Claremont Park

lThe Edinburgh Home for Mothers and Infants opened in 1924 in a donated property at Claremont Park, Leith. It provided residency and parental training for twelve mothers concurrently, who stayed for a period of four months each. In 1939, the day after the declaration of WWII, it was evacuated to Glassingall in Dunblane, while the Ministry of Defence utilised Claremont Park. It closed in 1945 following the illness of Glassingall’s owner, and returned to Claremont Park in 1947.  In 1956, the Home dropped the four month residency requirement and began facilitating adoption, seeing a dramatic increase in the number of clients. In 1963 the Home closed again for refurbishment and reopened in 1964. The building was extended between 1971 and 1973 and closed as numbers fell in 1981. It retained a close relationship with Birthlink throughout its nearly 60 year operation, and at the end of its life, a merger of the two organisations was seriously considered. Instead, the money and archives of Claremont Park were transferred to Birthlink upon its closure. 

The first matron of Claremont Park was a Miss N I C Johnson