Gem From The Archive

Hannah Salisbury of Essex Record Office reveals why the register of an Essex industrial school is a rich resource for researchers

An Essex industrial school register, 1872–1883

The 1857 Industrial Schools Act encouraged the establishment of certified industrial schools, where children aged 7–14 years old who were convicted of vagrancy could be placed until they were 16 to receive a basic education. Essex Industrial School and Home for Destitute Boys opened in two converted houses in Great Baddow, Chelmsford, in 1872. The school’s admission register is now stored in Essex Record Office (ERO). As Hannah Salisbury, ERO engagement and events manager, explains, it sheds a fascinating light on the stories of the boys to whom the school provided some much-needed shelter.

Can You Describe The Register?

The first thing that comes to mind when describing this volume is that it has been very well used! It is clearly a working document, and records the admission of boys to Essex Industrial

School in Chelmsford.

The book records the reason for each boy’s admission, along with details of his family, a description of his appearance and character, and his level of education. Most of the records then go on to give some details of the boy’s time at the school, and what happened to him after he left. This register dates from the earliest days of the school, 1872–1883, but further records in the series continue until 1975, by which time the institution had become a home school. However, for reasons of data protection, post-1911 records are currently closed.

The details recorded in the register are further brought to life by photographs we have of the school, which show the boys being trained in shoemaking, carpentry and tailoring; at work in the school laundry and kitchen; and growing fruit and vegetables. There are also a few named portrait photographs of some of the boys, so we can put a face to a name.

What Makes The Register So Special?

I chose this document because the stories it contains are fascinating, and researching them provides very personal insights into the past. William Swainston, for example, was admitted to the school in 1876 aged 11, after being arrested for sleeping rough in Colchester. He was an orphan (his mother had died young, and his much older father then committed suicide), and had been living with his older half-brother, Charles Swainston. William had run away from Charles, saying that he was afraid of him.

William is described as being 4 foot 2 inches, slight, with a fair complexion, light brown hair, grey eyes, and a straight nose. Unusually among the newly admitted boys, he could read and write. He was described as “a quick boy” and “intelligent”. The school tried to find employment or apprenticeships for boys when they left, sometimes overseas, and in 1881 William set off for Canada, aged 16. The school stayed in touch when he left, and heard he was doing well.

Despite his difficult start, William seems to have made a good go of life in Canada. In 1888 he was back in England with a consignment of cattle, and gave a talk at the school about his life farming in Canada that was reported in local papers. In his talk, William “mentioned that the knowledge he had acquired

life was ‘The register emphasises that adults’ as tough for children as for

of various trades at the School had been most useful to him”. From Canadian records available online, we can find out that in 1892 William married Ellen Quinn, who was originally from Ireland. He was 27 years old, and described as a farmer. In 1901 they were living in Toronto with their three children.

What Does The Register Show About The Lives Of Children In This Period?

The register emphasises that life was just as tough for children as it was for adults. If parents could not (or would not) look after their children, they could easily end up on the streets in rags and with no shoes on their feet. Children could be arrested for committing petty crimes to survive, or for sleeping rough.

The register also shows us, however, that there was a will in some quarters to make a better life for these children. This was partly driven by a desire to bring them up to be useful members of society who could support themselves through a trade, rather than turning to criminality or becoming a burden on local poor rates.

What Does The Register Have To Offer Family Historians, And How Accessible Is It?

This register is the sort of thing that genealogists only dream about. If your ancestor went to the school, you might be able to use it to discover not only details about their life story, but also to get a sense of their character. These records often give us details we can rarely find elsewhere, and in some cases take us far beyond the information that we can get from civil registration records and the census (much as I love census records!). We’ve now added digitised images of the 1872–1914 admission registers to Essex Ancestors, our online subscription service, so they’re available to remote researchers ( bit.ly/ essex-ancestors).

Do You Have Any Other Records Of The School?

As well as the additional admission registers, the other records in this series include discharge registers, visitors’ books, reports of annual inspections, and the minute books of the school council and the house committee.