Discipline[edit]

The differences between a 'certified reformatory' and a 'certified industrial school' lay in the
intake and the philosophy. Industrial schools took students that needed protection, while the
reformatory took students that had been already convicted of a serious offence. When students
were sent to a reformatory, they first served a two-week spell in a full prison. Liberals thought this
was pointless and conservatives still thought this would act as a 'deterrent' and was meaningful
'retribution'. Some reformatories trained for the a future in agriculture and hoped the graduates
would choose to emigrate, other trained the miscreants for a life at sea either in the military or
the merchant navy. To this end ten training hulks were purchased.
The Akbar, (purchased in 1862) was a reform training ship moored off Birkenhead on the River
Mersey.[7] It accommodated 200 boys aged 14–16 from all over the country who had been
sentenced to detention of at least 5 years. It was run by the Liverpool Juvenile Reform Society
Boys were occupied in continually scrubbing the decks and until 1862 in picking oakum (teasing
apart old rope so the fibres could be reused). They learned tailoring and shoemaking. Recreation
was limitid to reading suitable magazines, bagatelle and playing draughts.[10]
On 27 September 1887, ('Akbar Mutiny') while the captain was ashore the boys mutinied, they
armed themselves with sticks, broke into the stores and entered the captains cabin, and stole
valuables. Seventeen boys escaped on a stolen boat. There were recaptured after a few days
and sent for trial.[10] Two were sentenced to hard labour, but the rest were sent back to the ship
and punished with the birch, solitary confinement and a diet of biscuit and water.[7] The inspectors
blamed the incident on the staff not being firm enough with the boys.
In July 1899, another of the Merseyside training ships, the Clarence, was destroyed by a fire on
a day when the ship was to have received a visit from the Bishop of Shrewsbury. An official
inquiry reached no firm conclusions as to the cause, noting however that "There remains the
theory that the ship was deliberately fired".[11]
On shore the Mount St Bernard's RC Reformatory opened in 1856. In the same year there was a
mutiny, then in 1864 a riot. In 1870 a boy died. Again in 1875 there was a mutiny where 60 out of
200 boys escaped. Three years later in 1878 there was another mutiny, with a break out and an
officer was stabbed.[12][13]
The Akbar was retired in 1910 and the boys moved on shore to the 'Akbar Nautical Training
School' at Heswall. The magazine John Bull published a report on the Akbar Scandal, detailing
cruel treatment that had apparently led to a number of deaths.[14] It detailed that boys were
tortured and there were several deaths. Boys were gagged with blankets before being secured to
a birching horse, their trousers removed and then birched with hawthorn branches. The ill boys
were considered malingerers and caned. Minor offences were punished with drenching and
being forced to stand upright throughout the night; several boys died as a result.[12][15] The Home
Office internal report exonerated the Akbar staff, but this led to a Departmental Committee in
1913 inquiring into punishment practices used, and the welfare of the children with reformatory
and industrial schools.[7]

Consolidation