quarrierhomes - The Reformation

William
Quarrier and the Quarrier Homes

William
Quarrier (1829-1903), was the only son of Annie Booklass
and William Quarrier, a ship’s carpenter who died of
cholera in Quebec in 1832. Thus at an early age young
William became acquainted first-hand with deprivation, his
mother taking in sewing and he working as a messenger boy
to make ends meet. William also worked at fixing heads on
pins for a shilling a week, and as an apprentice to a
shoemaker in which trade he later set up his own business.

An active
and devout member of the Baptist Church, William married
Isabella Hunter – his then-employer’s daughter – in
December, 1856, and they lived at 5 Douglas Street,
Glasgow. His shoemaking business grew and by 1864 he had
three shops.

The
turning point in William Quarrier’s life came on a
November evening in 1864 when he was confronted by a
crying child selling matchsticks. William remembered how
he had felt as a small child trying to make ends meet:

“…when a
little boy, I stood in the High Street of Glasgow,
barefooted, bareheaded, cold and hungry having tasted no
food for a day and a half and as I gazed at the passers by
wondering why they did not help such as I, a thought
passed through my mind that I would not do as they when I
got the means to help others.”

On
November 30, 1864, William wrote a long letter to the
Glasgow Herald “…which described the poverty of the City
and proposed a `Glasgow Shoeblack Brigade’.” This would be
a self-help system for young boys. There then followed a
News Brigade and a Parcel’s Brigade which joined to become
The Industrial Brigade. The object was to provide regular
employment, encourage self-help and promote a feeling of
self-worth in the children. So it was that he opened
mission premises in James Morrison Street, Glasgow, and
soon began disposing of his businesses in order to
dedicate more time and money to the children.

Other
schemes Quarrier had included a Widows Help Society, a
Street Boys Lodging House or Night Refuge, and a mission
for abandoned women, thieves and discharged criminals. He
continued his endeavours with friends with a “Tell Glasgow
” campaign advertising the need to help such that in the
first 10 months some 2,137 children were given lodgings.

The first
home started November 18, 1871, at 10 Renfrew Lane,
Glasgow and was followed by a girls home at Renfield
Street. Rapid growth saw further establishments in 1872
for lads at Cessnock, Govan, and girls at Newstead and Elm
Park. In April, 1876, 40 acres of land was purchased for
£3560 at Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire which became the “Orphan
Homes of Scotland” at Bridge of Weir, opened September 17,
1878. Here up to 30 children were housed in each cottage
with a “mother and father” where they were taught about
self-reliance and received a good education in the village
school.

William
Quarrier was acquainted with other social benefactors and
became involved in sending children to Canada. Between
1870 and 1936 some 7,000 children were relocated where
they were mainly employed as farm labourers.

William
Quarrier sent the first children on board St. David which
arrived in Quebec on July 17, 1872. He first used Annie
MacPherson’s Marchmont Home in Belleville, Ontario as a
distribution point and later established his own receiving
home Fairknowe in Brockville, Ontario. He and Annie
MacPherson both insisted (unlike Dr Barnardo) that the
child’s guardians gave their consent before a child could
enter his Home. In 1925, Quarrier’s relocation to Canada
ended and children were then sent to Australia.

Time has
since moved on and Quarriers today provide a multi-million
pound range of social services with outreach programmes
for children, young people, the disabled and families,
which aim to enhance their lives. This all from the
awareness and philanthropy of one man who knew what it was
to be cold and hungry.

Next
: The Rev Thomas Guthrie and the Ragged Schools.

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