Liverpool Farm School (Red Bank)

[David Martin]

First message, please forgive me if the presentation is wrong!
I'm interested in the whereabouts of subject 'log books'?
Lancashire Record Office carries records post 1904.

[CaroleW]

Hi David and welcome

To be honest - I don't really understand what you are asking. Could you tell us what information you are trying to find and we will see if we can help you

[David Martin]

Hello Carole,
Thanks for your welcome! I will try and add some meat to the bones of my help request as follows:-
Yesterday's Naughty Children, written by Joan Rimmer, was published in 1986, ISBN 0 907511 96 1 refers.
Joan was at that time a Manager and Trustee of Red Bank School, a 'Community Home with Education' in Newton-le-Willows.
Yesterday's Naughty Children covers the history of the Liverpool Reformatory Association, founded in 1855.
The Association began with the Akbar, a sturdy old former Admiralty wooden-wall vessell. She was anchored a third of a mile off Rock Ferry shore. At any given time she had between 140 and 200 boys, aged between 12 and 15 years, on board.
The boys came from many quarters; boys sentenced in magistrate courts, police seeking secure accommodation for runaway boys housed temporarily in workhouses, boys needing harsher discipline and control, boys belonging to parents who could no longer cope with their out of control children.
The boys attended class for a minimum of three hours per day to learn reading, spelling and writing. In addition they all received instruction in Practical Seamanship. Many of the Akbar boys were to follow a career in the Merchant Service.
The girls' reformatory was at number 6 Mount Vernon Green and its associate establishment, Toxteth Park Girls Reformatory. Suffice to say, between 1857 and 1921 several thousand girls passed through the portals of these establishments.
The final main reformatory was the Liverpool Farm School, re-named the Red Bank School in 1950. The boys attending this school, although from a similar background to the boys on the Akbar, were often considered too small or sickly for the rigours of life on an often turbulent River Mersey.

In compiling her book, Joan Rimmer, states, and I quote, ' has drawn extensively on the minute books, annual reports, punishment books and letters of the Association dating back to the year of its foundation'. It is the location of these documents I am trying to establish. I fear they may, just may be in private hands.
Thanks again for your interest in this subject.
Dave Martin.

[MaryA]

This post needs to be cross-referenced to the similar one posted on the Liverpool Board.
http://liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/phpBB ... php?t=9163

[jillrow]

It took a lot of detective work but I found that the records for the Liverpool Reformatory Association used in the 'yesterdays naughty Children' book are held at the Records Office in Preston. I was able to get a copy of information relating to a relative who had been an inmate of Toxteth Park Reformatory School for Girls from there.
Hope this helps.

[MaryA]

Hi and welcome to the forum, helping out with somebody's search is a great first post, thanks a lot.

[jillrow]

I should have written Liverpool Juvenile Reformatory Association, Sorry!

[gemma]

I wanted to say thanks to Jillrow for this heads-up. I found this thread via Google when I was trying to find out where the records for Toxteth Park Reformatory School for Girls were held.

I emailed the Lancashire Records Office from Scotland and they looked up my great-grandmother's record in the Toxteth Park admissions record book. The admissions book spans 1892 – 1921 and is closed to the general public until January 2014, however they were willing to look up my entry for me since it was over 100 years old.

[MaryA]

Welcome to the forum Gemma, another great result thanks to other forum members -and google! and well done to the Record Office for being helpful and not a jobsworth, as I suspect they could have done.

[Tina]

Hi Gemma, welcome aboard and thanks for sharing your good news.
Tina