Metropolitan And City Police Orphans Fund Research Archive
When the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage closed in 1937 the Metropolitan and City Police Orphans Fund came into being. The orphanage Admissions Registers, Annual Reports, Board of Management Minutes, General Court Minutes and Compassionate Allowances Registers have been retained by the Fund.
These records contain the names and details of the children admitted to the orphanage together with details of the families in receipt of the Compassionate Allowance. The artefacts also include many photographs and documents relating to life in the orphanage, visits by Royalty, Lords, Ladies and senior members of Government.
The information recorded provides an invaluable insight into how such organisations were run and includes many aspects of social history.
The Fund's office at Putney includes a small Museum containing memorabilia and artefacts from the orphanage and a First World War, 1914–1918, plaque naming those orphans who served and those who gave their lives for their country.
When the Prince of Wales, subsequently The Duke of Windsor, opened the War Memorial Hospital, at the orphanage in 1923, a plaque was erected dedicating the hospital —
"To the Glorious Memory of the 345 members of the Metropolitan Police who gave their lives for their country in the Great War 1914–1918. "Their name Liveth For Evermore" To their honoured memory a hospital has been erected in the grounds of The Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage Twickenham at a cost of £18,000 subscribed by all ranks of the Metropolitan and City Police".
Upon the closure of the orphanage the plaque was put into storage and was subsequently re-discovered in 2002. A local undertaker restored the plaque and on 10th September 2002 it was re-dedicated and re-sited in the Memorial Garden at Hendon Training School by the Commissioner Sir John Stevens K.St.J, Q.P.M., D.L., L.L.B accompanied by the Chief of the General Staff Sir Michael Walker and Lord Imbert, Lord Lieutenant for London and former Commissioner.
Anyone researching their family history that requires a search of the archive should contact the Fund's office on 020 8788 5140.