Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa

Last updated
The Arethusa Venture Centre at Lower Upnor Upnor Arethusa 2612cc.jpg
The Arethusa Venture Centre at Lower Upnor
The figurehead of Arethusa at the Shaftesbury Young People centre on the River Medway Upnor Arethusa figurehead 2649c.jpg
The figurehead of Arethusa at the Shaftesbury Young People centre on the River Medway

The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa (now Shaftesbury Young People) is one of the United Kingdom's oldest children's charities. It has been active since 1843. [1] Its aim, written in its current mission statement, is to support young people in care and need to find their voice, to be healthy, to learn, develop and achieve and to gain an independent and positive place in society. [2]

Contents

The charity moved from promoting the ragged schools to providing night refuges then providing residential nautical training. It operated many large children's homes, and currently supports adolescents leaving care. At each stage it changed its name to reflect its new role. In 2006 it became Shaftesbury Young People.

History

The organisation dates back to 1843 when solicitor's clerk William Williams encountered a group of cold, dirty and rowdy London boys chained together and being transported to Australia. As a personal response to his horror, he opened a ragged school in the St Giles rookery, in a hayloft in Streatham Street. A year later in 1844, a group of London ragged schools banded together to form the Ragged School Union. Lord Ashley, who later inherited the title of Lord Shaftesbury became its president and thus got to know Williams. [3]

Ragged school

Ragged schools taught the boys Christian beliefs, reading, writing and arithmetic and attempted to teach them a trade. In 1849, Streatham Street taught 314 boys and 18 of the scholars were seen as suitable to be awarded a free passage to Australia. It merged with two neighbouring schools in 1851 forming the St Giles and St George, Bloomsbury Ragged Schools. They also provided a night school and a Sunday school for girls with sewing classes. The next venture was to buy a permanent building on the corner of Broad Street and George Street. The temporary premises they vacated were converted into night refuges for homeless boys. As providing accommodation became more important they renamed themselves as St Giles and St George, Bloomsbury Refuge for Destitute Children Ragged and Industrial Schools. More premises were rented to create a refuge for boys in Arthur Street, while the girls remained for a time at Broad Street. In May 1860, forty girls were moved to Acton- and eventually to a home in Ealing. This house did all the other establishments laundry. [4]

The Elementary Education Act 1870 reduced the need for ragged schools and to reflect this the society changed its name again; this time to The National Refuges for Homeless and Destitute Children and 'Chichester' Training Ship. It closed the last of its ragged schools in 1891.

Emigration

In June 1848, Lord Ashley made a speech in parliament proposing funds should be made available to assist suitable boys from ragged schools to emigrate to the colonies where they could easily find employment. This suggestion was enthusiastically supported by Williams and the Homes. Twenty two scholars were selected to be in the first group that left for New South Wales. Each was given a new suit of clothes and a Bible. In 1857 ten girls were escorted to Canada- and looked after till they were settled with a job. This led to the society renting a house in Hamilton, Ontario to act as a reception centre for the scholars. The society was involved with accompanied emigration until the 1920s [5]

Training ships

Arethusa Memorial, Lower Upnor Arethusa Memorial, Lower Upnor - geograph.org.uk - 1603067.jpg
Arethusa Memorial, Lower Upnor

In January 1866, the Pall Mall Gazette revealed the dire conditions suffered by boys in the casual ward of the Lambeth Workhouse. Lord Shaftesbury became patron to the society, and he launched an initiative to take boys off the streets and give them onboard maritime training. They were soon resident on board the Chichester, a redundant naval frigate moored off Greenhithe which could house 250 boys at a time. This succeeded and by 1874, 1,300 boys had graduated. A second frigate was obtained thanks to a £5,000 donation from Lady Burdett-Coutts: this was the Arethusa and she was moored alongside the Chichester. [6] In 1919 the society renamed itself as Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa and the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII became president.

The move to Upnor on the River Medway occurred in 1933, when the Arethusa was broken up and replaced by the steel-hulled, four-masted barque Peking. Renamed Arethusa II, it was refitted in Chatham Dockyard and then moored across the River Medway, in Lower Upnor. The figurehead from the wooden warship was preserved and displayed by Arethusa Pier in Upnor. [7] Shore-side accommodation and a swimming pool was built, and this continues today (2017) as the Arethusa Venture Centre. An ocean-going steam yacht, the Glen Strathallan was donated to the society in 1955. [8]

