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St.
Joseph's Industrial Schools for Boys and Girls
St. Joseph's
Industrial School for Boys occupied a site on the
corner of Stockport Road and Richmond Grove, the
location today of Longsight Police Station. The
original school opened in 1871 but a new building was
constructed in 1913 to replace both the original
school buildings and chapel on the site, which covered
the five acres of land purchased by the school's
founder, the Rev. Father Quick. The site of the
school is shown in the aerial photograph below.
The school
accommodated mainly orphans who had a tendency to
"petty pilfering, wandering and sleeping out." As
well as school rooms, the 400 pupils had workshops
in which to learn a trade. Discipline was strict and
great emphasis was placed on self sufficiency. The
cobbler's shop made the boys' boots and the boys
knitted their own socks. The daily routine at St. Joseph's Industrial School began with rise at 5:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. in winter) for a wash and swim in Municipal Baths, followed by a walk, floor scrubbing, house cleaning and fire lighting. Breakfast was next at 7:30 a.m. (bread, butter and cocoa), then a recreation period followed by an inspection by the School Superintendent. After this came school or work until 12:30 p.m. (including a ten minute break), then at 12:30 p.m. came a wash and lunch (meat for six days, fish for the other). Drill came next until 2:00 p.m. with those working in the morning off to school, and vice versa, until 6:00 p.m. (with a ten minute break). At 6:00 p.m. it was wash and tea, followed by recreation until 7:00 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. it was band rehearsal for musicians, and school for all others. Finally at 9:00 p.m. there was a short play-time, followed by night prayers and bed. In the 1930's
industrial schools were abolished and Manchester
Education Committee took over the building. On the
outbreak of war, however, the building was
requisitioned by the Auxiliary Fire Service and by
1941 had become Number 17 Area Training College
for the National Fire Service. In 1948 the
Manchester City Police, later Greater Manchester
Police, acquired the building. It was to be
divisional headquarters, as well as housing the
force transport department. Below is a
photograph of the building after it had been
converted into a police station.  ********************** The St.
Joseph's Industrial School for Girls' was not
far away in Victoria Park.
 The school was operated by by the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. The building can be seen in the old postcard image below (shown here with the permission of Chris Makepeace and Sigma Books). Apparently it was a convent for the sisters as well as an industrial school.  After the Industrial School closed the sisters opened up the building as the St. Joseph's Girls School. *************************************
The
photograph of the St. Joseph's School is
shown here with the generous permission of Graham
Beech of Sigma Leisure. The photograph comes
from the Chris Makepeace book, "The Villages
of Manchester", which is available from Sigma Books.
This photograph may not be reproduced, stored in a
retieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise - without permission from
the publisher. The Villages of Manchester is just
one of a series of books with a shared theme of
Postcards from the Past.
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