come back to England with the family. You can imagine how interested I was in the above. Kind regards, Wendy

Laura

20/6/2016 19:18:02

So glad you spotted the Ayah in Swept Under the Carpet! I co-curated and I am hoping to publish some more detailed research on ayahs in London in the near future. Thanks for this fantastic post and photos! Laura

21/6/2016 08:51:35

Thanks Laura - do let me know when this research is pubished. A

Victoria

27/1/2017 23:07:50

Laura - I'm intrigued but the link to the exhibition is no longer online. Is there a way of contacting you? As I said in my comment to Andrew, I'm planning to pursue this subject later this year (2017), would love to connect with you.

30/1/2017 10:23:02

Hi Victoria. Sure! You can contact me at lhumphreys [AT] rmg [dot] co [dot] uk.

27/1/2017 23:03:09

A great blog post Andrew! I'm really interested in this history have done some work on it awhile back and planning to get back to it later this year.

Terry Smyth

5/3/2019 14:05:38

These buildings deserve blue plaques, surely?

samir sardana

18/9/2019 22:44:09

All that the Indians have achieved is due to the whiteman ! That is the record of History ! dindooohindoo

The Hindoo "owe it all" to the "Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair"

The "Hindoo Gods and the Inspiration" for the Hindoo " of the "RigVeda" are all "Whitemen with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair" (Like Limpet Limpdick Indra etc)
It was the white Scythians with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair, who"brought horses and chariots", into the shit hole of Dindoosthan, for the Hindoo
It was the white Romans with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair,who built the "gold chest" of the Hindoo (by importing the shit silk and spices)
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair,from whom the Hindoo "copied the chronology of all the Kings of the Puranas"
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair,like the "Greeks and others", from whom the Hindoo "learnt about Krishna "
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes from whom the Hindoo learnt about "animal worship - Nandi and Jallikattu"
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes,from Persia, from whom the Hindoo learnt about "Fire Worship and the concept of the soul" and the "land of Persia" , described in the "Rig veda" as the "land of the Aryans"
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes from whom the Hindoo learnt about "astronomy and the basics of the movements, of the planets and stars"
It was the "French and American Generals" (General Jean Baptiste Ventura and Jean Francois Allard) in the army of Ranjit Singh which won the Khalsa wars - with EU artillery and cavary - else there would have been, no Khalsa Military success, ever
If the French and American Generals "had not been" in the army of Ranjit Singh, the "Khalsa would have been destroyed by the Mughals", before the Brits raped the Khalsa,and the "Mughals would have gained in strength, to drive out the Brits" - converting the Hindoo into Muslims
It was the "Brits who destroyed the Mughals" - else these Hindoo would be Muslims toay
It was the Brits who "taught English" to the Hindoo
It was the Brits who laid down the "education,railways, administrative and bureaucractic process",for these Hindoo ( sample the Engineering Skills)

It was the Brits who "planned,structured and executed the army and airforce", for these Hindoo
It was the Brits who "brought modern science" to these Hindoo
It was the Brits who "institutionalised the Martial Race Theory",in the Military
It was the Brits who "educated Ambedkar, who wrote the constitution" for the Hindoo
It was the Brits who "educated and trained Gandhi" and "built him into a Global Icon and Brand" - else the Hindoo /Africans, would have devoured Gandhi,a long time ago
It was the Brits who taught the Hindoo "how to eat with a spoon and a fork "
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair,who brought the"condom" the Hindoo
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair from Communist Russia - who "gifted all the space and military technology", to the Hindoo and built the infrastructure for the Hindoo
It was a Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair,"Max Mueller"who introduced the Hindoo to the world
It is the Whiteman with Blue Eyes and Golden Hair from Communist Russia,who "prevented the rape and pillage" of the Hindoo by the "Chinese and the Pakistanis"
Which is Y the "Hindoo are only fit" to "drink Gau Mutram" – which is Cow Piss Cola

Anbazhagan.S.V.

1/1/2022 05:34:45

All said and done, what matters is the intention with which those things were accomplished. May like to read 'The Men Who Ruled India' by Philip Mason. And the books by Charles Allen. Gratitude is certainly due and prevails in various forms even today.
But by degrading others no one grows up to greatness.

Niti

27/4/2022 21:57:39

We have an event at Hackney Museum on Thurs 16 June 2022 about the Ayahs and Amahs Home, which may be of interest: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ayahs-and-amahs-home-hackney-tickets-309386241577

Ruth Janes

6/11/2023 20:46:14

I have recently been researching a photo that has come into our family's possession, of an Indian lady with my Great-Grandmother (on my father's side). I discovered a website called Industrial and Imperial Migrations, which led me to find all this information about the Ayahs homes and this has made me wonder if this is where this lady came from. My Great-Grandmother lived at Chessington in Surrey, she was mother to 11 children, her eldest (my Grandfather) was born in 1897 and the youngest was born in 1916, so I am wondering if this Indian lady in the photo came from the Ayahs home in Hackney and was taken in as a nanny to help my Great-Grandmother. I don't suppose there are any records kept of any of the residents in the Ayah homes, as it would have been interesting to have known what the lady's name was. The lady looks as if she is very fond of my Great-Grandmother and they look very happy together.

Laura Humphreys

6/11/2023 21:32:18

Hi Ruth. Have you checked the census? The lady may be listed in your great grandfather's house as ayahs usually lived in!

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