| Description: |
This case file relates to two sisters, although the correspondence is primarily about the elder girl, M. There is very little information about H. It is merely recorded that she was sent to St Michael's Home with her sister. These two girls were the subject of an order committing them to an Industrial School until they reached the age of 16. They came from a disadvantaged home: their mother was physically disabled and their father, a coal miner, did not have regular work and had been in prison. While he was in prison the mother and the children were inmates of the Workhouse. The parents were considered to be a very bad influence and it was thought important to remove the girls from their care. The girls were initially committed to the Beckett Home, Meanwood, Leeds but there were no vacancies for them and so they were sent to an equivalent Home, St Michael's at Shipton under Wychwood, on 12 December 1902. The children's education had been neglected and on arrival at St Michael's Home they were found to be wild, disobedient and untaught. In April 1905 M. was 16 and the authorities at St Michael's Home did not wish to keep her after that age as they preferred not to have older girls mixing with younger ones. As mentioned above, M was described as "wild and uncouth" when she came to the Home and although there had been much improvement she was not considered fit for a situation without at least another year's training in laundry work, "for which she [was] best fitted". It was hoped that she might go to another Waifs and Strays Home to continue her training. She was a strong, healthy girl and able to do a great deal of rough laundry work. On 1 May 1905 M. was transferred to St Barnabas' Home, Newark. In December 1905 the girls' mother wrote to the Society but there is no copy of her letter on the file, nor a record of the Society's reply. On 18 March 1908 M. was discharged from St Barnabas' Home to go into service in Newark. She was taken on as a general servant on a month's trial. On 17 October M. was dismissed from her situation and returned to her relatives in Worksop. |
