Christ's Hospital and Colonial America
British Americans Often Sought Apprentices from London’s Orphanages
Aug 15, 2009
When King Henry VIII took England away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, he also took all the lands owned by the Church. Among these lands were certain properties which Henry bestowed upon the City of London, to be used “for the relief of the poor.” His son and successor, Edward VI, aided and encouraged by the Bishop of London and its Lord Mayor, granted a charter creating Christ’s Hospital, for the education of poor children.
The Purpose of Christ’s Hospital
Despite its name, Christ’s Hospital was not a place for those who were ill, but rather a school for orphans and other destitute children. Here they were instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, the basic skills necessary for them to make a living on their own. The children at the Hospital wore long blue coats with silver buttons bearing the image of their Founder, Edward VI, and therefore came to be called “Blues.” From the beginning in 1552, both male and female children were admitted, making Christ’s Hospital one of the world’s oldest schools for girls.
Apprentices for America
For over two centuries, Blues were in high demand as apprentices to merchants, craftsmen, and other colonists throughout Britain’s growing empire. The first of them came to Jamestown in 1607, and they continued to come, even during the Revolution, even during the War of 1812. Many a Virginia planter or a New England merchant “sent back” to Christ’s hospital for a boy (or girl) who could write clearly and “keep accounts.” All the Blues could meet those criteria; and handwriting especially was so rigorously taught by the masters, and so well learned by the students, that the distinctive Christ’s Hospital “hand” was often specifically requested. In addition to what we would today call their marketable skills, the Blues enjoyed another advantage as apprentices for the colonies: because they were orphans and other low-ranking members of society, they had very few ties to families or lands to hold them in England.
The Legacy of the Blues
In 1673, King Charles II granted Christ’s Hospital a second charter, which established the Royal Mathematical School, for the training of mathematicians and navigators. This increased the already wide influence of the Blues throughout the British Empire. In an era in which success was typically limited to the already wealthy, Christ’s Hospital allowed some of the less privileged of England’s people to make their own contributions to society.
Notable Blues of the past and present have included:
- poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
- essayist Charles Lamb,
- conductor Sir Colin Davis,
- songwriter Sydney Carter (“Lord of the Dance”), and
- Edmund Campion, a 16th-century Jesuit priest and martyr and the only graduate of an English Protestant school to be made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
As for the less notable Blues, the Christ’s Hospital Project is attempting to track all those who came as apprentices to the North American colonies between 1607 and 1815. They came to almost every colony – some making more of an impact than others, but all contributing in one way or another to the dynamic society of the New World.
Source:
Morpurgo, J.E. “A Thing Without Parallel: Christ’s Hospital and America.” Colonial Williamsburg, Autumn 1988, pp. 7-14.
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