New Muller Museum opens

A new museum celebrating the work of local, ground-breaking orphanage owner, George Müller, has opened on the site of one of his orphan homes in Ashley Down.

With interactive, multi-media exhibits and plenty to interest children and adults, the new museum is in Orphan Home No. 2, now known as Loft House on Ashley Down Road.

Müller built five houses for orphaned children, where 10,000 young Victorians were cared for during his lifetime, and many more since. In the mid-1800s only orphans from wealthy families were catered for. Poor orphans were left to live on the streets of Bristol which, at that time, were ravaged with dirt, open sewers and the deadly cholera. The orphans who Müller took in would no doubt have ended up in Victorian workhouses in the city or living on the streets. They certainly would never have received an education.

The five orphan homes set up by Müller are still there on Ashley Down Road – some are now apartments; others form part of the City of Bristol College.

Unlike many Victorian pioneers, Müller came from a relatively poor background. However, his strong faith in God saw him praying daily for the needs of the orphans. He never fund-raised or asked for money from anyone.

By the late 1800s, all five orphan homes were full, housing and educating over 2,000 orphans at one time. Müller’s work became well known around Bristol and countless numbers of Bristolians, as well as many people from other parts of the country and the world, gave generously to support the work. Müller received and passed on around £1.5m in his lifetime, which would be worth around £100m today.

On leaving the orphanages, every child was able to read and write and left with a guaranteed job as well as an allowance for clothing - a stark contrast to the harsh workhouse conditions of the era.

At the age of 70, Müller set off to tour the world, preaching about the orphanages until he was 87. He visited Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the USA. He met with US President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878 to discuss his work.

The new museum displays many amazing photos of the orphans at work and play in the orphanages and the local area - also orphan uniforms to try on, a Victorian game to play, a recreation of Müller's study and an archive of the 17,556 children who lived there before the homes closed in 1950.

"We'd love it for Bristolians to learn more about this important part of local history,” said Dan Doherty, the CEO of Müllers, which still supports its global partners who work with vulnerable children overseas.

When Müller died at the age of 92 in 1898, the Daily Telegraph wrote that he had "robbed the cruel streets of thousands of victims and the workhouses of thousands of helpless waifs".