The purpose of the Ely Industrial School according to The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian in 1864 was ‘to instil into the minds of the young habits of industry’ which was accomplished by combining labour and education ‘to occupy with regular hours of relaxation the entire period from morning to evening’. It can be inferred that there was an economic drive behind the establishment of the industrial school as it set out to provide children with both an education and industrial training that – in theory – would equip them with the skills needed to allow them to find employment when they left the school.
It was noted in an article in 1869 that there was ‘good reason to hope that a healthier moral tone and a more self-reliant spirit will be given to the rising generation’ of paupers through the Ely Industrial School which would prevent the children from becoming criminals or dependent on the workhouse as adults.
By teaching the children industrial skills it can be suggested that the school was providing a paternal role as it attempted to prevent the children from continuing to be paupers and recognising that it was not the fault of the children for the situation they were facing. By providing the children with skills that would allow them to gain employment later in life, the schools were acting in a preventative capacity as D. H. Thomas has argued was the case for industrial schools on the whole in England and Wales.
However, it can also be inferred that the school acted in a protectionist capacity as later legislation allowed industrial schools to have more control over the lives of the children and were used as a way of protecting the children from the “damaging” influence of their parents and other paupers who were seen as having a negative moral impact as was noted in a newspaper report about the school in 1869.
Similarly, although to a smaller extent, the education and industrial skills that were taught in the school can also be seen as a form of social control as the children were removed from “destitution” in an attempt to educate them to fit their role in society. Providing industrial training to pauper children who would otherwise have been resident in the workhouse can be viewed as the authorities protecting the children, but also the local population and economy as Stephen Humphries has suggested.
One of the main elements of the historiography of industrial schools in England and Wales is the different reasons for the establishment of these institutions. The main arguments are whether the purpose of the schools was to be used as vehicles of social control, as places to protect the children, or because of financial motivations.
In the case of the Ely Industrial School, there were elements of each reason to establish the school, but the main purpose being to instill virtuous habits of industry to prevent the children from becoming dependent on the poor law and workhouse when they became adults. However, during the latter years that the school was operational, it can be deduced that the purpose of the school changed slightly as there was less of a focus on industrial training and more of an emphasis on academia as was noted in a newspaper report in 1897. This change in focus correlates with the changes in attitudes towards institutions like industrial schools as they came to be seen as unsuitable environments for children as the belief that children benefitted more from being in a family setting as opposed to in an institution. There was a significant amount of poverty in Cardiff during the second half of the nineteenth century along with the burden of Irish refugees as a result of the Great Famine on the poor rates.
Sources:
- ‘The Ely Industrial School’, Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, 15 April 1864, p.8.
- ‘Local Notes’, Western Mail, 27 October 1869, issue number 154.
- D. H. Thomas, ‘Industrial Schools – Forgotten Precursors in Vocational Education?’, The Vocational Aspects of Education, (2007).
- Stephen Humphries, Hooligans or Rebels? An Oral History of Working-Class Childhood and Youth 1889-1939, (Oxford, 1981).
- ‘Ely Industrial Schools A Favourable Report’, Evening Express, 6 December 1897.
- Paul O’Leary, ‘The Cult of Respectability and the Irish in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Wales’, in Irish Migrants in Modern Wales, ed Paul O’Leary, (Liverpool, 2004).
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