Together Trust Archive

“I’m Richard, 11 years old. I was in Salford Workhouse until my Mum got a job as a servant. I hope she manages to keep it with the amount she drinks. Would you like a game of cup and ball?” Richard, aged 11 We would like to introduce you to Richard. This is one of the lives we have been investigating during our young roots project ‘Deep Pockets and Dirty Faces’ . The quote above introduces our audience to this orphan, as he meets a new admission to the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes. Throughout the radio script the young people involved in this project will tell the stories of their orphans, written through their own research into the individual children. It is their way of bringing these orphans' tales to life. Richard for example entered the homes in 1899 at the age of 11. His father had passed away and consequently the family had ended up in Salford Workhouse . His Mother had eventually managed to get a job as a domestic but could only take it...

When the Manchester Refuges began in 1870 it catered for children in some of the most dire straits. The slum areas of Angel Meadow, Ancoats and Blackfriars spewed out dirty, ragged and half starved children that were often in need of assistance from the church or charities to avoid the dreaded shadow of the Workhouse .  In the Manchester Slums

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 care and training of children are matters which should receive the anxious attention of Guardians. Pauperism is in the blood, and there is no more effectual means of checking its hereditary nature than by doing all in our power to bring up our pauper children in such a manner as to make them God-fearing, useful and healthy members of society.” - Poor Law Handbook of the Poor Law Officers' Journal (1901) Many Victorians believed that pauper adults bred pauper children. There was a strong fear around social disorder and the effects of pauperism in England. In 1870 when the charity was founded, Manchester and Salford still accommodated quite a few workhouses in its midst. Although they had improved from the archetypical image of a place of cruelty, hunger and squalor, most people still saw admission as a last resort.