Our history

The story of St. Christopher's began in 1870 when three old school friends, Tom Pelham, Arthur Kinnaird and Quintin Hogg, founded an organisation called Homes for Working Boys.

Pelham had worked with Dr Barnardo, rescuing homeless children, and played an early part in the foundation of London Youth Clubs. Hogg founded the Regent Street Polytechnic, now the University of Westminster. Kinnaird was an early football superstar: he captained the winning teams in six FA Cup Finals.

The three friends were so moved by the poverty they saw around them that they felt they had to do something about it. They were particularly concerned by the numbers of boys and young men who came to the capital to find work, but found nowhere to live. The first home was set up just off the Strand, in central London.

By the 1920s there were six Homes for Working Boys in London, each housing 50-60 boys and young men in dormitories. At this time, another group of philanthropists set out with similar aims. The Reverend Prebendary Gage-Brown and his parishioner Constance Allen formed the Fellowship of St Christopher in 1929 to provide accommodation for the homeless and jobless young men living rough in London.

In the 1940s the Fellowship identified another group who needed help towards a better future, and began to accept young offenders.

The Second World War presented new difficulties for St Christopher's and the Homes for Working Boys: some of their properties were taken over as accommodation for soldiers, and others were destroyed in the Blitz. In spite of this, both organisations managed to provide housing for young men who needed it. Large numbers of these residents went on to fight for their country. Many were decorated for their bravery and one young man received the highest honour, the Victoria Cross.

The postwar years saw improved state services in areas such as housing, education and health. This did not mean the end of voluntary organisations, but the beginning of their closer working relationship with the state. William Beveridge, one of the architects of the welfare state, cited both the Fellowship of St Christopher and the Homes for Working Boys as models of the role that such voluntary societies could play. He praised their independence, initiative and flexibility, and saw them as central to the full development of the welfare state.

In 1967 the two organisations merged to form today's St Christopher's Fellowship. Its first priority was to provide staffed homes and hostels for children and young people in local authority care.

In the 1970s St Christopher's launched its first leaving care projects, providing independent flats with 24-hour support, and in 1976 it was registered as a housing association, extending its support to more young homeless people.

In 1980 the organisation was approached by Baroness Vickers to help a charity offering support and accommodation for young homeless people in London. This led to St Christopher's opening its first supported housing project. The charity welcomed this opportunity to take on new projects evoking the original brief of the Homes for Working Boys established over a century earlier. The biggest difference was that by now, girls were also being cared for.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s St Christopher's continued to expand and develop its supported housing for vulnerable young people. New houses were bought and partnerships established with larger housing associations and local authorities.

The 1990s saw several firsts for St Christopher's: the opening of a specialist support project for young black men in southeast London, and in 1994 the establishment of a groundbreaking leaving care project in partnership with a local authority, in its own building.

1999 saw the opening of the latest in a long line of St Christopher's shelters: Limegrove, a highly acclaimed purpose-built, year-round, facility-rich hostel and resource centre for rough sleepers and vulnerable adults.

The same year St Christopher's won the contract to run children's homes for the City of Westminster. And in 2000 the charity was asked by the government to save the London Refuge from closure: another success story for St Christopher's, providing a unique and invaluable service for young runaways.

In recent years, the charity has gone from strength to strength, working in partnership with more and more local authorities, inside and outside London. St Christopher's has taken on projects in Bedfordshire, the Isle of Man, Surrey and Southend. The organisation in now a group structure, including St Christopher's Fellowship, SCF Services Ltd, The St Pancras Foundation and St. Christopher's (Isle of Man). This enables the St Christopher's Group to provide the most cost effective, legally efficient and highest quality services on behalf of local authorities.

In the 21st century St Christopher's continues to grow, to innovate, to respond to the needs of its service users by introducing new services such as user involvement and foster care, making a real difference in the lives of more and more children, young people and vulnerable adults.