Nancy Derbyshire Trust Almshouses
A block of six houses, one storey in height, with accommodation for two people, was erected on a site near the new church of St. Silas off Preston New Road. As it was likely that most of the occupiers would be elderly women it was felt that they should not live alone so at the front there was a good living room with bay windows, an entrance porch, two bedrooms and a small kitchen and scullery. The floors were laid with wood blocks and the fittings and finishing were of good quality. At the front there was a spacious garden and a good open space at the back - both well enclosed, laid out and planted. It was thought that a better site could not have been chosen particularly when the large square space between the homes and the wall of the church site was laid out with grass plots, walks and borders of flower beds, shrubs and young trees. The benefactress was Miss Nancy Derbyshire of Limefield and the houses were formally opened in June 1895
Blackburn supported numerous charitable institutions but there was still a lack of accommodation for the destitute. Miss Derbyshire who had provided all of the funds was helping to fill this gap. The trustees were Miss Derbyshire, Messrs Thomas Alexander Aspden, Henry Richards, Herbert James Whiteley (the Mayor at that time), James Hargreaves (Chairman and Treasurer) and George Porter (clerk). The trust was governed by the Charity Commissioners with all the proper and usual powers for the management of such a trust. The occupants not only had the accommodation but also a subsistence in the shape of a weekly allowance of money deemed sufficient for their want. Miss Derbyshire besides funding the whole cost of the houses, the ground rent and the landscaping also put aside a large sum of money well invested. This would provide a yearly income to be distributed in regular pensions to each of the inmates. Thus twelve deserving persons would be lifted out of a distressful state and be able to live out their life in peaceful retirement and comfort.
To be eligible for this accommodation the trustees would approve poor persons of good character and most deserving, provided they had lived for not less than five years within a radius of seven miles of the buildings. They should not have received poor-law relief and should not be unable to maintain themselves due to age, ill-health, accident or infirmity. The houses were away from the busy areas but also were near to the town so the residents had the advantage of the clean air of the countryside but had not been banished to the solitude of dull country life. Some interested parties thought the conditions for entry somewhat strict, but the trustees felt they were more liberal than other institutions and had no difficulty in finding suitable applicants.
In 1946 the tenants of the almshouses celebrated the golden anniversary of these dwellings with a motor trip to Waddington. The descendants of some of the first trustees are still associated with the almshouses which are occupied by women aged from seventy-three to eighty-five. After almost one hundred and thirty years these properties continue to provide very pleasant and safe accommodation for people who need the support provided by the Nancy Derbyshire Trust.
Miss Derbyshire and her sister owned two confectioners shops one on Darwen Street and one on Corporation Street. However, Nancy was a shrewd business woman and made a lot of her money from providing loans to prominent people in Blackburn. She was also well known for her support of the orphanage at Wilpshire and had donated £400 towards the cost of the land on which it came to be built and opened in 1891. A further gift of £430 was given for girl's clothing with a continuing amount of £25 per year and Nancy also gave £500 to maintain a child. On Nancy's death an amount of £1750 was left to the children's home and a coal scuttle which she had thought would be useful in the sick room.
Janet Burke
The above information is from
The Blackburn Standard
April 14th 1894 page 5.
June 18th1895 page 8.
June 22nd 1895 page 5.
The Blackburn Times
2nd August 1946 page 6.
an undated newspaper article in the Jim Halsall and Ray Smith Collection.
Images from.
Rags and Rubies 1894 pages 72 and 131.
