Orphan Working School

Joseph Soul (1815–1881) was a nineteenth-century British reformer who worked for 36 years to assist the plight of orphaned children in London and in support of the abolition of slavery. He worked at the Orphan Working School in Hampstead and founded another orphanage at Hollway which together eventually became the Royal Alexandra and Albert School.

Soul was born on 14 November 1805 and baptised in St. Leonard's church in Shoreditch in February the following year. His parents were Eli and Elizabeth Soul.

He took up the position of secretary to the Orphan Working School in Hampstead. The school had been in existence since 1758.

In 1840 he attended the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London where his portrait was included with other notables in a painting that is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Over the next few years Soul corresponding with the aging Thomas Clarkson keeping him informed on the progress of measures to abolish slavery completely.

By 1859, the Orphan Working School was home to 250 children and since its inception it had acted in loco parentis for 1,889 children. The school relied entirely on public subscription but it was hoping to expand to take on additional children. The children learnt of the History and Geography of the Bible as well as studying scripture. Two of the orphans were those saved by the bravery of Alice Ayres. Alice had died saving these children and had been buried with public mourning due to her heroism. The school was able to teach these children so that they could become domestic servants.

Another orphanage was envisaged in 1864. The second school was intended for children between the age of five and eight and was founded by the Orphan Working School with Soul as the first honorary secretary. The establishment was based at Albert Hill in Holloway, London and was open to children independent of the religious denomination. In 1867 Queen Victoria planted a Wellingtonia Gigantea tree during an "Inauguration Ceremony" for the new school.

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