3-017-138 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Annual Inspection of the Middlesex Industrial School at Feltham, 1865. 'The annual inspection of the school established at Feltham, near Hounslow,..."to make provision for the care, reformation, and education of juvenile offenders," took place on Wednesday week. Any boy of age between seven and fourteen who is convicted of any criminal offence may be committed to this school for a period of not less than one year and not more than three. The school is built and supported entirely at the cost of the county rate...The number of inmates averages about 560 boys, under the charge of thirty-three resident and thirteen non-resident officers...The cost of maintenance and management is at the rate of £20 per head. The inspection...showed that the school is in a very satisfactory state. The ordinary forenoon routine of teaching was strictly observed, while the different workshops were also kept busy till the dinner hour: after which the boys were paraded and marched to chapel, headed by the band, and saluting the company as they went past a flagstaff erected in the ground. After Divine worship they were assembled for singing, their vocal performances being directed by the master, who stood on a chair in front of the line'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.