The Colonies

Moorhill House, West End, North Stoneham, Southampton SO30 3AY - Moorhill House

Moorhill House, West End, North Stoneham, Southampton SO30 3AY - Moorhill House
Address:
Moorhill House, West End, North Stoneham, Southampton, SO30 3AY
Children:
Initially 40 children
plus 2 maestras & 2 auxiliaries
other children joined later
Manager:
Miss Vessey (Matron)
Miss Lewis (Cook)
Maestras:
Rita Victoria Gómez Mateo (Maestra No.67)
Carmen Cimorra Aramburu de Orbegoso (Maestra No.68)
Auxiliares:
María del Camino Goñi Osés (Auxiliar No.36)
Eulalia Mateo Urteaga de Gómez (Supernumerary)
Opened:
21 May 1937
Closed:
July 1939
set012-556 set012-559
Click to view photos in the gallery

Short notes

  • Moorhill house photograph reproduced with acknowledgements to the West End Local History Society [Westender Newsletter Volume 4 Number 6 July-August 2004]
  • The first Moorhill House was built in the mid-19th century with several other large houses along the Moorhill Road.
  • In 1960, the original Moorhill House was demolished, and a covered reservoir built on the site.
  • Moorhill House was a few miles from the North Stoneham camp and was used initially as an infirmary before it became one of the first 'colonies' to be established. (see the article below from Warwick Digital Archives)

Articles concerning this colony

Names of Niños and Niñas at Moorhill House — compiled by Gerald Hoare

Extract of an interview with Josefina and María del Carmen
Antolín Pintado
 — by Natalia Benjamin

Child Refugees from Bilbao and Basque Camp at North Stoneham, near Southampton — Warwick Digital Archives

Nerea Wachter Galindo Dissertation (see page 22) — by Nerea Wachter Galindo

The Basque Children in Great Britain (page 5) — by Natalia Benjamin

Unknown, unseen but not forgotten — by Gerald Hoare

Basques at Stoneham — by Mark Phillimore

Other items of interest

University of Southampton publication: 'Here, Look After Him' Voices of Basque Evacuee Children of the Spanish Civil War
by Alicia Pozo-Gutiérrez and Padmini Broomfield [pages 93-4, 106,124 & 144]

Publisher's Synopsis This book is based on a doctoral thesis at the University of Southampton, in the UK, that studies the memories of the Basque Children of the War that were exiled there in 1937. With this work Sabin-Fernandez also closes a chapter of her own history since her mother was one of the 4,000 children that left Santurtzi, Biscay in the boat named Habana destined for Southampton.

This book appears to be out of print, but may be available on some second-hand sites.

Links to external sites concerning this colony

Moorhill House | Hampshire Garden Trust Research

Basque children in Britain

Refugee children – Southampton collections online

Southampton — Moor Hill House

Child refugees from Bilbao and Basque camp at North Stoneham, near Southampton (report) - Spanish Civil War - Warwick Digital Collections

Basque Children - Sotonopedia, 1937

Josefina Stubbs tells of her experience

BCA'37 UK papers at the Southampton Archives