The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

CHARLES NAPIER.

Merebistoun, August 23,1838.

REFORHATORY SCHOOLS.
FIRST REPORT 01' THE INSPECTOR.
TO THE RIGHT HON. S. 11. 'WALPOLE, M.P., SECRETAaY

OF STATE FOR THE 110 ME DEPARTMENT.
Office of Inspector of Reformatories,
15, Parliament-street, June 30.
Sir,—l have the honour to report upon the condition and
operations of the reformatory schools under my inspection
in Great Britain during the year 1857,
The schools consist of two classes; those certified under
the 17 and 18 Vict. c. 80, and those sanctioned under the
17 and 18 Vict. c. 74.

The first of these two classes will form the chief subject of
my report, as being by far the most numerous, and as being
also more directly under the supervision of the Home-office,
in virtue of the allowance made by the Treasury for the
care and maintenance of the young offenders detained in
them. The schools sanctioned under the 17 and 18 Vict. c.
74 (Dunlop's Act) are wholly its Scotland, and are for the
most part only more organised Ragged or Industrial Feed-
ing Schools. They come more naturally under the inspec-
tion of the Committee o; Council.
The present being my first report, and, ind2ed, the first
collective or specific report that has been made upon the
subject of the certified reformatories, I propose to make
some general remarks upon their state and progress before
giving any description of them, or criticism on them, indi-
vidually. I have myself been so recently appointed to
inspect them, and the most of them have been so lately
opened, and are still in many points so imperfectly orga-
nised, that I feel it would be scarcely just to report minutely
on their arrangements, or expenses, or results. Their further
development and my own further experience will enable me,
I trust, to present next year a more detailed and accurate
view of their internal working, and their economical and
industrial condition.
1. ENGLISH CERTIFIED REFORMATORIES.
The number of these on the 31st Dec., 1837, was 40-10
having been certified and opened in the course of the year
1857, 17 in the course of 1856, 10 in 1855, and seven in 1854.
Saltley, near Birmingham, established by the exertions and
liberal assistance of Mr. Adderley, was the first reforma-
tory that applied for a certificate under the act, being cer-
tified in August,lBs4. Mr. Barwick Baker's school at Hard-
wicke, near Gloucester, and the Kingswood school, near I
Bristol, were next opened in October. The Newcastle refor-
matory began in November. Miss Carpenter commenced
her girls' school at Red Lodge, Bristol, in December ; Mr.
Joseph Sturge opening his farm school at Stoke, near Brows-
grove, and the committee of the Birmingham girls' reforma-
tory establishing their institution (now removed to Smeth-
wick) in Camden-street, Birmingham, in the same month.
In 1855, reformatories were certified as follows :—ln April,
for Devon and Exeter; in May, for Cumberland and for Lei-
cestershire; in July, for Norfolk; in Sept., for Berks ; in
Nov., for Hants; in Dec., for Cheshire and for the West
Riding of Yorkshire. The home in the east, and the Catho-
lic reformatory at Brook-green, Hammersmith, both in
Middlesex, were also certified in the autumn of this year.
In 1856, certificates were granted to the Akbar school
ship at Liverpool, and to the Northamptonshire boys' refor-
matory, in January; to the Toxteth-park girls' school at
Liverpool, and the Suffolk boys' reformatory, in March; to
the Sunderland Industrial School, in April • to the Castle
Howard Reformatory (Yorkshire, N.R.), in May; to the
School of Discipline for girls at Chelsea (London), the Wor-
cestershire Reformatory for boys, and the Allesley farm
school for girls (near Coventry), in June; to the Philan-
thropic farm school at Red-hill, in September ; to the West
Riding Refuge for Girls at Wakefield, in October; to the
Warwickshire Reformatory, in November ; to the Essex and
the Wiltshire Reformatories, in December.
Catholic Reformatories were also opened in the course of
this year se St. Bernard's Alibey, Loughborough, and at
Market Weigh ton , Yorkshire, E.R., for boys; and at Art: o's-
court, near Bristol, for girls.
The following are the reformatories certified in 1857 :
Dorsetshire, in January; Bedfordshire, in April ; Norfolk,
(Catton) ; Liverpool, gills (Mount Vernon-green), and the
North-Eastern at Netherton (near Morpeth), in June;
Beauchamp Lodge, Hammersmith, Catholic girls, in July;
the North Lancashire, in Sept.; the Manchester and Sal-
ford, in Oct.; the Hertfordshire, in Nov. ; the Leeds and the
Rescue Society's Home for Girls, at Hampstead, in Dec.
It will be seen by the dates in this summary that the refor-
matory school movement has gone on in a course of gradual
but steady development; its promoters advancing with care
and caution in their work, as they obtained greater experi-
ence, and were encouraged to proceed by the success of pre-
vious efforts. Ido not think that any movement has been
characterised by a greater mixture of earnestness of purpose
on the one hand, and practical good sense and discretion on
the other. e .

