The History of Wandsworth Common

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Last modified: 27 October 2026 · Build 1

The Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum for Girls

The Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, formerly the Asylum for Girls, in 2010
The Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum for Girls, now the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, photographed in 2010. [Photo: Jose Francisco Salgado, Flickr.]

This page is in progress. It gathers together what I have so far on the orphanage for soldiers’, sailors’ and marines’ daughters on Wandsworth Common, built with money from the Crimean War Patriotic Fund. Its sister school is the Patriotic Asylum for Boys; both are introduced on The Patriotic Asylums page.

The history of the Asylum

— Simon McNeill-Ritchie, “The Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum, Wandsworth Common” — the fullest history, from the Crimean War to the 1940s (from the Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society)

— Video: Asylum — Simon McNeill-Ritchie’s film of the same story (.mp4, a very large file: 565 MB)

— Transcript of the video Asylum — only partly edited

— Scott MacRobert, “The Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum” — from The Wandsworth Historian, No. 9

Pictures and puzzles

Sculpture of St George slaying the dragon over the main entrance
Medieval-style sculpture of St George slaying the dragon high on the central tower above the main entrance. Is this moustachioed father-figure an allusion to Lord Cardigan? (More . . .)
Engraving of Queen Victoria laying the foundation stone, 1857
Engraving of Queen Victoria laying the foundation stone, 11 July 1857. Building moved ahead quickly, and the first girls were received on 1 July 1859. The land was formerly part of Wandsworth Common. Notice also the massive new Wandsworth Prison (opened 1851) in the background, left, a few hundred yards from the Asylum.
The dining hall of the Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum
The Dining Hall in the RVPA. The grand ceiling and high parts of the walls were covered in coats of arms and other heraldic devices. After the fire of 1981, these were immaculately restored.

— The Asylum’s architectural style: why Gothic?

— St George: a portrait of Lord Cardigan?

Charlotte Bennett

— Charlotte Bennett — the orphan who died at the Asylum in January 1862

— The conflict over corporal punishment and the death of Charlotte Bennett

Newspapers and the Chronicles

— All the newspaper articles, in date order — transcriptions, starting with the Patriotic Fund’s second report, 1858 (a long page)

— Chronicles, July 2021 — Queen Victoria lays the foundation stone, 11 July 1857

— Chronicles, November 2021 — a third of the site rented to the Neals

— Chronicles, December 2021 — orphans of later wars

— The year pages: 1856 · 1857 · 1858 · 1859 · 1860 · 1861 · 1862 · 1863 · 1864 · 1865 · 1866 · 1867 · 1868 · 1869 · 1870 · 1871 · 1872

Elsewhere

— The Royal Victoria Patriotic School for Girls — my earlier page on the Charge of the Light Brigade site

— Peter Higginbotham, Children’s Homes: Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum for Girls

— Wikipedia: Royal Victoria Patriotic Building

— The Royal Victoria Patriotic Building today

Can you add anything, or correct anything here? Please let me know.