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What was initially known as the Female Penitentiary had premises in Islington at the lower end of Broad Street. The object of the institution, as set out in November 1828, was:
'..by affording a suitable Asylum, and the means of religious Instruction, to reclaim from a life of sin unhappy females, professing themselves penitent, and to restore them to the paths of virtue and happiness.'
By 1829 the Penitientiary had been re-named the Magdalen Asylum, a title equally euphemistic, but a little less censorious. It was run, of course, by the Established Church, though later (especially in Ireland) the idea was taken up by the Catholics too. The Birmingham branch, there were others in Liverpool, Bristol and Worcester, was run by a matron and assistant. This was all the staff they could afford.
The asylum remained in Broad Street until 1862, when it moved to a new home, more morally watertight, at Rotton Park
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