I don't believe it is right to try to hide the bad things about the past, but nor do I think we need to single out Louise House as a particularly cruel place without significantly more evidence. It would be easy to accuse virtually any Victorian or Edwardian institution of abuse by today's standards. For example a teacher today would be sacked for caning a child, but it was standard practice back then.

There is little doubt that it was at one time an inspirational institution to no less a figure that Janus Korczak, the man who invented the idea of the rights of a child.

If you view time backward then you can come to any number of conclusions about our ancestors. But when viewed forward it is clear that Louise House was in a small way part of a movement to improve the lives of children and the poor. I do believe that it matters when you make your judgements about the past, and you do need to take some account of the prevailing conditions at the time. If this makes me sound sanctimonious and priggish then tough.