Together Trust Archive

Reading about the circumstances under which children came into the Charity's care it's clear why the Charity became increasingly involved in child protection cases, helping to bring some of these cases to court by opening a department specifically for child protection work in 1884. This branch of the Charity was in 1885 named the Manchester and Salford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 1889 a new bill, the Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act, was passed and the Charity's magazine, The Christian Worker, in January 1890 recounted a case under this new bill at Manchester Police Court in which five siblings aged 11 and under were found by one of their officers 'shamefully neglected.' Conditions were described in the magazine as follows: 'In a corner of the wretched room where this family of seven lived, without fire or light in the midst of winter, were a few rags, filthy in the extreme, which served them all for a bed. In s...

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.

The Annual Report of 1909 gave a breakdown of the type of boys admitted to the Strangeways Homes at that time.   Boys at the Refuge were admitted for all kinds of reasons 

'When the stones under his bare feet are frozen he is sent out to wander, to plead, to pester, to get thrust out of the way and cursed by some, to get for his match-box the penny for which all the joy and health of his childhood are being sold' - Reverend Benjamin Waugh , Contemporary Review, July 1888.  Between 1885 and 1894 the Manchester Refuges operated a branch of work called the Manchester and Salford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children . It was a predecessor to the NSPCC investigating and prosecuting neglectful or abusive parents in the courts. The establishment of a Manchester branch by the NSPCC in 1894 brought an end to this work, but not before 9,922 children had been assisted. After 1894 the charity had a close working relationship with the NSPCC and the admission books continued to tell stories of children whose parents were prosecuted by the courts.  Letterhead for branch

Last Saturday the Together Trust attended the Manchester Histories Festival at the Town Hall . Here museums, galleries, academics, archives, local and family history societies, cultural organisations and community groups from across Greater Manchester came together to deliver activities, events and displays about the history of the city.  Manchester Histories Festival at Manchester Town Hall

There are of course many unknown facts about the charity but some are more obscure than others. Some of the lesser known facts are also some of our more noteworthy. The Manchester and Salford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children badge