In 1854, Reverend Mother Mathilde Raclot, who had already been in Penang for 2 years, was sent to Singapore to start a school for girls. Besides the setting up of the school, she established the Convent Orphanage and Home of Abandoned Babies to house the many abandoned babies and young children left at the Convent gates. The Orphanage, the school and the Convent occupied the site on Victoria Street till 1983 when the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation acquired the land for the development of its site office.
When the Sisters first opened their doors, it was reported that babies and orphans were brought to them. Many of these babies were sickly and often on the verge of death. Often, the Sisters found day-old babies left at their gate. Babies and young children were abandoned for a variety of reasons such as superstitious beliefs, disabilities, illness and poverty. Many were so sick that they were near death when they arrived at the Orphanage (which was affectionately known as The Babies’ House).
During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore when bombs were frequently dropped on the island and conditions became intolerable, the Orphanage shifted to Bahau and Negri Sembilan, two small towns in Malaya. This took place in early 1944. When peace returned, they came back to Singapore on 7 October 1945 with 112 children and 14 Sisters.
After the war, the Orphanage re-established itself at its previous premises. Even though many children given to the Convent during this period were subsequently adopted and reclaimed by their parents in later years when their own home situation improved, a large number remained in the care of the Sisters.
By the 1960s, the Sisters were beginning to question the wisdom of keeping so many children and young girls in an institutional set-up. Another issue was that the Sisters could only provide custodial care to the babies and orphans. Around this time, a decision was taken to move the Orphanage out of the city area for a country setting. This was also due to over-crowding of the town site which now housed two schools, the Convent, the Orphanage and the Babies’ House. In 1968, a Children’s Home named Girls’ Town was built in Bukit Timah and about 100 children from the ages of 6 years were transferred there. The Babies’ House continued to operate at Victoria Street.