MANCHESTER CERTIFIED INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS

IT'S NOT all about Census returns. There are many other sources of records. I have access to Manchester Central Library, Greater Manchester County Records Office, Salford Local History Library and City Archive, Stockport Central Library and Trafford Library. I can visit both Lancashire and Cheshire Records Offices. I can conduct research in any of the above libraries and all major northern repositories.

I can research most national Census entries in England & Wales from 1841 through to 1901, search the General Register Office (GRO) Index for Births Marriages and Deaths, parish records for baptisms marriages and burials, trade directories, newspapers, cemetery records, electoral rolls, poor law rates, wills and probate etc.

My familiarity with the films and other resources in the Microfilm Unit at Manchester Central Library means that I can often locate information easily. Also I have a very extensive knowledge of the geography and history of the townships that make up the area.

The first Manchester Juvenile Refuge and School of Industry was found in 1846 in Angel Meadow, by 1851 it had moved to Byrom Street. In 1853 it changed its name to the Manchester Ragged and Industrial Schools. It did so in 1859 again 1874 when the schools, became The Manchester Industrial Schools.

In September 1858 the location of the school for both boys and girls was Ardwick Green. In August 1871 an annex was opened for boys at Heaton Mersey called the Barnes Home. A new school for girls was built in July 1877 in Sale. From then until its closure in 1922 the Ardwick site was for boys only. After the closure of the Industrial school the building became the home of St Gregory's R C school for boys. In 1900 a new boys' home was opened at 59 Ardwick Green. Many boys from the Industrial School, after their release, moved into this home.

From 1935 the schools were known as the Manchester Home Office Schools as a result of the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act. Barnes Home closed in 1955 and in 1973 the Sale school became a controlled Community Home under the direction of Manchester Social Services until it closed in 1980.

Manchester Archives and Local Studies hold many records for these schools including, Admission Registers and Discharge Registers which contain some very useful information. One of the better examples is laid out below. Other records held here are for the Swinton Industrial School, Styal Cottage Homes and Rose Hill.

Genealogy and family history are not just about Census returns. In fact the returns supply only the bare facts. Take a look at the following, the story of young boy from London. His name was Joseph Marsh, born December 17 1890. His parents were William Robert and Annie, he was a carpenter and she a housewife. Their home address was 61, Paradise Street, Rotherhithe and their circumstances were poor.

At Southwark Court on October 3 1901 Joseph was convicted under Section XI of the Elementary Education Act 1876 to a period of five years and four months detention. It was said that he associated with bad companions and was a confirmed truant. He was sent to the Manchester Certified Industrial School at Ardwick Green. He was described as being four feet five and a half inches tall, 65 lbs, fair complexion, broad nose, having very light hair with blue eyes. He had five vaccination pits on his left arm. Previously he had been given three or four years schooling and could read, write and calculate to grade III standard. His mental capacity was said to be good.

All of this information came from the Register of Admissions at the Manchester Certified Industrial School. This is much more information than is available on any Census.

It was normal for boys to be discharged on licence from the school sometime during their sixteenth year. Joseph was actually fifteen years and five months old when he was discharged from the school on August 26^th 1906. What follows are details taken from the Discharge Registers, reports made by the Governor and various letters sent to the school over a period of eleven years.

On his departure from Ardwick, his standard of education was grade VI and his occupation at the school was in the band. Not so surprisingly he had enlisted in the army as a band boy. It was quite common for boys from this school to enlist in the forces. Whether they had much choice in the matter is another question. He was in the 2^nd West Yorkshire Regiment which was then based in Palace Barracks, Holywood, Belfast.

The reports for 1906 stated he was with his Battalion and that he was doing very well. Eight further reports in 1907 said that he was “satisfactory”. In October 1908 his progress and conduct was very good and he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. In 1910 Joseph was stationed at Colchester. In 1912 again he was given good reports and was to be found on the island of Malta. After that in 1913 he was stationed in Albania and had risen to the rank of Corporal. October 1914 saw him transferred to Winchester to form part of the 8th Army Corps. In November 1914 he found time to write to the school, from the trenches at the Front stating that he was “quite well”. By March 1915 he was laying injured in Alder Hey Hospital near Liverpool. He had been injured at Neuve Chapelle on 12^th March 1915. He must have recovered quickly as he visited the School at Ardwick on 29^th April 1915 on a “short furlough”.

On June 2^nd 1916 it is reported that he had be promoted to Sergeant and had moved to the 3^rd Battalion. A report from his bandmaster on Oct 26^th 1916 stated that Joseph was now with the 1st Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment and doing splendidly. By July 19^th 1917 he had been moved to another Battalion and promoted to Company Sergeant Major.

