Lady Hore-Ruthven Junior Red Cross Home

The Lady Hore-Ruthven Junior Red Cross Home opened in 1946 at Henley Beach. Run by the Red Cross the Home comprised new premises in Henley Beach and the original Junior Red Cross Home. The two buildings operated as a convalescent Home for up to 50 children. The Lady Hore-Ruthven Home closed in 1959 and children were transferred to new premises at Glenelg known simply as the Junior Red Cross Home.

The Lady Hore-Ruthven Junior Red Cross Home opened in 1946 on the Esplanade at Henley Beach in the former premises of the Lady Galway Convalescent Home for ex-servicemen. The latter moved to Roberts Street in Glenelg. Given that the vacated building lay opposite the original Junior Red Cross Home, the decision was made to combine the two buildings into one larger Home which was officially named the Lady Hore-Ruthven Junior Red Cross Home.

A newspaper report on the opening of the new premises described its furnishings:

Visitors were delighted with the home’s two dormitories with their gay primrose bedspreads, the large living room furnished with miniature armchairs, small tables, attractive toys, and green dining tables and chairs. The staff rooms have also been attractively and comfortably furnished. Seventeen beds have been given to the home.

In 1954 the girls’ dormitory was named the May Willoughby in honour of Mrs FC Willoughby who had been the Chairperson of the Home Committee since 1935.

During 1958 the Home Committee decided to close and sell the Lady Hore-Ruthven Home and move the children and staff to the former Lady Galway Convalescent Home at Roberts Street in Glenelg. The adult residents at Lady Galway were to be moved to Kapara Home, also at Glenelg. In 1959 this move took place and the Lady Hore-Ruthven Junior Red Cross Home closed.