The earliest training ships were run by the Marine Society, founded in 1756 by Jonas Hanway, a promoter of the 1766 Act to remove young children from London workhouses. The Marine Society started life recruiting boys and young men for the Royal Navy at the beginning of the Seven Years War against France but, in an effort to reduce desertions, began training its boys before they were sent to sea.
The Wellesley Training Ship Institution was founded in 1868 by a group of philanthropic Tyneside businessmen led by James Hall, with the aim of providing shelter for local waifs and to train young men for service in both the Royal and Merchant Navies.
The first accommodation was on board a Bombay built 74-gun frigate, HMS Cornwall, which was replaced circa 1874 by the hulked third-rate wooden battleship HMS Boscawen, moored on the Tyne at North Shields and later renamed TS Wellesley.
By the early 1900s, the TS Wellesley was accepting boys from all over the UK. The vessel provided accommodation for 300 boys and also had an auxiliary shore establishment, known as Green’s House, in Mile End Road, South Shields, housing up to 60. It was here that boys as young as seven years of age were received before being transferred to the ship aged 12, many of whom later moved on to Mercantile Marine.
The Institution was certified as an Industrial School, and also by the Local Government Board, and boys of all denominations were received. In 1911, the Captain Superintendent was Commander Percy de W. Kitcat, R.N., and the Secretary was Mr George Luckley, a solicitor from Newcastle-on-Tyne.
On March 11th 1914, a fire destroyed TS Wellesley. All the boys were brought ashore safely and took up residence at Tynemouth Palace (Plaza) until 1920.
Thereafter, an appeal raised £22,000 to allow the school to take over the World War I submarine base at Blyth, where it remained for many years apart from a short period during World War II when it was evacuated to Hamsterley Forest, Co. Durham.
Wellesley became an Approved School in 1933 and continued to train boys, some there voluntarily and others as abandoned children, in sea-going trades in a variety of vessels, many of which sailed out of Blyth.
Although the nautical element continued into the 1970s, the last 30 years of its operation saw a move away from sea-going training towards more general education as the ‘Wellesley Community Home’.
In 1973, Blyth Valley Council refused permission for the school to make site improvements, and as a result Sunderland Council won an appeal to take over the school to become part of their Social Services Department. However, it was eventually decided to close the home, and Wellesley’s long history officially ended on 6th November 2006.
An exhibition on Wellesley’s history is being run by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums at Segedunum Roman Fort Museum in Wallsend until 13th July. More information about the Wellesley is also available in a new book by Brian Godfrey entitled ‘Wellesley Remembered’. Published by Summerhill Books it is available from most local booksellers at £4.99.
by Charlie Steel © 2014
His published books include ‘Monkseaton Village’ Vols 1 & 2, and ‘North Shields Public Houses, Inns & Taverns’ Parts 1 & 2, all of which are available from most local booksellers.