Fairbridge Chapel & Fairbridge Farm School

History of the Site

Fairbridge has a fascinating history that dates back to 1862, when James Mearns first settled the land. Mearns arrived in the aboard the H.M.S Hecate, with the first 100 immigrant settlers of the Cowichan Valley. This was the first homestead in the Cowichan Station area. Over the following decades, he gradually cleared the old-growth forests—some towering Douglas firs—on the bench lands above the Koksilah River and Kelvin Creek, transforming the property into one of the Cowichan Valley’s premier farms.

Around 1910, Victoria businessman and land developer Frederick B. Pemberton acquired the property, expanding it further. By 1934, the farm—then called Pemberlea Farm—spanned over 1,000 acres.

On January 1, 1935, the Child Emigration Society of London, England purchased the farm to establish the Fairbridge Farm School in Canada. During its operation from 1935 to about 1951 the school received a great deal of publicity. It was the first Fairbridge Society farm school established in Canada, although it was anticipated more would follow in the years to come, from coast to coast. Even though there was tremendous support from both Canadian and British corporations and individuals, this dream never eventuated, due to the second World War and its aftereffects on the British economy.

Between 1950 and 1974, the on-site residences were mainly rented to immigrant families from the British Isles, while the farmland itself was leased.

Today, the surrounding farm is known as Meadow Green Farm, operated as a large dairy farm. The original home site has evolved into a residential community of 39 homes. The Fairbridge Chapel heritage site, while not part of this residential area, sits at its heart along Fairbridge Drive.

The Fairbridge Farm School and British Home Children

After the Child Emigration Society (later called the Fairbridge Society) acquired the property, the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School was established. The king apparent Edward VIII, who was then Prince of Wales, through Royal Decree agreed to lend his title to the school’s name.

At Fairbridge Farm School, the “home site” was developed to include children’s residences, a school, dining hall, library, hospital, and many other buildings—including the iconic Fairbridge Chapel.

The first group of 27 boys and 14 girls arrived from Britain on September 25, 1935, and the last group of six children arrived on May 25, 1948. Over 16 years, 329 children called Fairbridge home.

The farm school also attracted hundreds of visitors from Canada, the United States, Australia, and the British Isles, many of whom supported the Fairbridge Society and its work in Canada and Australia.

The school was part of an Empire-building movement known as the British Home Child program. The program had a charitable intent – to provide underprivileged British children with new opportunities in the colonies. Children were sent to Canada to live and learn in a rural environment that promised a fresh start. Children lived in cottages with house parents and were trained to become farm laborers or domestic workers.

The reality of the program was complicated. Some home children were later grateful for the opportunity, but for others the separation from their families and complete cultural dislocation was devastating. It’s a little-taught chapter of Canadian history, but more than 100,000 juvenile migrants were sent to Canada from Britain between the 1860s and 1939, when the program officially ended, and it’s estimated that around 10-12% of the Canadian population is descended from British Home Children. In 2010 the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a formal apology for the program, and met with former child migrants to hear their stories, including Marjorie Skidmore who was sent to the Fairbridge Farm School in 1938.

The Chapel Construction

During the summer of 1938 a visitor from England asked the Farm School principal, Colonel Harry T. Logan what he would like to see constructed next at the school and it was decided that a chapel would be an appropriate and fitting addition to the farm school village.

In September a cheque for $20,000 arrived from the individual who wished to remain anonymous. Following his death, as a result of the Second World War, the Fairbridge Society felt it was right and fitting that his name should be revealed. It was announced at the Dedication Festival, held on April 20^th, 1947, the seventh anniversary of the opening of the chapel, that the benefactor was Major J.H. Feilden, of Blackburn, Lancashire.

Ross A. Lort, a prominent Vancouver architect, who had designed most of the other buildings at the farm school village site, prepared the plans. The original design was altered when submitted the Fairbridge Society and reviewed by Sir Herbert Baker who was the chief architect for the new portion of the Bank of England building in London, a great many buildings in South Africa and the first Fairbridge Farm School chapel at Pinjarra, Western Australia. He added the apsidal sanctuary, which in his words gave the chapel “a sense of spaciousness, dignity and beauty”, with the five coloured windows to be a “crowning light” above the altar and the clerestory windows to reveal the beauty of the timber construction of the nave roof, and the heightening and stepping back of the tower.

The land was cleared of trees and the site prepared in the spring of 1939. On September 22^nd with the chapel partially completed, the Honourable Eric W. Hamber, Lieutenant-Governor of the province, laid the foundation stone. The firm of Williams, Trerise & Williams of Victoria were the builders of the wood frame, cedar shake clad building completed early in 1940.

It measures 26 metres by 15 metres and the tower is 16 metres in height. The manually wound turret clock is one of the oldest in Canada, manufactured in 1875.

Opening of the Chapel

The first service in the new chapel was held on Sunday, March 3^rd, 1940 and on March 7^th, thirteen children were confirmed by Rev. Canon T.M. Hughes (the first school chaplain) with another thirty-one children confirmed the next day with Rt. Rev. Harold E. Sexton, Bishop of Columbia presiding. On April 20^th the chapel was officially dedicated, with Rt. Rev. Sexton officiating and delivering the main address.

