Carolina House Trust, founded in 1815 by a group of Dundonians who wanted to help people experiencing hardship, is one of the oldest charities in Scotland. The charity aimed to care for children who could not live with their parents in the city’s first orphan establishment.
To this day we still care for children and young people who cannot live with their own families but they are cared for in a family setting by our community of carers.
Life was difficult in newly industrialised Dundee. Even people who could find work lived in cramped housing and had poor working conditions and sanitation. Life was especially hard for people who couldn’t find work. Parents often were unable to look after their children, or died as a result of their poverty, leaving orphans behind.
1815
On February 9, 1815, John Whittet Junior, William Dick, David Adams and George Scott met in the Baker’s Room of the Trades Hall in Dundee to ‘deliberate on the propriety of attempting to open an orphan establishment in Dundee.’
On September 29 1870, Dundee Royal Orphan Institution’s new home was formally opened and 55 children moved into the new building, which was also a school for the orphans and day pupils.
Built on ‘a most amenable site’ on the south side of Craigie Terrace, with views across the Tay, The Courier & Argus describes the house as a ‘villa… with spacious grounds’. The building was on three storeys and contained large and airy dormitories, classrooms, sewing rooms, dining hall, kitchen, scullery, washhouse, laundry, lavatories and bathrooms.
Initially, the children were educated in the home, but the directors were aware of the limitations of their education policy. By 1895, some of the children were enrolled at Glebelands School.
Several won bursaries to the academies and many gained dux medals and prizes later at the Dundee High School and Morgan Academy.
Only children born in Dundee could benefit from the Home until 1928 when a new Royal Charter opened the door to children from Angus, Fife and Perth.
By the 1920s state-funded social welfare began to impact the work of the Royal Orphan Institute but there was always a need for an organisation to care for children and young people who had lost one or two parents, or were from broken homes or other circumstances that required admission.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Orphanage faced financial problems. Sixty-two children were evacuated to Gray House in Invergowrie. While they revelled in their new environment, the Home was taken over by the Admiralty for the duration of the war at a yearly rental of £250. Donations and subscriptions fell to as low as £60, the lowest ever, and the children themselves tried to help out by donating their earnings at the ‘Tatties’.
Fifty former pupils served in the Forces. Four were killed.
1946
The children returned to the home on Ferry Road in 1946 after it had undergone an extensive and very expensive facelift. Since the passing of the Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Act in 1937, the number of children admitted had been gradually shrinking.
Early in 1961, as part of a national survey, an inquiry was held by the Scottish Office into children’s homes in Dundee, and the Scottish Secretary drafted a scheme to be called ‘Dundee Children’s Homes Trust Scheme 1962’. The Directors objected to so many questions of fact and policy that the Scottish Secretary called a conference of all interested parties, and in consequence, the Orphanage remained a home supported by voluntary subscriptions; control remained in the hands of seven directors elected by these subscribers along with two co-opted directors and representatives of Dundee Town Council and Angus County Council.
As approaches to childcare have evolved nationally during the past half-century, so too has the structure and delivery of services offered by Carolina House Trust. Over the years, there has been a move away from residential care for children towards care in the community and supporting families in their own homes. The next 40 years would see Carolina House Trust run different valuable services while it responded to the changing needs of young people and local authorities as well as the funding backdrop of the times.
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