Barbara Musson , of Quarn Drive, Allestree, shares some more of her fascinating research into the history of Derby's Railway Servants' Orphanage, which later came to be known as St Christopher's.
BY the early 1880s, the Railway Servants' Orphanage was settled in a large house off Derby's Ashbourne Road.
The Railway Benevolent Institute took over responsibility for financing what had been a labour of love, brought about by the need to provide a home for children left fatherless by an increasing number of fatal railway accidents.
Finance for the building had come from various charitable enterprises.
Indeed, one lady had given the institute £2,000 towards the enlargement of the building in order that more children could be welcomed.
Up until that time, only children whose fathers had lost their lives by accident were admitted.
Now the orphaned children of all railwaymen who had subscribed 8s a year to the Railway Benevolent Fund, or £2 a year to the Orphanage Fund were eligible to be admitted.
The committee running the home was keen to meet all really deserving cases so that no needful child was ever turned away.
At the annual dinner of the institute in 1884, which was presided over by the Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, £9,000, the largest single sum ever given to the home, was donated.
Encouraged by this generous appreciation of its work, the committee commenced work on its most important extension at the home to date.
It involved the addition of a wing for boys and a new front entrance, giving the home a handsome appearance.
The extension was opened by the Marquis of Hartington in July 1887.
Travel firm owner Thomas Cook paid for a completely equipped gymnasium and workshop for the boys, to which was subsequently added a covered play shed.
During his lifetime, Mr Cook was a munificent contributor of funds to the home and, after his death, left a substantial legacy.
His son, Mr FH Cook, continued to show the same level of interest in the cause.
The orphanage's management committee comprised 12 subscribers and six members of the board of the Railway Institute, a proportion of the members being chief officers from the various railway companies.
The institute had been fortunate in enlisting the sympathies of gentlemen in the highest positions and with impressive business capabilities.
The salaried staff was not large, much of the work being done by the older boys and girls, who would be trained before they left the house to be useful citizens.
The chief official at that time was Mr AE Dean, secretary manager, who served for 19 years under Mr Hall and proved a worthy and able successor to his late chief.
The boys' warden was Mr C Rowley, a most energetic and efficient teacher.
He took a paternal interest in the children, entered into their sports and pastimes, taught singing and supervised physical exercise.
Two years before they were due to leave, the older girls helped with the instruction of younger orphans.
On two occasions, 100 youngsters took part in concerts in the town hall in aid of funds for the home. The appearance of these children was perhaps the most interesting item on the programme.
The singing was reported to be good, the children looked happy and the audiences were delighted with their efforts.
Of the staff at the orphanage, Miss Stewart, the matron, and Miss Carruthers, the boys' matron, were energetic women.
They were responsible for the domestic management of the household and the care and comfort of the children.
Everything the children wore, except the boys' boots and suits, were made by the girls.
Designed by the matron and cut out by her assistants and the older girls, there was nothing formal or old fashioned about their dresses, nothing to distinguish them from that of other well-dressed children.
They were neat and substantial, with frills, suggesting that they were clothed as their mothers would have done so at home.
During the week, in the girls' workroom, about 20 girls would put scissors, needles and sewing machines to good purpose.
In the cooking department, a qualified woman came once a week to teach the girls skills that would be useful to them in the future.
They used the big coppers and cookers, where soup was made, beef boiled and potatoes steamed.
There was also a small gas cooker, used mainly by the instructress.
She taught them all they needed to know for family life. Everything they were taught seemed to foster, as far as possible, the idea of home.
The methods of cooking, the making and mending, dusting and cleaning, the habits of order and cleanliness, were calculated to make the transition from the institution to the home as natural as a change from one home to another.
Everything tended to foster, as far as possible, the idea of the normal home.
Visitors at mealtime in about 1902 were reported to be most impressed: "The visitors soon got on good terms with the small men and women (children!) whom we found most polite and affable.
"They seemed to enjoy having us with them at dinner as a huge joke. A pretty picture they made as they stood up with beaming faces to greet us on our entry.
"The smiles to be succeeded, in due course, by that intent expression on children's countenances assumed when engaged in the serious business of eating.
"No irresponsible chatter such as one hears at grown up dinner parties interfered with the important work before them.
"The menu is different for every day of the week. It happened to be soup and pudding day when the visitors were there and, when the inquiry, 'Any more wanted?' was made, some dozen or so diners stood and marched gravely up in single line, basin in hand, to the serving hatch; this being duly replenished, they marched back again in single order.
"After the meal, Grace was sung: 'Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat; thank you for the birds that sing, thank you God for everything.'
"After dinner, only the elder girls were to be seen; all the younger children had gone to a board school, which was situated right next to the home, where they regularly attend, a system that worked very well.
"It gave the boys and girls interests outside their own immediate circle and made them feel that they were part of the world around them.
"The thoughts of the visitors were uplifted, too, in gratitude for the kindly, loving hearts through whose bounty the good work was carried on.
"It is a pity that all subscribers and helpers could not have been there to see such a satisfying spectacle.
"One could not forget the blessings here: the people who gave the means to provide the food; the children who were made happy and comfortable and able to fit in to the outside world.
"It was a weight off the minds of those widows of the men who had died on the railway, who could be assured that their children in the orphanage were being well cared for and looked after."
