| Description | Minutes 1892-1990, Annual reports 1875-1990, Constitution and early development, Later development and closure, Correspondence, Finance 1876-1982 (including grants and payments made for children 1944-1976), Legacies 1906-1968, Property and Estate 1878-1990 (including deeds and plans), Manager's/Secretary's monthly reports to the Orphanage Committee 1888-1890, Visitors Reports 1951-1993, Children's admission and discharge registers 1875-1984, Admission cards c1880s-c1970s, Punishment books 1949-1976, Log Books 1964-1972, House report books 1973-1983, Pocket money record 1988-1989, Sanatorium Patients Registers 1948-1977, Children's Medical Report 1959-1969, Old Pupils' Association minutes 1935-1950 and correspondence 1985-1992, Scrapbooks, late 19th cent-1980, Old Person's Admissions and Discharges Register 1984-1993, Other |
| Administrative History | St Christopher's Railway Home was established in January 1875 as the Railway Servants' Orphanage. It was intended for the children of railway workers who had lost their lives in the performance of their duty, but from 1881 the children of railway workers who had died of natural causes were accepted and from 1927 those whose mothers had died and were incapacitated. Children whose health was poor were not admitted but were granted allowances for their maintenance at home or at a special school. A railway orphanage at Woking cared for children from the south of the country.
The first orphanage was a rented house in London Road, Derby and housed 11 children at its opening. In 1877 a house and gardens in Ashbourne Road, Derby was purchased, altered and extended and further land purchased in order to accommodate 36 children. In 1880 a boys' wing was added, then domestic buildings and a sanatorium. Further land purchases increased the site to over five acres. As completed by 1887, the buildings were able to accommodate 300 children.
In May 1881 the orphanage amalgamated with the Railway Benevolent Institution founded in 1858 to help railway staff and their families in time of need. The Railway Servants' Orphanage was renamed St Christopher's Railway Home in 1948.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the whole orphanage was evacuated to Pilsley, but this proved inappropriate, and 60 Senior boys were relocated to Park Lodge at Fritchley in early November 1939. By April 1940, the remainder of the children had relocated to Foston Hall. Several boys who attended Derby School were evacuated with their classmates to Ashover.
Numbers at the Orphanage dropped significantly after the Second World War and the old building was demolished to make way for two smaller houses, opened in 1977. By 1982, one of these was adequate for the children cared for at the Home and the other was adapted for use as a home for the elderly from 1983. By the time it was finally closed in 1993, there were no longer any children at St Christopher's and only six elderly residents. |
| Custodial History | These records were donated to the Record Office in May 1993. |