....
The number of inmates of the certified reformatories on
Dec. 31, 1856, has been returned to me as—
Boys, Protestant, 838; Catholic, ....210
Girls, „
63 ; ~
41
Total — 1,172
The admissions for the year were—
Boys, Protestant, 778; Catholic, ....216
Girls » 100 ; „ .... 59
Total — 1,153

The discharges for the year—
Boys, Protestant, 418
; Catholic,
3) 23
15
Girls,3
; 22
Total - 450
Making the number of inmates on the 31st Dec., 1857
Boys, Protestant, 1,108; Catholic, 411
Girls,
22 160; 97
Total — 1,866
In general, the operation of the certified reformatories is
strictly local. Being mostly founded by the efforts of indi-
viduals or associations in particular counties or boroughs,
they usually confine their admissions to the young offenders
of the district or town they ere connected with; and only
receive children from ether localities in the way ofexchange
or mutual assistance, when it is desirable to prevent the
aggregation of too many from one neighbourhecd in the
same school. Some counties and boroughs have made ar-
rangements with reformatories in neighbouring or ctlier dis-
tricts to receive their juvenile offenders, contributing to-
wards the rent and staff expenses of the school, either by
voluntary subscription or by aid from the county rate (under
the provisions of the Act 20 and 21 Vict. c. 55). Thus, Ox-
fordshire subscribes to the Berks reformatory ; Sussex,
Kent, Somerset, and Surrey to the Redhill farm school ;
Derbyshire to Kingswood; Staffordshire to Saltley, &c.
Some few counties are still without either reformatory
school or association. They are but few, however, and even
in these there are signs of movement, which indicate that
ere long their magistracy will also recognise tile principle
that the helpless and neglected boy ought to be dealt with
differently from the responsible man, and that the child is
as much and as justly an object of reformatory education as
the adult is of punishment.
As a rule, it is evidently advantageous that each county
or borough should deal with its own criminals. More efforts
will be enlisted in the support of the school, more responsi-
bility felt as to its management, more interest awakened in
its moral success, more facilities given for the disposal of
the children when discharged, if the school be the centre of
a certain circle, and has a direct connexion with the magis-
trates and employers of a distinct locality.
On the other hand, in the case cf large cities, the aggre-
gation of a number of young criminals from the same neigh-
bourhood in one school acts most injuriously—renewing old
associations, keeping up the depraved tone and the vicious
feelings and habits which it is the object of reformatory
treatment to suppress, and impeding most seriously the
growth of better impulses and motives. lam quite satisfied
from my past experience that, in reference to such large
masses of population as are collected in London, Liverpool,
Manchester, &c., it is far wiser to make such arrangements
with the managers of various distant reformatories as will
secure the dispersion of a large proportion of the young
offenders to be dealt with, than to attempt to deal with
them when concentrated in one large local institution.
The candition of the certified reformatories, as to their in-
ternal arrangements, their discipline, and the industrial
employment of their inmates, is generally good.
Considerable differences exist in the extent and character
of the buildings, and the qualifications of the superinten-
dents. But though in some the school-rooms and dormi-
tories are of higher pitch and larger area (so as to afford
more space and secure better ventilation), and the masters'
apartments more comfortable, and the masters themselves
of a better standing as to manners and intelligence, the
general characteristics of them all are simplicity, plainness,
and practical utility. A single room, about 35 feet long and
18 broad, with walls of plain brick whitened over with lime,
floor with tiles or concrete, and warmed by a common stove
or open fireplace, serves for school-room, meal room, and,
in wet weather, for work and play room. The dormitories
are generally unplastered and ceiled roughly under the
rafters of the roof. The yard for exercise and recreation in
the play hours is open and unpaved. An out-building or
shed is fitted with a bath and a trough for washing. No hot
air or hot water pipes are found even in the cells of correc-
tion; very few
have even the convenience of gas. The chil-
dren are usually at their work he bohe fields, the
girls in the school-rootn) by six o' (tclock. in
in t y
work about
eight hours, and are in school foe mental instruction about
three hours per day. The field work and other labour,
though not always carried on as methodically and skil-
fully as I could wish, is usually real, and entails a full
amount of hard practical exertion on the boys engaged
in it, and to town-bred lads pecnliarly, a considerable
degree of self-denial and endurance. Alany boys have said
to me, "I would rather be in prison than there; I should
have more to eat and less to do." It must, indeed, be
remembered, with respect to the class from which the
great majority of our young criminals come, that airy rooms,
separate beds, cleanliness, and good order, meals served
with decency, instxoctionond exercise at regal or hours, are no