Our story

Our story begins in September 1889, when enterprising Trinity students founded the Trinity Court lay settlement in Camberwell to support the philanthropic work of the college clergy.

It was, they trusted, ‘an opportunity both for doing much good to those in positions less favoured than their own, and also one for a practical study of the great Social Questions of the Day’
– Trinity Court, ‘First Annual Report’, 1890

Trinity Court is re-established as Cambridge House at the request of the Bishop of Rochester for a ‘Cambridge something’ to rival North London’s Oxford House.

The ‘Poor Man’s Lawyer’ service is established, forming an early forerunner to professional legal centres.

Talbot House (later the Talbot Women’s Settlement) is founded as a women’s settlement named after the Bishop of Rochester’s wife Mrs Talbot. The two settlements enter a long partnership.

Cambridge House forms London’s largest centre for the work of the Children’s Country Holiday Fund, sending 2,000 children annually on holidays to partnered countryside villages.

Closed for the only time in its history. Most if not all of Cambridge House’s residents are killed in the fighting.

Cambridge House is a founding member of The Federation of Residential Settlements.

Establishment of one of the UK’s first professional Legal Centres, now being run by salaried employees during standard working hours.

Provision of an emergency food and rest centre, also taking over the running of several local youth clubs after their premises are destroyed.

The Talbot Women’s Settlement establishes a residential club, day nursery, and advice centre for homeless west Indian women and children.

Cambridge House begins provision of adult literacy services, leading to heavy involvement alongside the British Association of Settlement in a national literacy movement that culminates in the 1973 ‘Right to Read’ Programme.

Cambridge House and the Talbot Women’s Settlement formally merge, becoming Cambridge House and Talbot.

Establishes Southwark’s first club for adults and children with learning disabilities.

Founding member of the British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres (BASSAC), now Locality.

Having uncovered the extent of under provision for disabled people in Southwark, Cambridge House launches a major project to nurture the development of new autonomous services in the borough.

Our Advocacy Service takes a lead role in the campaign for statutory advocacy, also taking part in the original NHS and Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy pilot programmes.

Completion of a £6.5 million building refurbishment and extension programme.

The Law Centre takes a client’s case to the Supreme Court, permanently changing how the government defines vulnerability and priority of need.

Safer Renting is established to support private rented tenants with criminal landlords.

We began advocating nationally for radical listening to be used to reconnect with communities, address complex challenges, and transform systems through conversational leadership and practice.

Our Youth Empowerment Lead is awarded London Youth’s ‘Youth Professional of 2019’ Award, and our Law Centre establishes its Crisis Mitigation service.

Our Youth Empowerment Lead is awarded London Youth’s ‘Youth Professional of 2019’ Award, and our Law Centre establishes its Crisis Mitigation service.

Safer Renting’s ‘Journeys in the Shadow Private Rented Sector’ is named Thinkhouse’s most influential housing report of the year, and we maintain services remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cambridge House establishes an outreach Crisis Mitigation service for young women and girls at the Baytree Centre, Lambeth.

We complete the sale of our building at 1 Addington Square to put us on a much more sustainable financial footing and to free us up to focus on our core work of supporting people in crisis and challenging the systems that led them there.