Asylums Workhouses Hospitals Institutes etc

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Not a school as such but it was an educational establishment.

Royal Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution

A group of leading shipowners, concerned about the lack of provision for orphaned children of seamen, invited members of the Liverpool public to attend a meeting at the Mercantile Marine Services Association Rooms on 16 December 1868.

In August 1869 the Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution opened in temporary accommodation in Duke Street. By the end of 1869 sixty children were already in residence.

In 1870 Liverpool Town Council approved a resolution to give land at Newsham Park to the committee to construct a permanent building for the Institution and in January 1874 the children were transferred from the Duke Street premises to Newsham Park with an additional forty-six newcomers. The Institution also looked after children on an outdoor relief basis. In the Annual Report of 1899 it is recorded that 321 children attended the orphanage and 508 received outdoor relief.

The Institution was formally opened on the 30 September 1874 by the Duke of Edinburgh - the "Sailor Prince" - fourth son of Queen Victoria, and in May 1886 Queen Victoria herself visited the Orphanage, adding her name to the list of patrons. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Orphanage was evacuated to Hill Bank, Wirral. After the War preparations were made for the return to Newsham Park, but the Committee members were becoming concerned over the possible effects of the great expansion of the country's social services. These services lead to gradual decline of children living at the Orphanage. In addition new legislation prevented children under 11 years old from being educated at the same school as older children and made it illegal for young children to live at a school of an institutional nature. Although the Orphanage was therefore closed on the 27 July 1949 it continued to provide for the relief and education of orphaned children and in 1969 celebrated its centenary.

From.

Records

Minute books and indexes, 1869 - 1969.
Annual Reports, 1869 - 1997.
Registers of Children, 1768 - 1948.*
Bound volumes: account books, letter books, visitor's book (Royal Visit), school register,
1869 - 1974.
Letters and papers, re Orphanage Committee and staff, 1873 - 1916.
Personal Case Paper, c.1870 - 1949.*

D/SO 1869 - 1988 102 Boxes

Written permission is required from the Royal Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution to view any material, re the Registers of Children and Personal Case Papers. Write to:

Secretary
Royal Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution
3a Ground Floor
Tower Building
22 Water Street
Liverpool
L3 1AB

The Maritime Archives & Library holds further material related to the Royal Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution in miscellaneous collections. Please see Guide to the Records of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Vol. 2, pp. 87-88, for relevant reference.