Catalogue description LITTLE COMMONWEALTH ARCHIVE

Minutes, Accounts, Correspondence, Deeds, Maps etc

Little Commonwealth, Batcombe, Dorset

The Little Commonwealth was set up by a group of people who had been impressed by the work of American Child "Republics", which were involved in the education and rehabilitation of maladjusted children. A Committee was formed to further the experiments in Britain, on which George Montaguwas prominent. Through his uncle, the Earl of Sandwich, premises at Flowers Farm, Batcombe, were made available and in 1913 a superintendent was appointed and preparations made for the arrival of the first children. These were child offenders, deemed unsuited to Borstal or reformatory treatment, often referred to the Little Commonwealth by Magistrates. Eventually about fifty children of all ages from babies to late teens lived in the community, which was run entirely by the children, who made their own laws and farmed the land. In 1917 Homer Lane, the superintendent was accused of misconduct by three girl citizens. The resulting Home Office enquiry did not confirm the allegations, but the Little Commonwealth was closed, due to public feeling, in 1918. For a fuller account see "Homer Lane and the Little Commonwealth," E T Bazeley, 1928, and also "Homer Lane", a biography by David Mills.

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