The Remand Home- 'he just made a slip'

Exploring services provided by the Charity which are perhaps lesser-known brings me to their work with juvenile offenders which ultimately led to the creation in 1910 of a Remand Home dedicated to the care of young offenders until it closed in 1945. 

Even before the creation of the Remand Home the Charity took an interest in children considered to be juvenile offenders. The Charity were particularly interested in the reasons for children being brought before the magistrates, recording that between December 1900 and January 1901 children were brought for, ‘begging’, ‘wandering’, ‘station loitering’, ‘stealing boots’ and being a ‘shop door thief’. 

The Children’s Shelter opened in 1884 staying open 24 hours a day for any concerned person or official to take unaccompanied children. Some children found on the streets of Manchester or Salford were however taken to the Police Station and to Court for such ‘offences’ as begging, wandering or sleeping out.

The Children's Shelter and Remand Home, Chatham Street (M189/9/2/3)

 

The Charity expressed concern about those under the age of 14 charged with ‘trivial offences’ being locked up and suggested the children be taken straight to the Children’s Shelter instead of a Police Station where either the Police or the Charity’s own officers could investigate whether charging was necessary. They argued that in most cases children were charged before any investigation and, ‘many innocent ones are lost into police court and criminal surroundings.’ A letter from the Chief Constable to Leonard Shaw, the founder of the Charity in March 1901 dismissed this suggestion arguing that, ‘the greatest care is exercised to prevent the children coming in contact with the criminal classes.’ (M189/5/6/4/1). 

From 1902 Magistrates gained powers to remand children to voluntary homes instead of prison and so the Charity received remand cases from City and County Police Courts with children charged with an offence being housed at the Children’s Shelter where previously they would be sent to prison or workhouse pending trial. Representatives from the Charity regularly attended the County Courts to offer their assistance and the Charity were an early supporter of specific Children’s Courts which were established in 1904. 

A new Childrens Shelter built in 1910 on Chatham Street in Manchester included a dedicated space for remand cases. On opening the Chief Constable of Manchester said the Institution was of, ‘great assistance to the police in carrying out their duties.’ (Children’s Haven, July 1910). 

Regsiters recording admissions to the Children’s Shelter and Remand Home from 1910 into the 1930s commonly list ‘begging’, ‘sleeping out’, ‘found in brothel’ and ‘no guardian’ as offences committed. These charges seem to be largely a consequence of poverty rather than an indication of any criminality. The Charity reported in their magazine on one girl arriving as a prisoner from the County Police Court who they felt, ‘had been sinned against more than sinning, and was discharged, and is now placed in brighter surroundings.’ (Children’s Haven, April 1911). 

There are charges listed in the registers of ‘stealing', ‘breaking and entering’ and ‘robbery’ and very occasional references to other serious charges such as assaults. In the 1920s there are also occasional references to suicide attempts, it seems incredible now that these children were considered as juvenile offenders. Commonly those found in the registers were aged between 8 and 16 years old, although the home took in ages up to 18 until 1942 when an age limit of 14 was set. 

An article from the Charity magazine in April 1914 reported an increase in juvenile offenders with speculation that young people were stealing money to go to the pictures or were encouraged to steal by films showing how easy it was. The article records some punishments set by the Court including repeat offenders being send to an industrial school after their parents reported they could not control them. Boys who broke into a storeroom in Wilmslow Road and stole chocolate were sentenced, ‘to six strokes of a birch-rod each.’ The article includes the following account of the lengths some children went to obtain money to go to the pictures: 

Children's Haven, April 1914

In the magazine edition of April-March 1915 the influence of gaming machines was discussed in relation to the increase in juvenile offences along with the effect of fathers being called up to war lessening parental controls. 

A boy who was remanded for 9 nights aged 16 in 1935 for ‘shopbreaking’ received a heartwarming letter from his mother to inform him she still considered him to be ‘her boy’. The mother’s covering letter to the Charity explains her son was, ‘not a bad boy, he just made a slip.’

M189/5/6/5/3

The behaviour of those in the Remand Home could however be difficult and papers from the 1930s describe boys taking out windows to escape. Another group escaping in 1935 broke into property before travelling to Liverpool, Belfast and Glasgow with the stolen money. (M189/5/6/5/4). 

The Charity continued to raise concerns in 1930 about children being remanded to Strangeways Prison rather than a Remand Home for offences of shop-breaking and larceny with concerns raised to the Clerk to the Justices who replied that this was necessary to allow Prison Commissioner to assess the boys suitability for Borstal, a type of young offenders institute. (M189/5/6/5/2). 

The Children’s Haven edition of 1944 marked the closure of the Remand Home with Local Authorities now providing this service. The Charity reflected that since the opening of this home, children were now more recognised as, ‘human beings with rights.’

To read more about the Together Trusts history, Andrew Simpson's book 'The Ever Open Door' can be purchased through our enquiry page.