Three Sutton orphans reunited after 70 years apart

Sheila Norton, 79, of Carshalton and sisters Joyce Booth, of Yorkshire and Margaret Selvage, of Kent were together at Carew Manor female orphanage asylum in Beddington Park.

Mrs Norton arrived at the orphanage in 1937 at the age of seven following a stint in foster homes when her father sold her and sister Beryl on a church stage to the highest bidder.

Mrs Booth, who arrived with her sister in 1934 after their mother died, went on to share the same six-bed dormitory called Fielding with Mrs Norton.

Recalling her arrival at Carew, Mrs Norton said: “It was nice to be with my sister Beryl again after being apart in foster homes and being pushed around from pillar to post.

"I remember walking in thinking it was huge, but then we must have been tiny ourselves.

“It was quite military there.

"We used to get up at 6.30am and be in bed at 6.30pm.

"We were called by a number, I was number 43 and my sister was 31, there were 133 girls in the orphanage all together.

“We had to walk in crocodile, in twos, and march. You didn't mind really, you were used to it.

“There was lots of bullying, but nothing nasty.

"It was proper story book days: they used to scare us with stories that the grey lady walked the corridor.

“The matrons were disciplined, but very nice.

"We were treated very well, taught to knit and sew and really to look after ourselves.

"We made lots of friends.

“We used to use the outside swimming pool and it was so cold.

"We were in the grounds when the war was declared and we were hustled straight away to the cellar and told it put gas masks on.

"We were evacuated the next day.”

Mrs Norton, who went on to work in service and later as a shop assistant, later married Fredrick Norton, now 89, at the age of 19 and with him she now has four children, 13 grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Her sister Beryl, who later became Mrs Reid when she married, died at the age of 49.

She said: “It was so lovely to meet Joyce and Margaret after all this time.

"We had lots of stories to share; it's been so long.”

Mrs Norton contacted this newspaper after reading a report calling for friends or relatives of people who stayed at the orphanage between 1864 and 1939 to share their memories as part of a historical pageant at the Wandle Valley Festival in June.

The asylum, once a moated house, was founded in 1758 to look after young girls whose parents had died or could not care for them and orphans were given a basic education and training.

The girls then left in their mid-teens to begin their working lives as domestic servants, but the record books showed many perished from disease and revealed a grim regimented institution.

Life seemed to be more comfortable from the 1930s, when orphans generally had fond recollections.

The orphanage remained at Carew Manor until the beginning of the Second World War when the orphans were evacuated to High Wycombe and did not return.

Before it was a girls orphanage, it was owned by the Carew Family, who owned land in Beddington for five centuries.

However the last family members went bankrupt in 1859 and the manor was sold to the Lambeth asylum.

The Domesday Book mentions two Beddington estates, later united by Nicholas Carew to form Carew Manor in 1381.

In about 1591 Sir Walter Raleigh secretly, and without royal permission, married one of Queen Elizabeth I’s maids of honour, Elizabeth Throckmorton of Carew Manor.

Raleigh spent time in the Tower of London for this and Elizabeth was expelled from the court but the marriage appears to have been a genuine love-match and survived the imprisonment.

The Grade I listed building now contains council offices and Carew Manor School.

For details call 07944833605 or email melanie.nunzet@gmail.com.