| Name |
Percy Brockbank |
| Alt. Birth |
15 Jun 1889 |
| Birth |
16 Jul 1890 |
4, Barrows Court, Bolton, Lancashire, England  |
- Percy's birth was registered as Tatlock but it seems he was always known by his mother's maiden surname Brockbank
|
| Gender |
Male |
| Court |
1904 |
Bolton, Lancashire, England |
- From the Evening News, June 2, 1904:
A Schoolboy named Percy Brockbank, aged 13, of Old Hall Street, was charged before the Borough Justices this morning with stealing a purse containing 4d, a piece of paper and a medal.
Mr JH Hall prosecuted and said prisoner, who lived with his grandmother, had been attending a school for defective children, but it appeared he was not defective in the art of picking pockets. Insp Smith said he watched prisoner on the wholesale market try to get into about four women's pockets before finally picking prosecutrix's pocket. Prisoner was committed to a Reformatory until 17 years of age.
|
| Illness |
Between 1905 and 1906 |
| blind |
- On the 1911 census Percy Brockbank was listed as blind from the age of 15 - this would have occurred in 1905-1906 whilst he was in the reformatory.
|
| Medical |
1911 |
| blind |
| Occupation |
Between 1911 and 1970 |
| Skip Maker |
- A Skip Maker made skips or large baskets, used in mining and quarrying, for transporting product or personnel.
|
| Census |
2 Apr 1911 |
25, Rose Street, Bolton, Lancashire, England |
| Residence |
Aug 1916 |
| 49 Lever Street, Bolton |
| Death |
30 Dec 1970 |
Hulton Hospital, Hulton Lane, Bolton, Lancashire, England |
| Cause: Bronchopneumonia/Cerebral arteriosclerosis |
| Administration |
27 Jan 1971 |
Manchester, Lancashire, England |
- Percy Brockbank of Hulton Hospital Bolton died 30 December 1970. Administration Manchester 27 January 1971 £263.
|
| Name |
Percy Tatlock |
| Notes |
- Reformatory Schools in Lancashire that Percy Brockbank may have been sent to:
Manchester and Salford Reformatory for Boys, Blackley, Manchester. (Closed 1905.) Certified October 16, 1857. (12 miles from Bolton)
Poulton-le-Fylde Farm School for Boys, Poulton-le-Fylde, near Blackpool. (Replaced Blackley, above) Certified May 31st, 1905. (35 miles from Bolton)
Liverpool Reformatory Farm School for Boys, Newton-le-Willows. Certified April 6, 1859. (15 miles from Bolton) 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.
North Lancashire Reformatory for Boys, Bleasdale, Garstang. Certified September 2, 1857. (30 miles from Bolton)
Akbar Reformatory School Ship for Boys, Rock Ferry. Certified Jan. 3, 1856. (33 miles from Bolton). Moved to land in 1907 to Heswall.
The Akbar Scandal
In October 1910, the weekly magazine John Bull published an account of "Reformatory School Horrors - How Boys at the Akbar School are Tortured - Several Deaths". The story was based on information given to the paper by Mr and Mrs Adams, the former deputy superintendent and matron at the Akbar Nautical Training School at Heswall. Amongst their accusations were that boys were gagged before being birched, that boys who were ill were caned as malingerers, that punishments included boys being drenched with cold water or being made to stand up all night for a trivial misdemeanour. It was further alleged that boys had died as a result of such punishments. A subsequent Home Office investigation by Under-Secretary C.F.G. Masterman rejected all the charges although found that there had been instances of "irregular punishments". John Bull stood its ground, calling Masterman's report a "white-washing" and claiming that staff at the school who had spoken out against its principle, Captain Beuttler, had been threatened by a Home Office Inspector. As a result of the continuing disquiet over the affair, Home Secretary Winston Churchill appointed a Departmental Committee to conduct a broad review of Reformatories and Industrial Schools.
[source: <http://www.workhouses.org.uk/IS/> ]
In 1856 The Akbar became a floating borstal for Protestant boys aged 11-15 (the Clarence became a Catholic borstal a few years later). The Recorder of Liverpool reported in 1866, "The two Reformatory ships have succeeded to a very large extent in clearing the town of juvenile crime".
Conditions on these ships were extreme. In winter the boys suffered from chilblains, tuberculosis, pneumonia and asthma.
Horrendous accidents have been described in the old Minute Books of the Akbar: One boy "while employed in blacking a portion of the rigging was accidentally jerked off and thrown down from a height of 16 feet on to the deck, dying three hours later..." Another "fell from the main top deck and received concussion and partial jaw fracture, was recovering ..." Yet another "while manning the working boat, slipped and was crushed between the boat and the ship side. His body was washed up on shore ..."
Physical punishment included birching and caning. In August 1872, one lad was so worried about this that one night he clambered down to the bottom of the accommodation ladder to wash out his blanket before official inspection. He overbalanced and fell into the Mersey. His body was never found.
The Akbar moved to land and became Heswall Reformatory School on 2 December 1907. But the ill treatment continued. John Bull magazine exposed this in 1910 with the headline: "Reformatory School Horrors - How Boys at the "Akbar" School are Tortured - Several Deaths".
Winston Churchill assured Parliament that there was "no proof whatever" they were being mistreated. Nevertheless he set up an investigation into the incidents.
Boys had been gagged before birching, sick boys caned for malingering. No less than 27 had permanent scars from beatings. Others had been made to stand all night as a collective punishment. There had been four deaths in 1909: a boy called Brooks, who was going to be caned on the day he died, even though he was ill. Brown was drenched with water and died twenty minutes later. Mills just collapsed and died. Yeadon was, "a weakly boy - probably a boy of degenerate type, utterly unfit for sea-life or ordinary industrial training."
Despite all the criticisms the inquiry did not recommend any changes, although the Chief Officer resigned. John Bull reported reprisals against boys who had given evidence.
[source: <http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/nerve17/savage_ships.php> ]
|
| Person ID |
I25 |
FamilyTree1 |
| Last Modified |
30 Apr 2020 |
Centuries Past
1890 - 1970 (80 years)