Talbot Manor Home For Boys, Bournemouth

Set in this home's Gothic architecture, a stone tablet at the entrance declared 'In memory of Mary Anne Talbot, this Home for Destitute Boys was built by Ronald, Earl of Leven and Melville, 1890'. Lord Leven and Melville was an active supporter of the Society, and he later left a considerable amount of money to the Society which paid for the foundation of the Leven And Melville Home For Boys in St Leonards on Sea.

Talbot Manor was described in the Society's magazine Our Waifs and Strays as a 'large brick building, standing on high and open ground, and within 100 yards of the celebrated Pine Wood'. The Home had many acres of ground, including space for a cricket pitch and a playground, as well as a large garden where the boys could grow their own fruits and vegetables. At the front of the Home there was another large open space, where the boys planted rhododendrons under the supervision of Mr and Mrs Mullins, the Master and Matron.

Most of the boy's indoor activities took place on the ground floor, in the Master and Matron's sitting room. There was also a large dining room, a committee room, kitchen, toilet and a bathroom with two baths. The second floor contained two large dormitories that could accommodate over 20 boys, the Master and Matron's bedroom, the servant's bedroom, a storeroom and a sick room.

The boys' ages ranged from 3-12 and they all went to Talbot village school. Many of the boys sang in the church choir, under the instruction of Revd BR Clutterbuck.

The Home was open for many years, finally closing in about 1984.