Hidden Lives Revealed

Hidden Lives Revealed provides an intriguing encounter with children who were in the care of The Children's Society in late Victorian and early 20th Century Britain. Find out more

Photographs This section has about 200 photographs that show the kind of background many of the children came from - and how different that was from daily life in the homes.

Case files About 22,500 children were looked after by the Waifs and Strays' Society between its foundation in 1881 and the end of the First World War in 1918. A selection of these children's files are available here, in full - but fully anonymised.

Homes The Waifs and Strays' Society operated nearly 175 children's homes up to 1918 - although not all at once. Browse or search through their stories here.

Publications Spreading the word of the Society's good works has always been important. Here you can browse through the supporter magazines Our Waifs and Strays and Brothers and Sisters. You can also look through some of the other Society publications, including a set of the Annual Reports.