Voluntary reformatories for young people had been opened by the Philanthropic Society and by private founders in the early 19th century. However juvenile delinquency was viewed with such increasing concern that in the 1840s, a Select Committee of the House of Lords was set up, and this resulted in two Youth Offenders’ Acts of 1854. The Act required the Home Office to certify certain recognised institutions, which came to be known as Certified Reformatories and Certified Industrial Schools. Boys and girls aged under 16 who had spent time in gaol could be transferred there. Uncertified Industrial Schools for neglected or destitute children were also opened. These specifically juvenile institutions replaced prison terms for many young offenders, and gave boys and girls a basic education plus a trade. There were also several reformatory ship schools or industrial training ships certified in the late 1850s, although they became shore-based in the 20th century.
The 1857 Industrial Schools Act was aimed at making better provision for the care and education of vagrant, destitute and disorderly children who, it was thought, were in danger of becoming criminals. This Act, and following Acts in 1860-61, enabled magistrates to commit certain young offenders directly to the Industrial Schools, without a prior spell in a gaol or a house of correction. There were 30 Industrial Schools in England by December 1865. The Act also made provision for the children's religious persuasion in the choice of a school. Denominational (non-Church of England) Industrial Schools also existed after 1866, including some for Catholic children, and these were supported by local rates. The Education Act led after 1876 to the founding of industrial day schools and truant schools. By the beginning of the First World War, there were 208 schools for juvenile delinquents, and 132 of these were residential industrial schools. In 1933, the industrial schools which were still in existence became known as Approved Schools.
The Industrial School in Devon was known as the Devon & Exeter Boys' Industrial School, and in 1866 its manager was Reverend F. A. Savile, of Barley House, Exeter. The court decided to which Industrial School a child was sent, and in many cases the school chosen was far away from the child's home town or county. Many of the boys sent to Devon and Exeter Boys' Industrial School were from outside the county, including some from Southampton and Winchester in Hampshire, and a reasonable proportion from Maidstone and Gravesend in Kent. A number of the boys also came from Plymouth. Once sentenced, a boy usually had to stay until he had reached 16 years of age. However, the Government did allow suitable boys to join the army or work in the mines at the age of 14.
Devon Record Office holds the surviving records of Devon and Exeter Boys' Industrial School - admission and discharge registers, minute books and superintendents’ books - in collection 4517. However, like hospital, prison and mental asylum records, the records of industrial schools are regarded as containing sensitive personal information, and are therefore subject to a 100 year closure period from the date of the latest entry.
The earliest discharge register held at Devon Record Office for the Devon and Exeter Boys' Industrial School includes entries for boys admitted between 1873 and 1888, and was compiled by the superintendent of the school. The original register contains detailed information on the background, reasons for admission and progress of each boy, both before and after his discharge, including details from letters and personal visits, which sometimes continued for some years after the boy left the school. Entries include information added up to 1891, and because this is more than 100 years ago, this register is available for research.
Devon Family History Society volunteers have compiled and published an index to the names of boys found in this discharge register, and this index is available for sale from the Society. If you find a relevant entry in the index, you should consult the original discharge register yourself at Devon Record Office, or request that our Research Service transcribe the relevant information for you, as the register almost always includes a great deal of information about the life of each boy.
The Girls' Industrial School in Exeter was founded in 1861, and was located in Bartholomew Street, Exeter. It was known as the Exeter Girls' Industrial School and Servants' Home, and its address in 1878 was given as 42 Bartholomew Street West. By 1893, it had moved to Blenheim House, at 32 Bartholomew Street East. The aim of the institution was to train girls as domestic servants. It accepted neglected and destitute children or others requiring instruction, and taught them the rudiments of household work as well as "habits of order and obedience". Young girls who had "lost their situations through incompetence" were among those accepted into the school.
The age of admission was between 13 and 16, but girls under 13, and others from outside the City of Exeter, were admitted if paid for at a rate of £10 a year and if they had their clothes supplied. The school was managed by a committee of six ladies who met on the first Saturday of each month. The cost of running the school was estimated as £300 in 1878. Mrs Lucy Martyn was the matron in charge.
During 1882 there were 36 girls living in at the school, which was supported by payment subscriptions and donations, as well as money received for needlework and washing done by the girls. In 1892 there were only 18 girls at the school.
No records relating to the school or its inmates have been deposited at Devon Record Office. Basic information about the school can be found in trade directories for Devon. Exeter newspapers also contain reports about the meetings of the committee and the work at the school.
Located at 1and 2 Marina Place, Mutley, Plymouth Devon, this was a Certified Industrial School which took up to 40 girls committed under the Industrial Schools Act. It does not appear in White's Directory of Devonshire, 1878-79.
In 1893, it was entirely dependent on voluntary contributions, and was managed by an executive committee of 25 persons, which was also responsible for The Friendless Girls' Help Association and Free Servants' Registry, and a Refuge Home, both in Regent Street. The Matron of the industrial school was Mrs Jane Bacon. To enquire whether any records survive, contact Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
Mount Edgcumbe, at Saltash, near Plymouth.
Used as a training ship between 1877 and 1920, it held 250 boys.
Publications: An Anchorage for Orphans by Michael Ware, pub. Western Morning News, 16 March 1974
For information about publications relating to training ships in Plymouth, contact the Plymouth Local and Naval Studies Library.
For information about any surviving records held locally, contact Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
For more information on the way in which industrial schools operated, you may study the Inspectors’ Annual Reports, dating from 1857 onwards, and the Royal Commission of 1884. Both are available in the Public Record Office (now the National Archives), Kew, London. Annual Reports can also be found in Parliamentary Papers, which are often available on microfilm in large public and university libraries in Britain. Exeter and Plymouth newspapers also contain reports on their local industrial schools.
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