While the five stained glass windows at the front of the chapel were in place at the time of dedication the three-panel memorial window to Colonel John Stoughton Dennis Jr., C.M.G., D.S.O., (1856-1938), and commissioned by the directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was not able to be transported safely from Britain during WWII so was hid for safe keeping, likely in Halsway Manor, near Bristol, until 1948. It was only then that it crossed the Atlantic and arrived at the school for installation in November of that year.

More history on the three-panel memorial window...

The three-panel memorial window to Colonel John Stoughton Dennis Jr., C.M.G., D.S.O., (1856-1938) was commissioned by the President (Sir Edward Beatty) and Directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway on honour of Col. Dennis, who was head of the company Department of Natural Resources and Immigration from 1902 to 1930. Col. Dennis was also on the B.C. Fairbridge Farm Schools Committee and was responsible for recommending the farm school be located at this site.

The windows were made somewhere in England and stored near Bristol until after World War II, finally arriving to the farm school in 1948 and installed during a very special dedication ceremony in November of that year—ten years after the death of Col. Dennis. A year later the farm school, which opened in 1935, prepared to close for good and the last children (all originally from the British Isles) left in 1951. The C.P.R. assisted the British based Fairbridge Society manage the large farm, which included many buildings such as the large school, about twenty residences and the Chapel, and even assisted immigrant farm families settle at Fairbridge until they could acquire their own farm property on Vancouver Island.

In 1976 the memorial windows were removed from the Fairbridge Chapel for safe keeping, but every effort to find them was for naught until the year 2000 when the storage crates turned up in the basement of Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. That summer minor repairs were made and the windows were reinstalled. A re-dedication ceremony was held on September 9th, 2001 with about 250 people attending—many of them Old Fairbridgians—who had never seen them.

The inscription at the bottom of the panels reads:

“To the memory of Colonel J.S. Dennis, C.M.G., 1856-1938; friend and counsellor of the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School. His Colleagues, the President and Officers of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, here record their comradeship and esteem.”

The left-hand panel contains three Medallions; the first represents the Flood, the second depicts the angel announcing to the shepherds the birth of the Saviour while the third shows a shepherd warding off a wolf which has tried to attack his flock.

The right-hand panel also contains three Medallions; the top and bottom are pictures of land-clearing and ploughing respectively and the centre one depicts the Nativity.

The centre panel depicts the Saviour as Sower; the seeds of the Gospel falls upon the field of the world.

In addition, around the sides of the two outer panels are 16 symbols, all objects connected with agriculture and all going back to biblical times.

After the Farm School Closed

Fairbridge began winding down in 1949 and the final group of boys left in early 1952 to be cared for by foster parents, mainly on southern Vancouver Island.

From then until 1970 the chapel was used only occasionally, rented by other churches or religious organizations and cared for in the early 1970’s by The Friends of the Prince of Wales Farm School Chapel. The chapel’s original Harrison & Harrison organ—now housed in Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria—was preserved during this period

In 1973, the Fairbridge Society sold the 75-acre home site. Negotiations ensured the site would retain its historic character, with only 39 single-family residences allowed, many of which were the original cottages.

In 1976 all stained-glass windows at the chapel were removed and put in storage at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. However, exactly where they were stored in the Cathedral was a mystery and it wasn’t until 2001 that they were found and re-installed in the Fairbridge Chapel.

In 1977, the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) acquired ownership of Fairbridge Chapel, as well as a one-room school house known as the Cowichan Public School which had been (built in 1885), and the school house was relocated to the heritage site.

In 1981 the chapel, school house and grounds were designated an historic site under the B.C. Heritage Conservation Act. From then until 1987 only a very modest amount of money was spent to maintain the property until finally in that year a number of people living within the Fairbridge village became concerned about the lack of upkeep by the CVRD and suggested that the historic site be taken over and maintained by a charitable society. This came about a year later, and the site has been cared for by the Fairbridge Chapel Heritage Society ever since.

The Society has spent nearly hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs and general maintenance over the years, sourced from donations, bequests, grants, and wedding rentals.

Fairbridge Today

The Fairbridge heritage site stands as a reminder of the vision and dedication of those who built the farm school and chapel. Surrounded by Meadow Green Farm and the residential community of Fairbridge Village, the chapel remains a focal point, welcoming visitors and preserving a remarkable chapter of Canadian history.

Timeline & Historic Designation

1862: Land settled by James Mearns, cleared for farming.
1910: Acquired by Frederick B. Pemberton, expanded to 1,028 acres.
1935: Purchased by the Child Emigration Society; Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School opens.
1935–1948: 329 children arrive from Britain to live and study on the farm.
1939–1940: Fairbridge Chapel constructed and dedicated; designed by Ross A. Lort with input from Sir Herbert Baker.
1950s–1970s: Farm cottages rented to British families; chapel maintained.
1973: Home site sold; development limited to 39 single-family residences.
1981: Heritage designation formalized.
1988: Fairbridge Chapel Heritage Society takes over management.