Left: Haymaking. Considerable care was also taken to protect the well-being of the young male emigrants. Agents were appointed to visit them in their new farming families and offer advice on major problems during their early years.

A monthly magazine called Boys and Girls was published by The Southwark Diocesan Council and Rescue Society to encourage interest and support for its work. It was edited by the Rev. Lord Archibald Douglas, who made numerous journeys to Canada.

Surviving editions give a number of favourable reports,written both by young emigrants and priests who were involved in the society, but did not avoid the issue that for some emigration turned out to be an unhappy experience, resulting in their return to England. Below right: log hut.

The Catholic Canadian Emigration Society was one of many church and charitable organisations that arranged these movements during this era. Their general policy was to arrange the emigration of orphaned teenagers of various backgrounds. Some training was organised in Canada, before placing the children with families.

Surviving passenger records from transatlantic liners identify a regular stream of young emigrants sponsored by church bodies and charities. The Catholic Society differed in that its emigrants came only from Roman Catholic homes and were eventually placed with Catholic families in Canada.

In the late nineteenth century the vast Dominion still had a somewhat sparse population, inadequate for the development of its enormous area. This meant that the expanding country could offer prosperity to those who were prepared to work hard and young men with some agricultural skills appear to have had a real advantage.

The Rev. Edward St John, who took many parties to Canada from Southwark Diocese, wrote in Boys and Girls that 'Youths who were trained in Canadian farming would get far better wages than raw immigrants.'

In Orpington, on 24 September 1900, the combined orphanage and girls' school of St. Anne's was opened, with 230 girls transferring there from St Joseph's. The date was significant, in that it was the Feast Day of St Pacificus of San Severino - born Charles Antony Divini. He became a friar at the age of 17 and took the name 'Pacificus' on Holy Innocents' Day, 28 December 1670.

At this stage both orphanage schools became officially recognised by the Local Government Board. The immediate proximity of the two orphanages was apparently intended to ensure that brothers and sisters could remain close to each other and relatives could visit more easily. However some concerns were voiced about the separation of siblings and later a number of family units were developed.

In 1928 the original buildings for St. Anne's, a voluntary school for the orphanages, were erected.

Left - girls at the orphanage
Good will was further enhanced during World War 1, when orphanage boys volunteered to work on local farms and entertained troops stationed at Green St Green with musical performances - especially with its brass band.

During the Second World War both orphanages were evacuated. St Anne's and the Sisters of Mercy went first to St Helen's (a small village called Sutton Leech, to be exact) and then - rather surprisingly - to just outside heavily-bombed Coventry.

The boys of St Joseph's with the Brothers went to Hesketh Bank in Lancashire. Later on they went elsewhere in the county. Most of the children returned to Orpington around 6 months after the cessation of hostilities.

St Anne's became a primary school in April 1954 after being recognised by the Local Education Authority; the Headmistress was Sister Angela, who remained in this post until 1984.

As prosperity grew in post-war England and social attitudes changed, the need for orphanages declined. Then in the late seventies, the land on which the original Holy Innocents' Church stood was found to be suffering from such serious subsidence that closure of the building became necessary. Subsequently the land was sold for housing** and the Church and the orphanages were demolished. The land was developed as St Joseph's Estate and some of the new roads were named after prominent sisters and brothers associated with the old orphanages.
** (The proceeds were used to convert the former Coloma Teaching College in West Wickham into St John Rigby School. The name chamged to All Saints' in November 2004. The school closed in 2007.)

The History of Holy Innocents' Church page on this site may also be of interest.