The Gordon Boys' Home

 

Admission records we hold relating to the Gordon Boys’ Home in Manchester held in the Together Trust Archive have recently been digitised by the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society to help make these more accessible. It’s timely then to shed some light on the home’s very brief existence and explore how the Manchester and Salford Refuges (as the Together Trust was then known) came to take over after the home ran into difficulties.

Established in 1888 by Alexander Devine, the Gordon Boys’ Home came about the year after a new piece of legislation known as The First Offender’s Act was established. This meant first offenders for minor crimes could avoid a prison sentence if they had fixed accommodation, which the Gordon Boys Home provided, first located off Rusholme Road and later at Cornbrook Abbey, Chester Road, Manchester.

From a Sept 1890 entry of the Gordon Boy’s Home register showing a boy charged with stealing cloth and opera glasses from his employer being discharged to the Gordon Boy’s Home under the First Offenders Act, M189/5/7/2.

The admission records we hold detail the circumstances of the boys admitted between 1888 and 1892 and provide extraordinary details on the lives of Manchester residents who might otherwise have gone unrecorded. Common offences the boys were charged with include stealing, gambling, sleeping out, trespassing and loitering. The circumstance of each case is unique, yet poverty is often a common factor.

John Burns for example, shown in the photo below, was admitted in January 1889 aged 13 for stealing money from another boy. He had previously stolen 6lbs of cheese for which he received 10 strokes. Some of the stolen money he spent, some was hidden and some given to his mother. A newspaper clipping posted in the admission book explained he had no father and his home was ‘poor and undesirable.’ The entry notes he had six younger siblings. Under the First Offenders Act he was taken into Gordon Boys’ Home where a note states in Nov 1889 he was sent back to his mother, ‘as he seemed likely to go right and promised to be good.’ He is noted as ‘doing well’ in Aug 1890.

John Burns from the January 1889 entry of the Gordon Boy’s Home register M189/5/7/1.

Other Gordon Boys Homes named after the respected British Army Officer General Charles George Gordon had been established after the General’s death in 1885. This Charity’s magazine ran an article in 1885 on the death of General Gordon, reporting how his sister supported a means,‘to train boys to be good Christian soldiers’ under the General’s name and established a home at Fort Wallington near Fareham. As a result, 200 ‘poor and destitute boys’ aged between 14 and 16 were admitted to train under military discipline to learn trades, complete domestic work, receive night school instruction and ‘learn the use of a spade.’ At 18 the boys could enter the army or take civil employment.

The concept of this home was very reminiscent of this Charity’s own Central Refuge at Strangeways which also admitted destitute boys and taught trades such as shoe-making, tailoring or printing. Some boys from the Central Refuge in Manchester were admitted to the Gordon Boys Home near Fareham specifically to receive training for the army. In 1886 the Charity’s magazine reported on two boys originally from the Refuge who were sent to the Gordon Boys Home near Fareham, reporting that the boys ‘Withnall and Timperly’ were doing well, one in the shoemaker’s shop and one as a carpenter.

The Manchester version of the Gordon Boys Home opened by Alexander Devine had a slightly different purpose than the Fareham home in focusing on the reform of boys after committing their first offense. The 1889 Charity magazine referred to the purpose of the Gordon Boys Home as providing the opportunity of a fresh start in new conditions. Unfortunately, the home ran into financial difficulties meaning in 1892 the 23 boys in residence at the Gordon Boys’ Home moved to this Charity’s own Central Refuge at Strangeways.

The concept of preventing children entering prison was familiar work to the Refuge. In 1884 they had opened a children’s shelter, a place where police or others in authority could take children found wandering or sleeping rough, as an alternative to a police station. The Annual Report from 1889 reported how following the introduction of The First Offender Act, the Charity received children from Police Courts, believing this was a means of rescuing youthful offenders, ‘from the acquaintance of the gaol, and probably a life of crime.’ The work of the Manchester Gordon Boys’ Home was therefore very much in line with this Charity’s own work and so they were well placed to take over their aims and objectives. Taking on the work of the Gordon Boy' Home also had the unintended consequence of ensuring the admission registers were preserved and allows us a glimpse into the circumstances behind the petty crimes of the younger and often poorer residents of Manchester.

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