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Recent articles about St Christopher’s Home in Ashbourne Road, formerly the Railway Servants’ Orphanage, prompted historian Maxwell Craven to delve into the history of the institution and the various buildings it has occupied over the years, including a villa owned by a Frenchwoman with ‘revolutionary tendencies’.

For almost a century, the Railway Servants’ Orphanage, later St Christopher’s, was housed in Edward Fryer’s magnificent 1880s French chateau-style building, on Ashbourne Road.

Derby City Council unfortunately allowed this excellent building to be demolished in 1978, despite its listed Grade II status. What prompted my thoughts was the discovery of an engraving of the building which preceded it, a fine Regency villa to which the orphanage had added a substantial wing.

This reminded me that the institution had originally begun in yet another Regency building, William Jeffrey Etches’ house, off London Road. It was let to house the institution when it was first founded as a private enterprise in the 1860s. This villa was set in grounds which went right up to the Midland main line.

Set in the wall, close to the house, was an elaborate shrine to Guiseppe Garibaldi, the hero of Mrs Etches, who was described as “a Frenchwoman of revolutionary tendencies”.

Unfortunately, the grounds were eventually seen as the ideal place to build a new gasworks for Derby. So the Etches sold out and retired to the country, while the orphanage had to move.

The remaining parkland was sold to the Midland Railway to build carriages on and the house, rendered uninhabitable by the proximity of the gasworks, had to be demolished.

The orphanage was re-sited in 1875 to a villa situated between 173 and 174 Ashbourne Road. In those days, the road was numbered starting with No 1 at Goodall’s corner up to Markeaton Hall and then back down the other side to 199 at the junction with Uttoxeter New Road. Nowadays it is odds and evens.

The orphanage was re-founded as an independent charity with Midland Railway chief, Sir James Allport, as treasurer and chaired by John Bailey, who also lived in a Regency villa, the long-vanished Temple House on Burton Road.

The house itself had long been the residence of lawyer Thomas Handford Richardson, whose name recurs in the streets later built across what had once been his land. It was, however, constructed as Whitecross Fields House between 1819 and 1824 for Samuel Rowland. It was typical of the work of Derby builder-architect Joseph Cooper, whose Parkfields, Park Grove, still survives.

Its facade was set off by a coat of Brookhouse’s Roman Cement, made on the Morledge from Chellaston alabaster or gypsum, crushed up and mixed with lime and other substances. This was then grooved to look like cut stone blocks, or ashlar.

The front door was entered through a projecting Doric portico and there was a service wing off to the east side, lower and plainer.

The orphanage added a two-storey wing but it was higher than the original house, albeit in matching style with a stair window at the part nearest to the original house.

Even after the orphanage sold some of the land for building the New Zealand estate, it still had five acres of grounds. The land sale, a decade after the place was established, was to finance a new building.

My point is that there were once many delightful, well-proportioned, later Regency villas in Derby, of which few now survive – among them The Leylands, Litchurch Villa (the R-R club in Osmaston Road) and Parkfields.

Their rise was the result of the increasingly crowded town centre, where the more traditional town house was beginning to lose its appeal. The edges of the town combined the pleasures of the countryside with the convenient proximity of the town.

Yet the town itself was being rapidly improved and re-shaped by the Improvement Commissions, giving Derby grand new buildings like the General Infirmary, the prison in Vernon Street, the Royal Hotel, the 1828 Guildhall and others. This was backed by the prosperity bestowed by a new canal and a vastly improved roads infrastructure.

This great rebuilding also produced a number of fine local architects, like George Moneypenny Jnr, George Rawlinson, Joseph and William Mansfield Cooper, William Smith, Samuel Brown and the gifted amateurs, William Strutt, cotton billionaire, and Richard Leaper, banker, tanner, excise man and serial Mayor of Derby.

Not only them, but a number of London men of national renown came to Derby to build, like Matthew Habershon, who worked extensively for the Strutts.

This Regency architectural flowering made Derby a city renowned for its elegance, intellectual vigour and social life at the time.

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St. Christopher’s

We lived in Swansea, having lost my Father at about the age of 8-9yrs, we moved to Derby so my Mother could live & work nearer to her Sisters. My Sister & I were put into St. Christopher’s so my mother could go to work without having to worry about us when School was closed at the end of the day, or School holidays.

I lived for some 5yrs or so at St. Christopher’s, not the happiest times of my life. I was treated with contempt by other children because I “Spoke funny”. I soon learned that independence was the key word. A good foundation for later life, but not by choice.

