Together Trust Archive

The following blog post has been written by Katie Royle, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University who recently completed her Master's in Public History and Heritage. As part of her course Katie used the Together Trust Archive located at Manchester Central Library to undertake research on some of the young people in the Charity's care who were emigrated. In the spring of 1883, Manchester was hit by evangelical fever when a famous American preacher began a fortnights mission in the city.   Dwight L Moody had achieved fame through a mix of his ‘man of the men’ persona and his ‘peculiarly original style’ of preaching, which gained him a widespread following both in America and throughout the world. Moody, together with hymn singer Ira Sankey, visited Manchester as part of a nationwide tour where, not unlike the celebrity pop stars of today, the sermons attracted thousands. Moody had said he ‘feared the cold formalism which was creeping over Christianity’, and his services we...

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...

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...

The emigration of children to Canada by the charity then known as 'Manchester and Salford Refuges and Homes' has been well documented in this blog and looking through the admission books the number of entries which end 'Sailed for Canada' demonstrates how emigration was an important part of the charity's work from 1872 until the charity ended the practice in 1914. Seen by many charities at the time as a cost efficient way of offering poor and orphaned children a new life, the practice also offered a solution to the demand for farm and domestic labour in Canada. While the admission books frequently refer to emigration being at the child's own request, it's hard to imagine that many of the children who made the journey understood what they were signing up to. The difficult circumstances of these children's lives however mean it's easy to understand why the hope of a new life was so tempting. I've concentrated my attention so far on those that left ...

On 2nd April 1896 a group of 173 boys, under the care of the Reverend Robert Wallace and his wife, journeyed aboard the Scotsman from Liverpool to the Marchmont Receiving Home in Belleville, Canada. Of the 173, approximately 70 boys were from the Manchester and Salford Refuges and Homes. It took eight days for the ship to arrive at the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 14th April, Revd. Wallace reported the following: From The Children's Haven ( CH ), May 1896

In 2019, the Together Trust secured a generous grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support the charity’s 150th anniversary celebrations and community projects in 2020. As part of this grant we are digitising and making accessible the charity’s annual reports dating from 1870-1919.

Much has been discussed in this blog about the emigration of the many young orphans of the Manchester and Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges and Homes (and those in the care of other charities) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Whilst the idea of the mass migration of vulnerable young children who had undergone life changing and traumatic events actions is unthinkable in the present day, it is, however, important to acknowledge and understand the circumstances which led to this. The first question we may now ask is whether the actions of these organisations was fully in the interest of the children: did places like Canada truly offer a new beginning, far removed from the poverty and squalor of urban Britain, or did the removal from familiar surroundings and family simply compound a child’s isolation and suffering? Did these wealthy philanthropists even consider such effects on the child, and were they truly motivated by philanthropic ideals or a need to remo...

This week's blog has been compiled by Robert Atherton, a student at Poynton 6th form, who has been on a week's long placement as an archive student at the Together Trust. Alongside various other duties, Robert has been cataloguing some of our case files from the 1930s and has picked out one file to research and compile a blog on.

We came across a newspaper article in the archive the other day, written by an individual who was ‘investigating the results and prospects of juvenile emigration’. Concentrating on those sent to Marchmont Home , the writer visited 50 boys and girls in the area surrounding Belleville over three weeks. Outside Marchmont Home

Deep Pockets and Dirty Faces has seen more of its work displayed at Cheadle Library. As the charity now resides in the area on Schools Hill, it allows some of the work completed by young people from the area to have their project on display and inform the local community about the history of the Together Trust .  Display at Cheadle Library

As it is St. Patrick’s Day today, it seemed only apt to look into our Irish heritage at the charity. We’ve seen a number of boys and girls pass through our different homes and services over the years who hail from the Emerald Isle. Our most famous Irish connection however is our founder himself, Leonard Kilbee Shaw . 

The Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes, as regular readers to our blog will know, sailed across to Canada twice a year with parties of children. These parties were heading for a new life out of the city slums, on to the rich farming lands of Ontario. Their journey has already been well documented throughout this blog .    In the corn at Marc hmont

The problem with war is people’s lives become numbers. For those who died in a battle like the Somme , which had as many as 19,000 killed o n the first day alone, the sheer logistics of identifying and burying those who had died, was an overwhelming task. Those who were identified became a plot number, those who didn’t got an unmarked grave. The lives and stories behind those people become lost. For the young people from the Manchester and Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges and Homes who enlisted in World War One it was yet another adjustment to their ever changing lives. World War One Soldier  Let’s take Arthur as a good example : Arthu r was born in Manchester in 1892. His father was a labourer working in the st arch works.  He was born into a family with 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters. He was admitted into Prestwich Workhouse around 1905.  He was admitted to the Manchester Refuges in 1906.  In May of that year he emigrated to Canada.  ...