Edith Laura Urch (c. 1915 – January 1978), known to her friends as Urchie, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

and

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

worker who founded the Ladyeholme Housing Association, a charity for homeless people, and ran it as

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

until her death. Urch was born in

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, although her parents were both from

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. Her father, Reginald Urch, was Professor of English at the

University of Moscow Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

. Shortly after the

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in 1917, her father was arrested and incarcerated in the

Lubyanka Prison Lubyanka (, ) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Neo-Baroque building with a facade of yellow brick designed by Alex ...

, and she and her mother hid in a tiny peasant cottage just outside the city. Eventually, in 1920, her father was released, and the family returned to England. She remembered her experiences of poverty in Russia all her life, and these contributed to her founding of Ladyeholme. Her father later returned to the area as Russian and

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correspondent of ''

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'', based in

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. Urch was educated in England and

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and then joined the

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Or ...

as a

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. However, she decided that her vocation was in nursing and left the order (although she remained a deeply devout

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all her life), qualifying as a

State Registered Nurse Nursing in the United Kingdom is the profession of ''registered nurses'' and nursing associates in the primary and secondary care of patients. It has evolved from assisting physicians to encompass a variety of professional roles. Over 700,000 ...

and later also as a

State Certified Midwife Midwives in the United States assist childbearing women during pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Some midwives also provide primary care for women including well-woman exams, health promotion, and disease prevention, family pl ...

. She eventually rose to become a sister-tutor at the

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is district general hospital and teaching hospital located in Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approxim ...

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. During the

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, she suffered severe spinal injuries during an air raid, which left her partially disabled and often in great pain for the rest of her life. In 1951, using her

disability pension A disability pension is a form of pension given to those people who are permanently or temporarily unable to work due to a disability. North America An example of a disability pension is from a private or Public Pension Plan, or the Canada Pen ...

, she bought a small

terraced house A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

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and began to take in homeless people. This developed into Ladyeholme (the name coming from an historical association devoted to the

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), which eventually had use of 42 houses throughout London. These houses had generally been purchased by public authorities, such as the Department of Transport or the GLC, for road schemes or other public works and Ladyeholme was able to use them to house the homeless pending final definition. The charity was always short of money, and Urch often lived in poverty herself at her home/office in Warwick Way, London, SW1, giving everything she had to it. She was often in conflict with

Shelter A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both ...

, a much larger charity for the homeless, whom she accused of including the families housed by Ladyeholme in its statistics and claiming that it was the only charity helping the homeless in London, ignoring the existence of Ladyeholme.''Ladyeholme Newsletter'', vol.1, no.1, c.1971 The charity relied extensively on voluntary work, often coming from Church connections. In the end, Ladyeholme failed to endure because her tremendous drive was not matched by high-quality governance.

Footnotes

References

*''Ladyeholme Newsletter'', vol.1, no.1, c.1971 *''What is Ladyeholme?'', leaflet by John Mack, c.1971 *Obituary, ''

'', 27 January 1978 {{DEFAULTSORT:Urch, Edith 1910s births 1978 deaths People from Moscow English nurses English midwives English Roman Catholics Poor Clares British charity and campaign group workers