UWInfo | Young Immigrants | 19th Century Immigration | Genealogy | Local History
In 1836, on the Isle of Wight, the first reformatory was established in England. Parkhurst was intended to train boys, who were under the sentence of transportation, for two to three years before their removal from the country. The Philanthropic Society established Redhill Reformatory in 1849 and, soon others followed. However, it was not until 1854 that the British Government finally passed legislation to assist and accredit these institutions.
A child, under 14 years of age, could be sent to an Industrial School for begging, wandering, consorting with thieves or prostitutes or because the parents deemed him/her uncontrollable. If a child was found gulity of a more serious offence or had been before the courts previously he/she was usually sent to a Reformatory School. Sometimes these institutions were used as both Industrial and Reformatory School, for example Feltham. Both institutions gave basic education to the inmates and taught them a trade such as shoemaking, tailoring, wood chopping, carpentry and farming, for the boys and, cookery, laundry and house chores for the girls.
A British government report in 1884 stated that some 2,108 boys and 133 girls had already emigrated to the colonies from institutions in England, Scotland and Ireland. These children came alone or with organizations such as Annie Macpherson's or Maria Rye's. But, in 1891 British legislation made it more difficult to emigrate the children and by the early 1900s it had all but ceased.
The information which follows was gleened from various sources. This list may not contain the names of all of the institutions and, children may have been sent to places other than those mentioned. This should only be used as a guide. Names of institutions are spelled as they appear in the records with official name, if known, in brackets. If the date of their certification is known it will appear in brackets following the name.
| Reformatories and Industrial Schools Listed in Various Canadian Records | |||||
| Institution | Location Britain | Sent | Location Canada | Approx. # | |
| Allesby [Allesley] Farm Reformatory (1856) (Warwickshire Girls' Reformatory) |
Kenilworth (farm near Coventry) | girls | 4 | ||
| Alloe Reformatory | Essex | boys | 2 | ||
| Acton Reformatory | Essex | boys | 2 | ||
| Ballinasloe Reformatory and Industrial School | Ireland? | girls | |||
| Barnes Home (Barnes Home Industrial School) |
Stockport, Lancashire | boys | Qu'Appelle, Sask | 11 | |
| Bedfordshire Reformatory School (1857) | Carlton | RC boys | Melbourne, P.Q. | 6 | |
| Bleasdale Reformatory (1857) (sometimes listed as Lanchashire Reformatory or Beesdale) |
Bleasedale | boys | |||
| Birkdale Farm Reformatory (1871) | near Southport (Liverpool) | RC boys | Toronto, | 193 | |
| Boys' Agricultural School | London | boys | 6 | ||
| Boys Farm School | Birmingham | boys | 2 | ||
| Boys Home | Kent | boys | 2 | ||
| Boys' Home | Queen St., London | boys | 11 | ||
| Boys' Refuge? | London | boys | 15 | ||
| Brighton Industrial School (Brighton and Preston School Board Industrial School) |
Chailey, Brighton | boys | 24 | ||
| Brighton and London Ragged Schools | |||||
| Bristol, Industrial School of (1859) | Bristol | boys | Annapolis | 10 | |
| Brixton Metropolitan Industrial Reformatory | London | boys | |||
| Buxton Reformatory (1852)
(later made an Industrial School 1894) |
Buxton, near Norwich | boys | Melbourne, Richmond, P.Q. |
6 | |
| Byfleet [Byefleet] Industrial School (1871) (Surrey County Industrial School) |
near Weybridge, Surrey | boys | 5 | ||
| Carlton Industrial School (1874) (School Board Industrial School for Girls, Carlton House) |
Bristol | girls | New Brunswick | ||
| Child Home | London & Lancashire | boys | 26 | ||
| Church of England Industrial School | Staffordshire | boys | |||
| Cumberland Industrial School (1881) | Cockermouth, Cumberland | boys | Huntingdon, P.Q. | 2 | |
| East Chapelton Reformatory (1854) | East Chapelton, Glasgow | girls | |||
| Everton Terrace Industrial School (could be either Industrial School for Boys at 33 Everton Terrace (1864) or St. George's Industrial School also in Everton Terrace (1854)) |
Liverpool | boys | 28 | ||
| Fechney Industrial School (1864) | Wells Hill, Perth, Scotland | boys | |||
| Feltham Industrial School (Reformatory) (1854) | Middlesex | boys | Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario | 130 | |
| Girls' Industrial School (Maryhill?) (1855) | Maryhill, Glasgow | girls | Kingston and Toronto area | ||
| Girls' Reformatory | Glasgow | girls | 10 | ||
