At a time of desperate poverty in east London, two sisters changed children’s lives forever, giving some a fresh start in the countryside and sending others thousands of miles from home.

Historian Bill Bayliss has put together new evidence of seven cottages run by evangelical Christian sisters Helen and Mary Steer, the daughters of a minister, in Chingford Road and Ainslie Wood Road in Chingford.

The sisters founded the Bridge of Hope project in about 1892 to take in girls whose mothers were ‘fallen women’ – usually unmarried mothers or prostitutes.

The deeply religious sisters aimed to give more than 150 girls  in Ainslie Wood Road the strong moral foundations they believed their parents could not provide.

They also took in a few boys and gave unmarried mothers shelter at The Crib in Chingford Road.

Children were cared for by ‘cottage mothers’ in groups of 20 in what at the time were rural surroundings – a bid to keep them from dangers and perceived temptations in their native East End.

As friends of Thomas Barnardo, whose homes sent about 30,000 children to Canada between 1882 and 1939, and Quaker Annie MacPherson, who also ran a child migration policy, the Steer sisters arranged for some of the children in their care to be sent abroad.

Mr Bayliss found references to “Miss Steer’s House” in the 1901 and 1911 censuses after people in the area asked him about children’s homes in Chingford.

He said that in their desire to give the children a fresh start, the sisters appear to have changed the children’s names so their parents could not find them.

He said: “Quite clearly, what (Mary Steer) was trying to do was take them away from the influences of their mothers. This was backed up by the census as Miss Steer did not list their real names.

“I strongly believe she didn’t want the mothers to find them.

“From her perspective, she saw the deprivation and degradation of the East End and knew their futures looked bleak so wanted to rescue them and later deport them to Canada.”

Despite their high profile friends, the sisters’ work remained little known until Mary’s self-published book on the homes was added to the website Open Library.

In the book, Opals from Sand: An Story of Early Days at The Bridge of Hope, she writes: “I will not dwell upon our methods of dealing with the children when we receive them.

“We bring the children up quite simply and – as nearly as we can – as they would have been brought up in respectable working-class homes.

“The life of the children is fairly free; they are sent on errands and to a certain extent go in and out among the people.

“The matrons, or cottage mothers, are good, earnest, patient Christian women, not too far removed socially from the children. If they are to play the part of mothers, this is a necessity.”

The Steers’ mission started to wind down during the First World War, with problems keeping staff and severe financial strain. It is thought the homes closed in 1920.

Miss Steer died at the age of 83 in Feb 1930 in Brooke House, Upper Clapton, Hackney which at the time was listed as a private mental asylum.