The Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum

The twin forces of industrialisation and urbanisation contributed to rising rates of poverty in British cities in the 19th century, and Aberdeen was no exception. Philanthropists responded by founding charities to house and educate poor children, and an example of this trend in Aberdeen was the Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum, whose records are preserved in the archives.

The Asylum was founded in 1839 by Mary Elmslie (the namesake of Mary Elmslie Court on King Street) on lands purchased in Albyn Place (the building is now part of Harlaw Academy). 50 girls aged between 4 and 8 years were admitted to the Asylum from four local parishes. Reflecting the Victorian moral code, the Asylum would only help girls “whose parents have been regularly married and of respectable character”. 

Cover of the first minute book for the Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum

Many of the girls left the Asylum at 16 for work as domestic servants. The collection includes drafts of advertisements of girls for service from 1848, stating “they have been regularly trained for household duties, and will be fit to take a share in any department”. But a sizeable number of girls joined the teaching profession: the archive includes a news cutting noting the award of prizes to 10 girls in 1848 after an examination by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools, and states that two of the girls will be apprenticed as pupil teachers. In the early 1850s arrangements were made for several girls to attend the Edinburgh Normal School for teacher training. 

Text of an advertisement promoting the girls trained at the Asylum's suitability for service, 1848

Cutting relating to the exam performance of the Asylum's residents, 1848

Mary continued to play an active role in the Asylum: the archive collection includes correspondence between her and the Asylum’s secretary concerning the running of the home and finding places for the girls. She employed one former resident, Georgina Walker, as a servant in her own home, giving her a reward for five years’ service in 1854.  

Letter from Mary Elmslie about her servant, Georgina Walker, who had been brought up in the Asylum, 1854

In 1888 the Asylum was combined with several other charities into the new Aberdeen Educational Trust and the Asylum closed. The Educational Trust’s carried on the work of the Asylum through a Girls' Home (at Sunnybank House then Ferryhill Lodge), and a School of Domestic Economy in King Street (later transferred to Robert Gordon's Technical College).