Boys’
Club Work - St Christopher’s Boys’ Club 39 Fitzroy Square, W1. The
club was ‘in every sense a West-end effort, being situated in Fitzroy Square and
supported by the Dowager Countess of Pembroke and other aristocratic ladies’
(Eagar 1954: 228).
According to Eagar, it began in 1894 when Warwick Guy Pearce brought
together around 50 working boys in part of a hall belonging to the West London
Mission. (For a history of the mission see Bagwell 1987). The area to the north
of the Square and stretching across to Kings Cross was seen as pretty ‘rough’ at
the time and the house that the Club occupied was said to have been a male
brothel at one time. Indeed, on several occasions people had to be ejected who
thought that the building was still offering the same services.
St Christopher’s is a good example of the boys’ club work - with over 200 members and a wide range of programme activities including sports (and the inevitable boxing), and drama and arts. Like many other philanthropic initiatives it was heavily dependent on the character/charisma of its founder. When Pearse left after taking Anglican Orders, the club faced organizational problems - but was ‘adopted’ by University College in 1907 and was kept going by students and various academics. It was one of the first boys clubs to have a paid manager to keep it going. (This material is taken from Eagar 1953: 228-230).
References
Bagwell, P. (1987) Outcast London. A Christian response; The West London Mission of the Methodist Church 1887 - 1989, London: Epworth Press.
Eagar, W. G. (1953) Making Men. The history of the boys’ clubs and related movements in Great Britain, London: University of London Press.
© Mark K. Smith 1997
