Scandal and Circumstance

A misdemeanour committed by a Victorian child could result in a lot more than a 'telling-off' from their parents.

Industrial schools were places where 'out-of-control' children would be sent to achieve redemption through work. These reform schools come up through newspaper reports and censuses as places to which judges and magistrates sent children who were stealing or 'running wild.'

Sometimes, these schools could be a positive influence - taking children away from poverty-stricken areas and 'bad' influences and giving them the skills needed to get work. Other times you fail completely to understand what the judge was thinking.

For example, three brothers were convicted of stealing a few months after their father had died. The oldest of the boys was eleven. None of them appeared to have ever been in trouble before. The judge sent each of them to an industrial school until they were fourteen. The youngest was seven, meaning that his 'sentence' was also seven years - by the time he left the school, he would've spent half of his life there, away from his family. Like I said before, I have no idea why the judge thought that this was fair.

Meanwhile, their recently widowed mother has her three eldest sons taken away from her, left on her own to take care of four children of five and under. To my modern mind, the way they were treated is the scandal, but at the time it could very well be seen as her fault that the boys had acted out.

More soon!