Proponents > Reformatories and Probation Homes
Redhill Farm School
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Bristow |
Floate |
Pringle |
Terry |
Photographs courtesy of the Surrey History Centre, ref. 2277/10/26 folios (L to R) 427, 356, 344 & 425 (circa 1911).
Four boys from the Redhill Farm School, Surrey, arrived on the SS Orsova to participate in the farm apprenticeship scheme:
- Herbert Charles BRISTOW;
- Arthur FLOATE;
- Laurie Alexander PRINGLE; and
- Alfred James TERRY.
The reformatory was run by the Royal Philanthropic Society and there were approximately 300 enrolments at this time.
Redhill was in correspondence with Thomas Sedgwick and this is probably how these boys came to participate in the South Australian scheme. There is evidence that Redhill also took an interest in the Kibble Farm School; both were pioneers of the farm school approach to reformatories. There may also have been a link to the Padcroft Boys' Home, whose pupils travelled on the SS Irishman.
Redhill already had a long history of helping its pupils emigrate to the Dominions. It is estimated that approximately 2,000 Redhill graduates had emigrated by 1919. Charlotte Neff follows the story of a group who emigrated to Ontario in the 19th century in the article ‘Youth in Canada West: A case study of Red Hill Farm School emigrants, 1854–68’, Journal of Family History, vol. 25, no. 4, 2000, 432–91.
From Rescued, Reformed, Restored: Impressions of a Visitor to the Farm School, Redhill, 1910 (courtesy of the Surrey History Centre, ref. no. 2271/40/21).
For further information, please see:
- a variety of sources at the Surrey History Centre (especially archive series 2271); and
- Rainer - successor to the Royal Philanthropic Society.