Together Trust Archive

Like many archives across the UK and Ireland, we have been sharing stories and images from the archive on Twitter for Explore Your Archive 2020.

In 1872 the first nine boys were sent from the Manchester Refuges to Marchmont Home , Belleville, under the care of Annie Macpherson . They were the first of 2129 children to make the long trip to Canada.  Plaque outside Marchmont Home, Belleville

Thousands of children lived in extreme poverty in Manchester and Salford during the nineteenth century. In the days before the welfare state there were few systems in place to provide aid to those who were unable to work. For parents with young children and families to raise, life could be incredibly tough. So what were the options available to those living on the breadline?  Manchester Street Lads

The First World War ended many established services that had been set up by the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes. Activities such as the five workshops were closed naturally as the apprentices of age went off to war. Other homes were shut down in an attempt to save money. The final closure saw the halt of the emigration service.  Emigration Party outside the Town Hall

“Such was the acorn from which sprang the magnificent tree of philanthropic growth, which now casts the branching shadows of its saving agencies far and wide over this great city wherever sorrowful outcasts are to be found.” - Manchester Courier, 28 June 1902  I’m veering off topic a little today and looking into a building connected with the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes, but not one under its jurisdiction. In fact it’s a very important little building that lies just off the main road off Deansgate on Queen’s Street. It catered for ragged children in the area in the nineteenth century, providing free education and often their main meal for the day.  Loc ation of Queen Street Ragged School

“ The neglect to which the great mass of working-men's children are condemned leaves ineradicable traces and brings the enfeeblement of the whole race of workers with it. ” ' The Condition of the Working Class in England ' , Friedrich Engels, 1844 Manchester Town Hall

  Today, the 4 th Jan 2012, sees the Together Trust celebrate 142 years of providing care and support to children and young people in the North West. The many services that are provided today are a far cry from our first home, which was set up to care for street children, but without our humble beginnings we would never have grown into the diverse charity we are today.