Central Refuge report - part 2

In our last blog we left our Sheffield Reporter in the schoolroom of the Central Refuge on Francis Street. Today we’ll be following him as he tours the rest of the building, shedding a light on how the Refuge operated back in 1881.

Firewood workshop in the courtyard

Adjoining onto the schoolroom was a small and comfortable room fitted up as a tailor’s shop. Here several of the older boys were engaged in both the making and repairing of the inhabitants clothes. This led out to a much larger room where the reporter noted around 10 boys making and mending shoes and boots. This service was both for the boys at the Refuge and for outside customers. 

Descending back down the stairs to the ground floor, the building opened out onto a courtyard, on one side of which was a workshop. Here 20 boys were hard at work manufacturing firewood. Most of this process was aided by machinery; one boy was engaged cutting up the wood with a circular saw; another splitting up the pieces with the aid of a steam chopper and a third making them into bundles. The rest of the boys were engaged in carrying them to the shed, where they would be dipped in resin and stored. 

In the Reading Room

On the opposite side of the courtyard the reporter noted a ‘comfortable’ reading room, which was well supplied with papers. In the evening the boys often congregated here to engage in reading and chess. Over the workshop there was a spacious dining room which was also used as a Sunday School on Sunday afternoons. In the evenings there was a special church service for the boys, although this was open to visitors as well. 

The tour gave the reporter a good idea of how the Refuge worked and what they thought was needed to provide for destitute boys in the city. Mr. Browne also provided further information about the set up for the boys once they reached the age of 16. After passing through the Refuge and apprenticed to various trades, they were encouraged to enter the charity’s ‘Homes for Working Lads’. These were set up for those who passed through the Refuge and had a steady job, but had no lodgings. On Saturday night the boys were expected to bring their earnings home, part of which would be retained by the charity in rent and the rest invested in savings for the boys.

The reporter returned to Sheffield and wrote a report on the Refuge. This was reproduced in the Children's Haven in favourable terms.