Bishop Creighton House Settlement (BCH) was founded in 1908, in memory of Mandell Creighton, history scholar and Bishop of London from 1897 to 1901, the year of his death. He and his wife Louise lived at the Bishop of London’s residence, Fulham Palace, and became aware of increasing levels of poverty in the area in the late 1890s. After the Bishop’s death, Louise Creighton found funding to buy former shops with flats above on Lillie Road, Fulham and they were converted to a ‘settlement’, part of a reformist social movement that began in the east end of London, most famously at Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel.

BCH initially housed eight residents. The idea was that they were to be the spearhead of a much larger number of part-time volunteers.

• The infant mortality rate was abnormally high in Fulham, and BCH began a campaign which brought into being the maternity and infant welfare centre in nearby Greyhound Road
• In 1912, BCH opened its first children’s play group.
• At the request of the Fulham Board of Guardians, settlement workers began to visit the infirmary and workhouse; they taught children absent from school through illness and helped in the aftercare of boys and girls leaving ‘poor law’ schools.
• BCH worked closely with a Miss Arnould who, in her work with physically disabled children and those with learning disabilities, evolved many of the methods later acclaimed in the Montessori system.

During the First World War, settlement work was affected in several ways.

• An outbreak of violence towards German-owned shops led to co-operation with the Friends of Foreigners in Distress, caring for isolated German women who had not been interned under wartime legislation.
• Through The Prince of Wales Fund, staff did relief work with people unemployed due to the War.
• A club was started for the wives of serving soldiers and sailors.
• Settlement staff did outreach work in Fulham Military Hospital.

• BCH held classes for discharged young female munitions workers. These classes, being compulsory and a condition of the ‘dole’, were fiercely resented. The girls were, in the vocabulary of the early 20^th century, ‘brutalised’ by their work in the armaments factories.

• A local branch of the national Juvenile Organisations Committee was set up at BCH to combat juvenile delinquency in the post-war years.
• The Borough Boys’ Club was set up at Fulham Baths, run by a settlement worker five nights a week, except for the summer, when weekend camps and games were arranged.

In 1923 BCH bought 370 Lillie Road, together with a small factory behind the settlement, where Geoffrey de Havilland had developed his first aircraft in 1909. Now called the Garden House, the building was later converted to accommodation, first for settlement volunteers, then four flats. Today, they are privately let to provide income for the charity.

• One of the ‘invalid kitchens’ of London opened in the former factory, for nursing mothers and convalescents.
• BCH opened a treatment centre for school children, with clinics for dentistry, eye and ear troubles, and a ‘minor ailments’ department.

• BCH took hundreds of children each year to stay in the countryside, through the Children’s Country Holiday Fund, providing ‘fresh air for ailing London children.’

• The settlement started day classes in languages and clerical work for young unemployed men.
• A child guidance clinic was established to help children with mental health issues.
• BCH was involved in successful campaigns for the education of newly enfranchised women of 30 and over, and for the selection of women candidates for local government elections.

• As schools were closed due to bombing raids, children came to the settlement, where classes were started, and the clinics were gradually allowed to re-open on a small scale.
• BCH helped to provide rest centres and shelters.
• At the settlement’s initiative, three citizens’ advice bureaux were opened in Fulham.
• In 1940 the settlement itself was bombed, so two adjacent flats were rented, and the work continued while repairs were carried out.
• A sub-settlement was started in Ruislip, Middlesex, where much of the Fulham population had been re-located.
• BCH became a centre for students training in professional social work.
• In 1947, the first local pensioners’ club opened.

• In 1952 BCH began a new ‘psychiatric social club’.
• The Garden House was converted to provide flats for overseas students. Social work students came from Europe, North America, West Africa and the Caribbean.
• BCH began to focus more on work with older and disabled people.
• Services included a chiropody clinic, marriage guidance and a range of educational and leisure groups.
• In 1960 BCH became the headquarters of the British Association of Settlements & Social Action Centres (BASSAC).
• BCH started to provide offices for other charities.

• In 1973, a financial advice centre is established.
• BCH set up and ran youth clubs on local housing estates.
• In 1976, a food co-operative was established.
• In the 1980s, the Keep Warm and Keep Safe Projects were established, installing loft installation, draught proofing and security equipment for older and disabled people.

In June 2023, Bishop Creighton House changed its operating name to The Creighton Centre. The name is more modern, secular and inclusive, while retaining the surname of Bishop and Louise Creighton for historical continuity.

A book that details the history of Bishop Creighton House from 1908 to 2008 is available.

For up to date information on The Creighton Centre today, please go to the What We Do section.