By 1972 there was less call for sail-trained seamen, and the training school was scaled down. The Arethusa II became a floating boarding school for the next three years but needed much maintenance work and was sold in 1975 to the South Street Seaport museum in New York, which restored its original name Peking; it is now owned and berthed by the German Port Museum in Hamburg. A third, smaller 71 feet (22 m) ketch was bought in 1971 and renamed Arethusa. It had a different role and was replaced by another vessel in 1982. [7] [2]

Children's homes

The focus of the society changed and it sought to provide refuges outside London for London children. In 1868 the society purchased a farm in Bisley, Surrey. The first building, the Farm school was operational by 1871 and the second, Shaftesbury House, in 1873. The schools merged as a result of the 1918 Education Act. Surrey Education Committee took over the educational aspects in 1921, and the schools status changed from 'Elementary School' to 'Central School' in 1930. From 1944 until its closure in 1958 the school became a 'secondary school'. [9]

A further boys home was opened at Fortescue House, Twickenham. A home for girls was opened at Sudbury Hall, Wembley. The society experienced financial pressures during both of the world wars. The Curtis Report and the 1948 Children's Act changed the direction of child care: adoption became the preferred option followed by fostering and the large children's homes that the society had been running were deprecated. It was recommended that children's homes should have no more than 12 residents. [8]

The larger homes were disposed of and the society moved to providing support for adolescents leaving care. Two adolescent hostels were opened Putney in 1975, and the long-standing premises in Esher House, East Molesley became a teenage mother and baby hostel. A support centre for parents having difficulty with their children was opened in Clapham.

In 2006, the charity renamed itself Shaftesbury Young People. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Arethusa may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury</span> British politician (1801–1886)

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, styled Lord Ashley from 1811 to 1851, was a British Tory politician, philanthropist, and social reformer. He was the eldest son of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Anne Spencer, and elder brother of Henry Ashley, MP. A social reformer who was called the "Poor Man's Earl", he campaigned for better working conditions, reform to lunacy laws, education and the limitation of child labour. He was also an early supporter of the Zionist movement and the YMCA and a leading figure in the evangelical movement in the Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisley, Surrey</span> Human settlement in England

Bisley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately 25 miles (40 km) southwest of central London. It is midway between Woking and Camberley. The village had a population of 3,965 in the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upnor</span> Villages in Kent, England

Lower Upnor and Upper Upnor are two small villages in Medway, Kent, England. They are in the parish of Frindsbury Extra on the western bank of the River Medway. Today the two villages are mainly residential and a centre for small craft moored on the river, but Upnor Castle is a preserved monument, part of the river defences from the sixteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven Dials, London</span> Neighbourhood in Londons West End

Seven Dials is a road junction and neighbourhood in the St Giles district of the London Borough of Camden, within the greater Covent Garden area in the West End of London. Seven streets of the Seven Dials area converge at the roughly circular central roundabout, at the centre of which is a column bearing six sundials – with the column itself acting as the seventh sundial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ragged school</span> 19th-century charitable schools in Britain

Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th-century Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts and intended for society's most impoverished youngsters who, it was argued, were often excluded from Sunday School education because of their unkempt appearance and often challenging behaviour. After a few such schools were set up in the early 19th century by individual reformers, the London Ragged School Union was established in April 1844 to combine resources in the city, providing free education, food, clothing, lodging, and other home missionary services for poor children. Although the Union did not extend beyond London, its publications and pamphlets helped spread ragged school ideals across the country before they were phased out by the final decades of the 19th century.

<i>Peking</i> (ship) Steel-hulled four-masted barque

Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque. A so-called Flying P-Liner of the German company F. Laeisz, it was one of the last generation of cargo-carrying iron-hulled sailing ships used in the nitrate trade and wheat trade around Cape Horn.

A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concerns about cities, poverty, immigration, and gender following industrialization, as well as from a shift in penology to reforming instead of punishing the criminal. They were traditionally single-sex institutions that relied on education, vocational training, and removal from the city. Although their use declined throughout the 20th century, their impact can be seen in practices like the United States' continued implementation of parole and the indeterminate sentence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charity school</span> School supported as charity

Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to teach poor children to read and write, and for other necessary parts of education. They were usually maintained by religious organisations, which provided clothing and education to students freely or at little charge. In most charity schools, children were put out to trades, services, etc., by the same charitable foundation. Some schools were more ambitious than this and sent a few pupils on to university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northfields, London</span> Human settlement in England

Northfields is an area in Ealing, west London. It is centred on Northfield Avenue, a shopping street of mostly independent shops and restaurants. It lies partially in the Ealing W5 and partially in west Ealing's W13 postcode. It lies in the southwest corner of Ealing.

