Some of us will in the course of family research come across the relative who was living on the streets, which will be as shocking as that other revelation that they may also have spent time in the Workhouse.
But it is easy to gloss over the realties of being destitute, seeing it as the precursor to the story of what happened next.
And yet, those experiences are vital in helping understand the extent of the problem and the efforts of some to combat it.
Today we may be quite surprised at the absence of provision for homeless children in the twin cities of Manchester and Salford, but in 1869 there was no where to offer them safety and a degree of comfort.
All of which makes that decision by Leonard K Shaw, and his fellow teachers including Mr B. Taylor to set up a place of safety where homeless young people could come and be given a bed for the night and breakfast the following morning a hugely important one.
The Manchester and Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuge opened on January 4 1870 at 16 Quay Street off Deansgate and at first was limited to just twelve beds.
The admission book for that first year recorded that one lad aged fifteen had been “living on the streets and sleeping in Boiler Houses” while William Owen who was just eleven had been “staying in a house of ill fame” on Hardman Street and two brothers who presented themselves at the door of the Refuge were regularly “sleeping in a yard at the back of one of the worst houses in the Charter Street neighbourhood.”
The extent of the homelessness was shocking. In the first decade of its existence the Refuge had picked a thousand young people off the streets and according to the Chief Constable the number apprehended with no fixed home amounted to 1,063 between 1870-72 and while this fell away slightly during remainder of the decade it still stood at 603 in 1879.
Nor did the problem abate, in 1886 the Refuge reported that during the previous year it had provided 4,984 meals and given a bed to 1,648 young people.
Behind each of those admissions was a story. Thomas from Salford, had had been living on the streets for three years having been turned out of the family home by his parents while what had pushed another “on to the streets for some time had been an unkind stepfather.”
But not all of those who occupied a bed were there because of their parents. Some had left home to find work in the city but without sufficient funds for a lodging house had been “helped with a free supper, a bed and a breakfast, and are afterwards put in the way of returning to the country or their town and sometimes helped to get to sea or to join the army.
In this way many youths have been saved from the alternative of having to spend a night on one of the brick-fields of the city, with the result perhaps of being arrested and sent to prison for "sleeping out.”
And the risk of arrest was a real one with all its attendant horrors of a night in the cells. That said the police increasingly used the shelter as an alternative to the lock up in preparation for an appearance in the police courts.
Both the authorities and the charity were well aware of the risks that living on the streets posed.
On one of his nightly trips across Manchester and Salford, Leonard Shaw encountered “groups of idle vagrant boys and girls from about 15 to 18 years of age ..... on Angel Street and Charter Street, few of them can read and write, and many have been in prison.”*
The Refuge offered the chance for some at least to turn their lives around and many did just that.
Adapted from the newly published book on the work of the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges, published by the Together Trust as part of the events to
commemorate the Trust’s 150th anniversary.
Location; Manchester and Salford
Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust, https://www.togethertrust.org.uk/
* Saving the Children, Work of the Boys ‘and Girls’ Refuges, Manchester Guardian, April 12 1912
**The Ever Open Door: 150 years of the Together Trust, Andrew Simpson, The Together Trust, 2020, 140p, £14-99. ISBN 978-1-5272-5671-2. You can obtain copies of the book from, https://shop.togethertrust.org.uk/ But given the current circumstances there may be a delay in getting books out in the post to people.
 |
| On admission, date unknown |
And yet, those experiences are vital in helping understand the extent of the problem and the efforts of some to combat it.
Today we may be quite surprised at the absence of provision for homeless children in the twin cities of Manchester and Salford, but in 1869 there was no where to offer them safety and a degree of comfort.
All of which makes that decision by Leonard K Shaw, and his fellow teachers including Mr B. Taylor to set up a place of safety where homeless young people could come and be given a bed for the night and breakfast the following morning a hugely important one.
The Manchester and Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuge opened on January 4 1870 at 16 Quay Street off Deansgate and at first was limited to just twelve beds.
The admission book for that first year recorded that one lad aged fifteen had been “living on the streets and sleeping in Boiler Houses” while William Owen who was just eleven had been “staying in a house of ill fame” on Hardman Street and two brothers who presented themselves at the door of the Refuge were regularly “sleeping in a yard at the back of one of the worst houses in the Charter Street neighbourhood.”
The extent of the homelessness was shocking. In the first decade of its existence the Refuge had picked a thousand young people off the streets and according to the Chief Constable the number apprehended with no fixed home amounted to 1,063 between 1870-72 and while this fell away slightly during remainder of the decade it still stood at 603 in 1879.
 |
| Emma on admission to the Refuge, 1913 |
Behind each of those admissions was a story. Thomas from Salford, had had been living on the streets for three years having been turned out of the family home by his parents while what had pushed another “on to the streets for some time had been an unkind stepfather.”
But not all of those who occupied a bed were there because of their parents. Some had left home to find work in the city but without sufficient funds for a lodging house had been “helped with a free supper, a bed and a breakfast, and are afterwards put in the way of returning to the country or their town and sometimes helped to get to sea or to join the army.
In this way many youths have been saved from the alternative of having to spend a night on one of the brick-fields of the city, with the result perhaps of being arrested and sent to prison for "sleeping out.”
And the risk of arrest was a real one with all its attendant horrors of a night in the cells. That said the police increasingly used the shelter as an alternative to the lock up in preparation for an appearance in the police courts.
 |
| Emma after admission to the Refuge, 1913 |
On one of his nightly trips across Manchester and Salford, Leonard Shaw encountered “groups of idle vagrant boys and girls from about 15 to 18 years of age ..... on Angel Street and Charter Street, few of them can read and write, and many have been in prison.”*
The Refuge offered the chance for some at least to turn their lives around and many did just that.
Adapted from the newly published book on the work of the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges, published by the Together Trust as part of the events to
commemorate the Trust’s 150th anniversary.
Location; Manchester and Salford
Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust, https://www.togethertrust.org.uk/
**The Ever Open Door: 150 years of the Together Trust, Andrew Simpson, The Together Trust, 2020, 140p, £14-99. ISBN 978-1-5272-5671-2. You can obtain copies of the book from, https://shop.togethertrust.org.uk/ But given the current circumstances there may be a delay in getting books out in the post to people.
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