Residency at Pembroke House

Residency is at the heart of Pembroke House. 

For 140 years, successive groups of young volunteers have come to live at a building connected to Pembroke House, sharing their skills, time and lives with the local community, and making Walworth their home. They developed ideas, relationships and projects that are still active today– including our Lunch Club for seniors, and the Pembroke Academy of Music (PAM).

They were part of a larger international settlement housing movement, which began in the 1880s in response to widespread poverty and inequality across the UK. Early residential volunteers were interested in an alternative approach to what they saw as passive forms of Victorian philanthropy. Instead, they advocated for a more engaged and proactive approach to social transformation. 

While settlements houses like Pembroke House and Toynbee Hall focused on local and direct impact, their influence reached far beyond the neighbourhoods they served. William Beveridge and Clement Attlee, architects of the welfare state, both spent time volunteering in settlement houses. This experience profoundly shaped their thinking, ultimately influencing the development of landmark national social reforms, such as the creation of the NHS. 

Despite the rich history and legacy of these settlement housing, their impact is at risk of being forgotten. Few settlement houses exist today, with Pembroke House unique in upholding the tradition of residential volunteering.

As Pembroke House celebrates its 140th birthday in 2025, we’re excited to launch Becoming Neighbours– a project that unearths this history by reconnecting with as many former residential volunteers as possible, as well as the local Walworth residents they built relationships with over the years. Find out more below!