HISTORY:
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
BOYS HOME & TRAINING SCHOOL
BELL ISLAND, 1945-1952
BELL ISLAND, 1945-1952
The Boys Home and Training School (Newfoundland) was established under the Welfare of Children Act in 1944. It opened in January 1945 at Whitbourne on the side of the lake opposite the estate of the late Sir Robert Bond. It was felt that the surrounding country-side provided excellent opportunities for outdoor activities for the boys. Unfortunately, the building and its contents were completely destroyed by fire just 10 months after opening. While waiting for the means to rebuild in Whitbourne, the operation was temporarily moved to Bell Island, to the buildings formerly occupied by the Newfoundland Regiment during World War II. It remained in operation there until 1953, when a new building was opened in Whitbourne. In the c.1950 photo below of an Orangemen's Parade, looking east down Memorial Street from just in front of the Roman Catholic Church buildings that are out of the picture to the left, in the left background of the photo there is a group of low buildings. These were the buildings occupied by the Newfoundland Regiment during WWII and were now occupied by the Boys Home and Training School. Photo courtesy of A&SC, MUN Library, COLL-202: Lindsay.
The purpose of this web page is to give some of the history of this institution while it was located at Bell Island. Most of the information was obtained from annual reports of the Department of Public Health and Welfare Division of Child Welfare, 1946-54.
In reading the following excerpts from the annual reports regarding the activities of the Boys’ Home and Training School in the 1940s and 50s, it must be remembered that life then was very different from today. Conditions were not far advanced from those of Dickensian England. The birth control pill was two decades away and many families were quite large, with 10, 12, 14 and more children being common. Education levels were low, as were wages for the labouring class. Children as young as 8 or 9 years old were taken out of school to perform whatever work they could get to help support the family. Home was a crowded place with so many children crammed into small quarters, so they often moved out as soon as they were able. Social programs to help alleviate these problems were practically non-existent. To quote the first annual report of the Newfoundland. Department of Public Health and Welfare Division of Child Welfare on the progress of the new Boys’ Home and Training School, “thus far it has been impossible to have a correct system of grading due to the utter illiteracy of most of the boys when admitted and the fact that some are mentally retarded.”
In reading the following excerpts from the annual reports regarding the activities of the Boys’ Home and Training School in the 1940s and 50s, it must be remembered that life then was very different from today. Conditions were not far advanced from those of Dickensian England. The birth control pill was two decades away and many families were quite large, with 10, 12, 14 and more children being common. Education levels were low, as were wages for the labouring class. Children as young as 8 or 9 years old were taken out of school to perform whatever work they could get to help support the family. Home was a crowded place with so many children crammed into small quarters, so they often moved out as soon as they were able. Social programs to help alleviate these problems were practically non-existent. To quote the first annual report of the Newfoundland. Department of Public Health and Welfare Division of Child Welfare on the progress of the new Boys’ Home and Training School, “thus far it has been impossible to have a correct system of grading due to the utter illiteracy of most of the boys when admitted and the fact that some are mentally retarded.”
Work in progress. More to come...