Request for medical officer from Fox Lodge

Date1870-1890

Object number00006844

NameLetter

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall (Closed): 176 × 111 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA handwritten letter, unfinished, discussing the delay in the appointment as Medical Officer and the possibility of legal action. Written to, or by Dr William Edward Young, on Fox Lodge letterhead and dated 22 October of an unspecified year. Fox Lodge, Belfast, was an industrial school for protestant boys under the age of ten. In addition to providing care and lodging, the school was seen as a preparatory school for boys joining the Industrial Ship GIBRALTAR (later the GRAMPIAN) which trained the boys from ten to fourteen. HistoryFox Lodge, located near Belfast, operated as an Industrial School for Protestant boys below the age of ten who were too young to undertake training on the Industrial School ship GIBRALTAR, moored at Belfast Lough. It was owned and operated by the same board and also provided medical care for the boys of the GIBRALTAR. On January 10th, 1884, Fox Lodge was officially certified to accommodate 50 boys, later increased to 100. GIBRALTAR was later renamed GRAMPIAN but in 1899 the ship was closed due to the low number of boys pursing service at sea upon leaving, preferring instead to work in the Belfast shipyards. SignificanceIndustrial Schools were introduced by the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act of 1868. They served to keep young offenders out of adult prisons in Ireland by training “neglected, orphaned or abandoned children”, “for the rescue and
care of younger boys...who were in danger of becoming delinquent”.