Crippled Gallery

John Grooms Crippleage and Flower Girls Mission

John Groom's Crippleage and Flower Girls Mission. Blind and Crippled Girls making artificial flowers. John Groom's vision for orphaned and disabled girls and women to find a way to support themselves has had a lasting legacy, with a network of care homes around the country. John Groom (1845-1919) (pictured centre) set up his first mission in 1866 at the age of 21 for girls and women who needed shelter, a regular meal and a way of earning some money. Date: 1907

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Street Trade seller - toys

William Liston from Glasgow, served under the Duke of York in Holland, where on the 6th of October 1799, he lost his right arm and left leg and his place in the army. With still a wife and four children to support, he went from one town to another selling toy figure - young lambs. With white cotton wool for fleeces spangled with Dutch gilt, red paint for cheeks and black spots for eyes, horns of twisted shipping tin. Date: 1825

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Workroom at Grooms Crippleage and Flower Girls Mission

Blind, Maimed and Crippled Girls at making artificial flowers at John Groom's Crippleage and Flower Girls Mission. Groom, a London engraver and evangelical preacher, was concerned for poor and often disabled flower-sellers and in 1866 set up the Watercress and Flower Girls? Christian Mission, later based at Hendon and Clacton. Date: Date unknown

© Mary Evans/Peter Higginbotham Collection