This article is based upon an item originally written by Roger Fane and published on the first parish website. It has been expanded after further research.
In 1887 Bishop Butt (right) founded the Southwark Diocesan Education
Council &
Rescue Society for poor and neglected children from South London, Kent, Surrey
and Sussex. He was inspired by the work of Canon Crea at Southwark Cathedral,
who had acquired a disused carpenter's shop as a shelter for such children,
becoming the first General Manager of the Society.
In 1891 a 60-acre site at Orpington was put up for public auction but did not reach its reserve figure. The Bishop was attracted by this opportunity, and the following day the Society purchased the land, which allowed sufficient space for the proposed buildings, as well as fields in which to teach the children basic farming methods.
The building of St Joseph's Orphanage and School (for 200 boys from the age of four onward) was completed in 1892. On 23 July 1893, the Presentation Brothers, with Brother Louis as Superior, arrived from Cork to undertake their task of training and educating the boys.
Typical examples of early arrivals were James McCarthy, who was admitted on 18 September 1893 at the age of 10, from the parish of St. Olave's, having spent the previous two years in the workhouse; and John Gorman, aged 11, admitted 14 days earlier from the parish of Lambeth, where he had spent four years in the workhouse.
For the next seven years St Joseph's Orphanage and School was also occupied by girls, under the guidance of the Sisters of Mercy, whose Superior was Mother Mary Martha. The first chaplain was Father Martin, whose tenure was only brief. He was followed in 1894 by Father Linnett, who served until his death in 1912.
The
original orphanage (left) was divided into wings, one for boys
and one for girls, with a huge kitchen area between. A prominent feature of
the surrounding land was a small farm, operated by Brother Matthew, where
a herd of dairy cattle, some pigs, a flock of chickens and two carthorses
were kept.
The children were taught basic agriculture, a subject that many of them would later put to use 4,000 miles away. There were also classes in carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring, pottery and basket making.
With considerable insight and forethought Bishop Butt had developed a most unusual plan. As Bishop of Southwark he was involved in the Catholic Canadian Emigration Society, founded in the early 1880's. This body funded and developed three homes in Canada, including one called St. Joseph's, at Hintonburg near Ottawa. Its name was later changed to St. Joseph's School and subsequently to New Orpington Lodge.
The second home - St Anne's - was for girls and was based in Montreal; the third was a training centre for young men aged between 16 and 21, and was called New Southwark Farm. It was located much further west, at Makinak in Manitoba.
The
idea was that young people (right) ready to leave the Orpington
Orphanages and other Southwark-controlled homes, and who lacked friends or
relatives, should emigrate there. They stayed in one of the Canadian homes
for a year. This helped them adapt to their new environment, before being
placed with mainly Irish-Canadian Catholic farming families.
The records show that - over the generations - tens of thousands crossed the Atlantic for this very purpose.