The Cridges

Mary and Edward Cridge, founders of the Protestant Orphan’s Home.

Bishop Edward Cridge was the first inspector of schools in the colony of Victoria. He was the first local clergyman to allow members of different races to share church pews in his church, Church of our Lord. He is also credited with the founding of the first hospital and orchestra in the colony. His wife, Mary, was a teacher and raised their nine children. Edward and Mary worried about the number of children on the streets and opened their home to the many “waifs and strays.” With the help of John George Taylor, a retired policeman and former gold prospector, the Cridges founded the Protestant Orphan’s Home in 1873. Taylor left his entire fortune to the home upon his 1891 death. The 100-bed British Columbia Protestant Orphan’s Home was built in June 1893. The building lay high on a hill overlooking Victoria.

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