In a letter from his wife on November 19^th 1917 it stated that she was living in Hampshire. These are now the last few words quote directly from the Discharge Register.

“On July 31 he won the D C M: on Aug 16 he was hit in the leg badly, but continued fighting – has since been posted as missing”.

PRIZE GIVING

What was the purpose of a Certified Industrial School; to punish; to educate or to give the pupils training for a trade? On July 25th 1883 the annual distribution of prizes to the boys of the Ardwick Green Certified Industrial School took place. Present were all the good mighty that had anything to do with the school, plus aldermen and representatives from many churches.

The Honorary Secretary of the school read the reports of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Industrial Schools and that of the Inspector to the Manchester School Board. The former had already been published. The second report stated out of the seventy three boys who had been under examination, three of whom were under the age of seven. Sixty eight passed in reading, sixty two in writing and fifty one in arithmetic. The report considered that the attainments of the boys was of a very satisfying character, forty five of those examined passing in the upper standards, as compared with thirty, two years earlier. The premises were well kept, and the satisfactory state of the school generally could only have been brought about by hard work on the part of Mr Jackson, the Governor and his staff.

Prizes were distributed to the boys by the chairman of the board of the school, the rewards being given for progress in education, for playing cricket and swimming, for excellence in the various industrial occupations in which the boys were trained, and for good conduct. One boy Thomas Jacques obtained an honourable distinction on the occasion by the frequency of his visits to the platform, six in all. With regard to swimming, the boys were taken in batches of about twenty at a time to be taught that art, at the Corporation Baths, Mayfield. They did not learn ornamental swimming, but that form of it which would be useful in an emergency. As an instance of the proficiency in that respect already acquired by some of the boys, it was stated that one of the prize winners recently carried another little boy on his back whilst swimming the length of the bath. It was also reported that one fourth of the boys could now swim.

The industrial pursuits for which prizes were given comprised shoemaking ,tailoring, working a sewing machine, stocking knitting, washing, mangling and chopping firewood, the boy named for the last named occupation was also employed in delivering the firewood to customers and receiving the money for it, yet he had never been found to be deficient in his cash.

Alderman Patterson, in delivering a brief address, congratulated the prize winners on their success, and encouraged the others to persevere, as the best way to avoid failure in the future. He remembered discharging a similar duty three years previously, and he had wondered since how these boys had turned out. They had not only received a fair education of the ordinary kind, but also some amount of technical instruction which was calculated to be very useful to them. It was sometime that this country was overstocked with educated people, and if that were the case, it was all the more satisfactory that boys had been taught to earn their living in some trade or other. A lawyer had said to him in London that is was a positive shame to train anyone as a barrister as there were so many, and the doctors were crying out that there were too many of their profession. He stated that if he were a young boy he would now try to make his fortune in America, where there was a vast field of labour open to those who were determined to make their way in the world. In conclusion he felt it was gratifying to know that the health of the boys was so good that there had not been any deaths in the school for the previous two and a half years. He stated that this reflected great credit on the managers, to whom he gave his hearty thanks.

Dr John Watts said that out of the 200 boys in the school, over one third had lost either one or both parents. That fact accounted to a considerable extent for their neglected condition when committed to the school, and some of those with parents would probably been in a better position without them. That being the class of children that they had to deal with, he stated that it was highly satisfactory that forty five per cent had passed in the upper standard. The work done in the school was of a sound and practical character, nothing was done for display and the care and attention bestowed on the boys manifested itself in the health, comfort and happiness of the boys. As regards to the conduct of the boys after they left the school, out 142 licensed out the previous three years, only two had gone wrong; the destiny of three others was unknown, but the remainder had been known to be going on satisfactorily. On the whole he thought that out of very poor material very good results had been produced at the school.

Mr John Napier stated that whilst watching the boys drill, and hearing they sing, he could scarcely restrain the emotional feeling of thankfulness that overcame him on contrasting their present condition with that from which they had been rescued. He had the pleasure of seeing about 100 at the Grosvenor Street Wesleyan Chapel every Sunday, an he bore testimony to their excellent behaviour there.

The Rev J R O West stated that he attributed the success of the school to the fact that it had always been managed on the principal of entire reliance on divine assistance. He also added that the supervision of the managers over the boys was continued for three years after they left the school. [A lot longer than that in many cases.]

Mr Robert Whitworth said that he thought that the satisfactory state of the boys’ health was due in great measure to their diet. He believed that no children in any class of life, had been fed on a more suitable diet than those. And yet, the cost of provisions, including those for the officials, did not average £8 per head per year.

The proceedings then ended with the National Anthem.

(Based on an article from The Manchester City New, Saturday, July 28^th 1883)

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Last update: 17th August 2008