The records are divided into 4 series as follows:
York Diocesan Maternity Hostel, Sutton House (1946-1971), formerly the York Diocesan Maternity Home, Linnaeus House (1915-1946). Merged with the Hull Family Welfare Council to become the Hull Family Welfare Centre, Linnaeus House (1971).
The York Diocesan Maternity Home was established at Linnaeus House, Hull, in February 1915 as a mother and baby home under the auspices of the York Diocesan Association for Preventative and Rescue Work (later the Social Responsibility Council). It was funded through local authority grants, the Family Offering and contributions on behalf of the girls in the home. At the beginning girls were expected to enter the home two months before their expected confinement and remain for six months afterwards, but these rules were relaxed during the 1914-18 war and never re-implemented afterwards when a stay of six weeks after the birth of a child, the minimum time before adoption according to the 1926 Act was all that could be enforced. The home was run by an executive committee, meeting once a quarter, and a house committee, which met monthly.
After the second world war Linnaeus House was sold and the renamed York Diocesan Maternity Hostel opened in Sutton House, Sutton on Hull in 1946. In 1948 the hostel ceased to act as a maternity home, but continued to be the centre of the diocesan mother and baby work until the 1970's. In 1971 the hostel merged with the Hull Family Welfare Council to form the Hull Family Welfare Centre and returned to Linnaeus House.
