These colourised and enhanced photos paint a picture of how society treated children from poor backgrounds during the Victorian Era. For petty crimes such as stealing daily necessities such as food and clothing, they have faced hard labour and jail. And these haunting photographs show the stern and haggard faces of Victorian criminal children who were sentenced to tough punishments in the 1870s, with many looking remarkably older than their actual ages.
The children in the shots were all from poor backgrounds. The pictures show a range of children who were sentenced to punishments from ten days of hard labour, to five years in a reformatory prison. This shows the real people behind ‘official’ histories – people that are from the lowest levels of society, those really struggling to survive. The original black and white pictures were found when Newcastle jail in Carliol Square was demolished.
Henry Leonard Stephenson, aged 12. He went to prison for two months after breaking into a house.
Mary Catherine Docherty was 14 when she got seven days of hard labour for stealing an iron.
Michael Clement Fisher, who went to jail aged just 13 for breaking into a house.
Henry Miller was a convicted thief after he was caught stealing clothing, aged 14. He got 14 days of hard labour for his crime.
Aged just 12, Jane Farrell stole two boots and was sentenced to do 10 hard days labour at Newcastle City Gaol.
Mary Hinningan was 13 when she stole an iron and got seven days of hard labour.
Aged 13, James Scullion was sentenced to 14 days hard labour at Newcastle City Gaol for stealing clothes.
Aged 15, John Reed was handed 14 days hard labour and five years reformation for stealing money in 1873.
Rosana Watson, aged 13. She was also part of the girl gang that stole an iron and she also got hard labour.
Stephen Monaghan, 14. He was convicted of stealing money on 25 July 1873 and was sentenced to 10 days hard labour and three years in Market Weighton Reformatory.
beetleypete 
Most of them look curiously old-young. Aged before time by their experience, but hardship must have affected their growth and ability to mature. What a tough time to be a child, especially one in need!
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It certainly was a bad time to be poor, child or adult.
Thanks, Helen.
Best wishes, Pete.
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So sad!
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Life was tough in the Victorian era, Jennie.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes, it was. Best to you, Pete.
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So sad, very touching.
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They were hard times to live in, Irene.
Best wishes, Pete.
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So sad, but has much really changed for children or women come to that under some regimes x
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Sadly not, Carol.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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so sad and horrible
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A harsh life for the poor back then, Beth.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Three girls who stole irons? Why? For resale? Clearly, things were really different then.
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Yes, they would have been able to sell them for a few pennies, Audrey.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Wow this is fascinating and disturbing. Who knows what they might have endured during those days of hard labour. :S
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Rock-breaking, walking treadmills, and other hard manual tasks, Sara.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Wow that is absolutely cruel. 😦 There was literally no social justice back then – not even for kids. :S
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Sp. sad. The crimes were petty, but they were children. So sad, Warmest regards, Ed
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Poor children didn’t seem to matter to affluent Victorian society, Ed.
Best wishes, Pete.
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These days, some judges allow adult criminals to walk, even if they’re guilty of rape or murder. So-called “justice” has gone from one extreme to the other!
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It certainly has, David.
Best wishes, Pete.
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They all look younger than their actual ages to me, due to stunted growth. I hope that their lives improved at some point (they’d have been just past middle age in the 1920s).
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I have a feeling that they might have continued in a life of crime or prostitution, as they were unlikely to be able to read and write, and would have had criminal records.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I imagine a sentence of 5 years meant 5 years no time off etc
Many years ago I saw a plaque on a very old bridge next to some carved graffiti. The plaque stated the young boy was identified and sent to Australia.
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There was no parole or early release then, Bobby. Transportation to the colonies was also a common sentence.
Best wishes, Pete.
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The young ones today will think this all fiction.
Pete, Aussie got the adults & nothing changed with them over there!
As WB says the Tories here (which are likely to be the govt in a year in NZ) are to have boot camps for young offenders. The only comparison I can make with the above pics is today they do ram raiding.and get counselling.
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Society had no way to deal with poor children back then, Gavin. There was no comprehension as to why children with nothing would branch out into crime.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Hardened criminals, obviously. I dread to think what hard labour meant. Les Miserables comes to mind.
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Breaking rocks, or walking on a treadmill. Imagine that, aged 12.
Best wishes, Pete.
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And lashed with cat of nine tails some of them too.
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Oh good grief. How can human being be so cruel to their own kind?
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If you think that’s bad don’t read about what the Tudors did to people arrested and taken to dungeons under King Henry’s orders.. it was horrific!
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So young and so forgotten chuq
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To the authorities at the time, they were little better than garbage, chuq.
Best wishes, Pete.
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There are those today in the US that feel the same….chuq
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Just heartbreaking.
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Children as young as 6 were working in full-time jobs back then. Young criminals received no sympathy, and no understanding or compassion.
The dark side of the marvellous ‘British Empire’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Were children better off before the Industrial Revolution?
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Not really no! Just would’ve been poor in a muddy hovel.
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I suppose thy thought themselves lucky not to be sent to Australia. Not much social justice around then Pete.
Hugs
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None at all, David.
Good to see you, I hope you are well.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Their eyes say it all.
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They do, Dorothy. No hope.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Poor kids. Heartbreaking really. I wonder what kind of life they lived as adults.
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I suspect they had few options. Crime, or prostitution.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Wow…clearly society wanted nothing to do with them and offered no hope at all
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Thrown into jail, and came out to nothing. A life of crime was their only option, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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And here in the US, this type of person – with no options in life – would be blamed on the liberal Democrats for not being tougher on crime…a sad cycle that gets politicized rather than fixed here
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So sad. Born into a life of poverty and having to steal for necessities.
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No hope and no future, Susanne. The plight of the poor in Victorian England.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Good Christian values which the modern-day Tories want to enforce.
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They would indeed, if they could get away with it.
(They seem to be getting away with everything else, so far.)
Best wishes, Pete.
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Well they are still bandying the narrative “undeserving poor” about, only it’s re-branded as “benefit scroungers.”
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