2-982-218 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The New Asylum for Fatherless Children, at Coulsdon, near Croydon, 1858. 'This Asylum was instituted in the year 1844, on liberal principles, for the purpose of relieving fatherless children, without respect to place, sex, or religious distinction, the only qualification being that that the child must be destitute, and above the condition of a pauper. Children are received at any age (from the birth if necessary), and are all retained and cared for - the boys until fourteen, and the girls until fifteen years of age. In the short space of fourteen years 384 children have been received, and there are now 164 on the foundation. A building fund was opened in 1850, and, with the unanimous voice of the subscribers, a most desirable estate at Coulsdon, about three miles from Croydon, on the main line of the Brighton Railway, was purchased for the erection of a suitable asylum. This new building was opened on Wednesday, on which occasion a public breakfast was given'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.