The One Tun pub in Perkins Rents was in the infamous area known as the Devil's Acre. The whole area was disrupted and much of it demolished to construct Victoria Street, which opened for use in 1851.
describes how a London missionary reported this pub as being the venue for a 'school' where street urchins were trained in pick-pocketing. The philanthropist, Adeline M. Cooper held a meeting in the skittles alley of the pub and raised money to convert the pub into a ragged school. The picture source says: "The One Tun’s landlord had stripped the premises before he left without paying the rent. By 1871, the school had an average attendance of 133 pupils." Perkins Rents, SW1, still exists but has been totally rebuilt.
In 1879 the lease expired and the school moved to nearby Westminster Buildings, Old Pye Street and continued there as the One Tun Mission until 1930 when it was amalgamated with the Wyndham Ashley Mission, 112 Regency Street, SW1.
2024: We were puzzled that our researches indicated that there was a school already in Old Pye Street in 1851, before the Perkins Rents school moved in. Anne Vincent wrote to say: "There was a school there in 1851. The Ragged Schools Union's Juvenile Refuge and Home of Industry was opened in Old Pye Street, Westminster in 1847. In the 1851 census there were 27 scholars living on the premises. Charles Dickens wrote about it in Household Words 22 June 1850."
This suggests either that after 1879 there were two ragged schools in Old Pye Street, or, more likely, that in 1879 the Perkin Rents school merged with the one already there. Or, possibly, since Perkin Rents is on a corner of Old Pye Street, perhaps the school did not move at all but was just known by a different address?
Anne has also provided a link to ', January 1877: Day Industrial Schools: The First in London' which is very informative.
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them