Newcastle Ragged and Industrial School was founded in 1847 by local philanthropists. Its objective was to rescue destitute boys and (from 1849) girls from ‘a life of ignorance and degradation’ by giving them food, shelter and education. The admissions register listed each new arrival and included a note on their circumstances. Most of the children at the school had suffered family breakdown, violence or the death of a parent.
Elizabeth Cawpill: ‘Mother dead. Father a tinker has no fixed abode’
Thomas Harper: ‘Father Thomas Harper, ship carpen., Howdon, blames the boy’s step mother for having, by her cruelty, driven the boy from home’
Relationship and family breakdown is still the most common reason that people give for being homeless.
We found this book at Tyne and Wear Archives (reference number E.AP/8/1)