Childrens camps on Canvey

Rev. Joseph Romanus Brown was one of the instigators of the Childrens' Camps held on Canvey in the early 1900s. Deprived boys from Islington came to Canvey for a few weeks to a camp at Leigh Beck from 1908. When the site became problematic, Rev. Brown, who moved to the Island in 1909 arranged for both boys and girls from Islington and Walthamstow to camp in the grounds of the Vicarage. We have managed to piece together some of the story with newspaper articles and pictures.