Together Trust Archive

In recognition of black history month the story of Arthur, a young resident of the Charity admitted in April 1892 is well worth re-exploring. Part of Arthur’s story has been recorded previously in this blog but didn’t include this wonderful photograph: M189/9/2/1 emigration book Arthur’s entry in the 1892 admission book originally drew attention with an interesting reference to his father as: ‘ coming over from Africa with “General Tom Thumb” and having settled in Manchr ’ [Manchester]. Charles Sherwood Stratton, more widely known as General Tom Thumb  was a popular performer under the management of P.T Barnum  in the mid nineteenth century and travelled widely around the world. M189/5/1/1/2 from admission book entry 23 April 1892 As shown in the admission book above, Arthur was aged 11 when he came into the Charity’s care. His mother had died and it seems his father was no longer working in entertainment, according to the admission book he was, ‘ selling papers and porterin...

  The following blog post has been written by Katie Royle, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University currently studying for a Master's in Public History and Heritage. As part of her course Katie is using the Together Trust Archive located at Manchester Central Library to undertake research on some of the young people emigrated to Canada. This is the second part of  Katie's research into the Maddock family, detailing the brothers' life in Canada and beyond. In March 1892, Charlie, Joseph and David departed from Liverpool on the steamship SS Sarnia bound for Ontario, accompanied by 150 other boys from the Refuge. For most, it would have been the first time they had ever seen the sea, and many suffered terribly with seasickness over the ten day crossing. Each child had their own wooden trunk with their names inscribed, inside each were a summer and winter outfit, new underclothes, two pairs of boots, and a prayer book. Charlie had also saved up some money and bought...

The following blog post has been written by Katie Royle, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University currently studying for a Master's in Public History and Heritage. As part of her course Katie is using the Together Trust Archive located at Manchester Central Library to undertake research on some of the young people emigrated to Canada. This is the first part of Katie's research into the Maddock family, detailing the circumstances behind how the family came into contact with the Charity. It was a happy day when Charlie Maddock stood proudly in the church awaiting his new bride in Kingston, Ontario, in 1899. Dressed in his smartest suit, with his younger brother smiling by his side, he was ready to settle down and start a family with his new Canadian wife. Outside the church, the snow was over a foot deep, the air crisp and clear - a world away from his life in smog-filled industrial Manchester; a life of hardship and squalor that had been transformed forever just over...

 While the initial aim of the Charity on its inception in 1870 was to provide safe accommodation and food to orphan boys who didn’t have these essentials, it wasn’t long before the Charity started to broaden their aims. One of the first ways it did so was to provide boys with a means of employment by establishing a Shoeblack Brigade and a Messenger Brigade. These Brigades were in operation by February 1870, only a month after the Charity’s first refuge accommodation was opened on Quay Street, Manchester. Shoeblack brigades were already well established in London, and with the permission of the authorities in Manchester boys in this Brigade dressed in scarlet tunics could occupy positions in twelve stands around the city and earn money by cleaning the shoes and boots of the city’s residents. The railway had come to Manchester in 1830 and with the population of the city ever expanding the Charity spotted another opportunity with the establishment of their Messenger Brigade. This ...

In April 1878, eight years into the Charity's existence their first service for girls was established. Named 'Heathfield', this 'home for destitute girls' was located in Broughton Lane. The service only lasted 14 years, closing in 1892, by which time the Charity had already established Rosen Hallas, another home specifically for girls. Heathfield was however an important milestone in the Charity's history, widening the care provided and prompting an addition to the Charity's name in becoming, 'The Manchester and Salford Boys'  and Girls' Refuges and Homes.' M189/9/1/1 Heathfield Home for Girls The Charity's magazine in November 1880 states the girls varied in age at Heathfield from 'seven to seventeen' although when more established Heathfield generally accommodated girls aged over 10. The article notes Mr Richard Bramwell Taylor, one of the Charity's original founders had charge of the home. As with the Charity's other h...

Provision for boys in the Charity’s care once they reached working age came in the form of Homes for Working Boys, also known as Young Men’s Homes or Working Lads Homes. Established in 1873 just a few years after the Charity began, these homes accommodated 15 to 18 year olds who had been cared for by the Charity as children and were now in regular employment either in the workshops of the Charity’s Central Refuge or elsewhere in the city. No such provision was provided for girls who often went into domestic service. One home of 12 boys was first established in Grosvenor Street, Oxford Road but this was felt to be too far from the Charity’s centre of operations at Strangeways and the boys could not be supervised sufficiently meaning the home was soon moved to Lower Broughton. Four homes in this area had been established by 1877 each with around 15 boys apprenticed to various trades. The homes were under the care of a ‘father’ and ‘mother’. The boys paid towards their board but once they...