Ellen Smyly was an Irish charity worker.

HMS <i>Arethusa</i> (1849) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Arethusa was a 50-gun fourth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1849 from the Pembroke Dockyard. The fourth naval ship to bear the name, she served in the Crimean War and then in 1861 was converted to a steam screw frigate. Decommissioned in 1874, Arethusa became a school and training ship on the River Thames, preparing young boys for maritime careers, until she was broken up in 1934.

SS Nubia was a passenger steamer, built by John Laird Sons & Company in Birkenhead in 1854 for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company at a cost of £65,750. It was launched on 28 February 1854 and commenced formal service between Southampton and Alexandria on 4 September 1854. It was briefly used in the Crimean War later that year before continuing operations between Suez and Calcutta, passing through the port of Aden en route. On 5 October 1864, it encountered trouble during a cyclone in Calcutta and was driven ashore near King Oudh's palace and had to be refloated. In September 1867, Nubia rescued the passengers of Surat, which had run aground on a reef in the Gulf of Suez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church Farm Industrial School for Boys</span>

The Church Farm Industrial School for Boys was an industrial school in East Barnet. It was founded by Crimean War veteran and Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood patron Lt Col William James Gillum in 1860 after buying a farmhouse on part of the estate of Trevor Park for use as a farm branch of Boys' Home Industrial School on Euston Road in Central London. Gillum became the first superintendent and was assisted by his wife Leonora. In 1863 it became a certified industrial school independent of the Euston Road school and began to receive boys committed to it through magistrates courts. In 1933 it became an approved school and moved to Surrey in 1937.

HMS Southampton was the third ship of the Royal Navy to carry the name Southampton. She was a fourth-rate, 52-gun ship. She was one of the six Southampton-class frigates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr Barnardo's Memorial</span> Public sculpture by George Frampton

The Memorial to Dr Barnardo by George Frampton, at Barkingside in the London Borough of Redbridge, commemorates the founder of the Barnardo's children's charity. Born in Dublin into a Sephardic Jewish family, Thomas John Barnardo moved to the East End of London in 1866 where he established a chain of orphanages that developed into the Barnardo's charity. He died in 1905 and, in a move unusual for the time, was cremated; his ashes were interred in front of Cairn's House, the original building of his Barkingside children's village. In 1908, a memorial was raised on the site, the sculpture being undertaken by George Frampton, who worked without a fee. The memorial was designated a Grade II listed structure in 1979 and upgraded to II* in 2010.

Meath Protestant Industrial School was an industrial school for protestant boys, in Blackrock, Dublin, founded in 1871. It was originally situated Elm cliff, near the station, on land leased by the Earl of Meath and other benevolent members of society, it then moved in 1877 to Avondale House off Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin. While it was a reform school, it also took in boys who were found destitute or begging.

Kerry Home Industrial School for Protestant Boys was an Irish industrial school for protestant boys, Princes Quay (Street), in Tralee, County Kerry, founded in 1872. The Rev. Raymond Orpen, the Rector of Tralee was the manager of the school. The school was managed in connection with the Board of National Education, and subject to the District Inspector of the Board, E. Dowling, esq. As well as school subjects and music, boys were taught tailoring and knitting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Surr</span>

Elizabeth Surr was a British educational reformer. She was successful in getting elected to the London School Board where she led the exposure of mistreatment of children in industrial schools.

Samuel Belcher Chapman was an English philanthropist who dedicated himself to supporting the St Matthews Industrial Home for Girls in Ipswich, Suffolk. Following a brief period in partnership with Henry Biddell in London, Chapman moved to Ipswich in 1830 and by October 1831, he had received the credentials from Apothecaries' Hall, London to practice as chemist and druggist. He then set up in business first in Tavern Street, moving to Cornhill by 1832.

References

  1. "Training Ship Arethusa". Frindsbury Extra Parish Council. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Higginbotham, Peter. "The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa - Facing the Future". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  3. Higginbotham, Peter. "The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa - The Origins of the Society". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  4. Higginbotham, Peter. "The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa - A Permanent Home". childrenshomes.org.uk.
  5. Higginbotham, Peter. "The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa - Emigration". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  6. Higginbotham, Peter. "The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa - Chichester and Arethusa". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  7. 1 2 Higginbotham, Peter. "Training Ships 'Chichester' and 'Arethusa', Greenhithe / Upnor, Kent". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  8. 1 2 Higginbotham, Peter. "The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa - The Post-War Years". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  9. Higginbotham, Peter. "Bisley Farm School and Shaftesbury School, Bisley, Surrey". childrenshomes.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2017.