JEWISH EAST END OF LONDON PHOTO GALLERY & COMMENTARY

London's East End Synagogues, cemeteries and more......

My personal journey through the Jewish East End of London

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The building of the Alice Model Nursery, Beaumont Grove, Stepney

 

Just along from Phyllis Gerson House in Beaumont Grove Stepney is the Alice Model Nursery, which carries the name of an East End social reformer. Miss Model inspired the development of this nursery, named in honour of her 80th birthday in 1936. The nursery augmented the Jewish day nursery she founded in 1901 in New Road. It was for children of all religions, an ethos that continues to this day. She was a pioneer campaigner for mother and infant welfare and in 1895 founded the Sick Room Help Society, which evolved into the Jewish Maternity Hospital in Underwood Street, below:

According to the Jewish Chronicle, 11th April 1947, page 6, Alice Model was a member of the Anglo-Jewish aristocracy (the cousinhood) by virtue of being a descendant of the 18th century German banker Benedict Goldschmidt. Alice Model MBE died in 1943.

 

The nursery was rebuilt in the 1950s following a public appeal for funds.  The nursery was opened in June 1958 by the Queen Mother.  A leaflet was issued to accompany the appeal and I reproduce it below:

Alice Model OBE