I remember being welcomed by a Miss. Eaver (spelling?) who introduced us to Miss Whitfield, my “minder” & Miss. Bisset, my Sister’s “minder”. I was taken to a dormitory & shown where I would be sleeping. There were about 15+ beds in the dorm’ & we each had a draw in a large chest where we could keep our clothing. We were responsible for making our beds, army style with “Hospital corners” & pyjamas folded neatly under the pillow. “Ronuxing” the floor to a high shine with a heavy pad about 12 X 12 inches, weighted with a steel ball attached to a long wooden handle. This was a weekly chore every Saturday morning. I think there was a dormitory in each corner of the building Children were segregated by age & sex. As a child reached the age of 12 (I think) the child was moved to a different dormitory, & had to use a different Day room. The day rooms were very large. Large enough to hold at least two full sized snooker tables. There were three I used to play on regularly. The older children, 14yrs & above, I think slept two or three to a room. I did use one of these for a short while just before leaving. The building was built around a “Square” plan. You could walk along the corridors 360degrees returning to your starting point. If you were caught downstairs on the Girls side, questions were asked. Upstairs, you made sure you were not caught. No questions would be asked, you would be hauled off to the office where a Mr. Bucknell (I think) would administer “6 of the best” The centre court yard of the building held I think 2 bath/shower rooms with possibly 20 baths & 10 showers (Boys that is, I never saw the girls). I have a vague recollection that there were 4 sets of toilet blocks for each group of children, both upstairs & downstairs, I could be wrong though. A workshop for cleaning shoes, as a middle aged child, you cleaned the primary’s shoes. There were other small rooms off to one side but I never went into those. A very large dinning room occupied the centre court as well, with 4 rows of tables in long lines (Hogwarts style, but not as grand). We had to “Ronux” this floor as well. The Top Table in front to the stage was for the staff. Near to the entrance was a very large hotplate/cupboard to keep food hot. The food was brought in by the kitchen staff, placed in or on the cupboard where it was left to the head of each table to collect. High Tea was for the older children, 12 + & was served around 6pm. Empty plates etc were collected by the head of the table & retuned to trolleys to await removal for washing by the staff. All meals started & ended with Grace. The stage was in regular use for plays, concerts & other events such as prize giving. I used to be a king in the nativity held each year, or played the dreaded recorder. There was never any time you could say that you went without food, we were always well fed. We might not have enjoyed what we were given, but we did not starve. To the Left of the drive going up the hill(read slope),there was a large sports field where cricket was played & the sports day events would be held there. Spectators would sit on the bank to watch. The upper field we played football & other games. Behind the upper field there was a playground, at least the size of a school playground. This is where I learned to ride a bike. To the Right of the drive were two tennis courts. Below the courts was a house where Mr.Bucknell lived.

Around the back of the building there was a gymnasium well kitted out with all you could wish for. A 6-bed Sanatorium (or was it 8 beds in two rooms) with a surgery off to one side staffed by the resident nurse. A doctor was on 24hr call to St.Kit’s (as we called it) Just below the “San” was a double row of greenhouses where the gardener did his thing. (A little story here: I had just been reading about ancient weapons, & the sling roused great interest in my child mind. How was it made, & how did it work? I tried folding a hanky, seemed OK so I put a stone into the hanky, swung the “Sling” around, & let go of one end of the hanky. I did not see the stone leave, but I heard it land with a crash of glass. Fortunately I got away with it as the gardener did not use the greenhouse a great deal) A play field was just below the greenhouses with several plots of garden for the children to grow flowers or whatever they wanted. In the Summer time we would put large hutches on the field to let the Guinea pigs live. They were brought indoors for the winter. Between the playing field & the main building was a small building where potatoes were stored & pealed in something like a spin drier. If chips were on the menu, the peeled “Spuds” were put through the “chipper” something like a very big garlic crusher. Large steel bins of “Spuds” or chips were then taken to the kitchen for cooking. The older children had the responsibility of “Spud bashing” We used to go to Skegness for a day from Friargate station once a year. We were given tickets to ride on the Butlins fair. Food & drink were provided for the journey. The older children were allowed to go where they pleased, within certain limits, the younger ones were supervised by staff & some of the older girls. Swimming was a regular weekly activity where we spent some of our pocket money at Queen Street baths, we walked both ways. I remember camping in North Wales as an older child. We used ex Army Bell tents. The only time we camped I think. We went to Fairbourne, where after a night or two, we were washed out by a heavy storm. The local villagers sorted out accommodation in the village hall whilst our gear was drying out. During that week, a play was put on for the locals, & we were invited to watch. I wished we hadn’t. Scared would be an under statement. The play was “The Monkey’s Paw” Some of us had nightmares for a week or so. We were invited by the villagers the following year to spend a holiday in their houses the following year….But that is another story.

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