Place Name
Named after the cottages that were built and most probably named after Queen Adelaide, consort of William IV, who was also a patron of the local Hanwell Asylum, which had a policy of admitting only pauper lunatics. The Queen Adelaide Fund was established in 1835 by Colonel James Clitherow, chairman of the Committee of Visitors for Hanwell Asylum, for the assistance of patients discharged cured from Hanwell Asylum in Middlesex, “to enable them to make a fresh start in life”. It had come to his attention that when cured patients were discharged from the asylum many of them were forced to enter the workhouse as their furniture, tools and even clothes had been sold to support their families while they were being treated. The Fund provided such patients with a grant to enable them to resume their jobs and reunite their families. It was supported by Queen Adelaide who became the first subscriber to the Fund, donating £100 as well as her name. The Fund was expanded in 1840 and from 1852 it assisted and administered the similar Queen Victoria Fund for Colney Hatch Asylum patients. In 1889 the Queen Victoria Fund was formally consolidated into the Queen Adelaide Fund.