| Glencree | Ireland | RC boys | 2 | ||
| Hampshire Reformatory (Hants) (1855) | Southhampton | boys | 40 | ||
| Hampstead Reformatory (1860) | 9 Chruch Row, Hampstead | girls | 3 | ||
| Hazlewood | Birmingham | ||||
| Hert's (Hertfordshire) Reformatory (1857) | Chapmore End | boys | 3 | ||
| Homeless Boys' Institution | London | boys | 1 | ||
| Ipswich Industrial School (1857) (Reformatory School for Girls) |
Black Horse Lane, Ipswich | girls | 3 | ||
| Kibble Institute (Kibble Reformatory) (1859) | Paisley, Scotland | ||||
| Killkenny Industrial School | Ireland | boys | |||
| Kingswood Reformatory (1852) | Bristol | boys | 28 | ||
| Kirkdale Industrial School (1868) | Liverpool | girls | many came with Miss Rye | ||
| Leeds Reformatory (1857) | Adel, Leeds | boys | 5 | ||
| Liverpool Industrial (Farm) School | Liverpool | boys | 4 | ||
| London, Industrial School of (Feltham?) | London | boys | Winnipeg | 38 | |
| London Ragged Schools | London | boys | 21 | ||
| Maryhill Industrial School | Glasgow, Scotland | girls | St. John, N.B. and Ontario | 34 | |
| Meath Industrial School | Dublin, Ireland | boys | 3 | ||
| Model Farm (Redhill) | Surrey | boys | 18 | ||
| North Lanchashire Reformatory seel Bleasdale |
Bleasdale | boys | |||
| North Lincolnshire Reformatory | boys | ||||
| Northumberland Village Homes (1879) | Whitley Bay | girls | London, Hamilton, ON | ||
| Orford (Oxford?) Reformatory | boys | 3 | |||
| Park Row Industrial School (1859) | Bristol | boys | New Glasgow, P.Q. | 20 | |
| Parkhurst Reformatory | Isle of Wight | boys | |||
| Queen's Reformatory | Bloomsbury, London | boys | 18 | ||
| Ready Oak School | London | boys | 2 | ||
| Red Lodge Reformatory (1854) | Bristol | girls | |||
| Redhill Reformatory | Surrey | boys | Richmond, Waterville, P.Q. | 100+ | |
| Reformatory Institution | Dublin | girls | |||
| Reformatory School (Feltham?) | London | 41 | |||
| St. Conleth's Reformatory (R.C.) | Phillipstown, Ireland | boys | Blacklake, P.Q. | 2 | |
| St. John's Industrial School (Reformatory) (R.C.) | Walthamstow, England | boys | |||
| St. Joseph's Home | Sheffield | girls | 2 | ||
| St. Kevin's Reformatory | Wicklow | boys | Montreal | 3 | |
| St. Mary | Islington, England | ||||
| Saltley Reformatory Farm (1852) (Norton Boys' Home) |
Saltley (near Birmingham) | boys | Melbourne, P.Q. | ||
| Sandbach Reformatory | Cheshire | boys | |||
| Shibden Industrial School (1877) | near Halifax | RC boys | 24 | ||
| Smithfield Ragged School | London | boys | 12 | ||
| Stapleton Reformatory | boys | 3 | |||
| Suffolk Reformatory (1856) (Kerrison Ref.?) |
Eye, Suffolk | boys | 5 | ||
| Tiffield Reformatory (1856) (Northampton Society's Reformatory School) |
Towcester, Northamptonshire | boys | |||
| Upton Reformatory | Ireland | RC | |||
| Wakefield Industrial Home | West Riding | ||||
| Wandsworth Industrial School | London | boys | 14 | ||
| Warwick Asylum (1856) (Warwichshire Girls' Reformatory) see also Allesley |
Coventry | girls | |||
| Warwickshire Industrial School (1856) (Warwickshire Reformatory) |
Weston under Weatherby near Leamington | boys | 3 | ||
| Wellington Reformatory Farm School (1859) | Penicuik, Scotland | boys | Nova Scotia | 2-3/year | |
| West Leamington Reformatory (1856) (Warwickshire Reformatory?) |
Weston under Weatherby near Leamington | boys | Melbourne, P.Q. | 2 | |
This is a list of the arrivals at the port of Quebec extracted from government records.
Sources, including records at the National Archives, and books, such as the Federal Government of Canada's Sessional Papers and the British Government's Reformatories and Industrial Schools Commission Reports, were used to arrive at the above list of institutions. The estimate of the number of children brought to Canada was calculated from data in the Sessional Papers and the records found in the NAC as well as from the British Government's Report of the Secretary of State for the Home Department of the Departmental Committee on Reformatory and Industrial Schools, 1896.
Recently, information on some of these children was found in the records for the House of Industry in Toronto, found in the City of Toronto Archives. If anyone has information about records for this type of institution in cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, or Hamilton, please let me know.
Other records for these children can be found in the National Archives in London.
UWInfo | Young Immigrants | 19th Century Immigration | Genealogy | Local History
© Marjorie P. Kohli, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1996-2010
Last updated: October 26, 2010 and maintained by Marj Kohli