CLARENCE REFORMATORY SHIP

The first annual meeting of the Liverpool Catholic Reformatory Association was held in 1864 when Father James Nugent became its first president. Father Nugent was born in 1822 and ordained into the Catholic Ministry in 1846. He worked at St Nicholas’ church behind Liverpool’s original Adelphi Hotel. He also opened a Ragged School in Liverpool's Spitalfields and was chaplain at Walton Prison for twenty-two years. The Liverpool Catholic Reformatory Association persuaded the Navy to loan them a warship to use as a reformatory ship. The Navy refused to loan a replacement ship for the first Clarence until the Association had raised enough money to take out insurance against the risk of fire. The Clarence could house around 250 boys at a time. They were trained in seamanship and other trades such as carpentry, shoemaking and tailoring, as well as being taught mathematics and to read and write. After spending three years on board most boys found jobs in the Merchant Navy.

The training ship Clarence was set on fire by its inmates on at least three occasions. The first fire in November 1880 was quickly brought under control but in January 1884 she was completely burnt out despite every effort to put the flames out. No one was killed in the blaze but the school had to be evacuated to on-shore premises for over a year whilst a replacement ship was found. The six boys who started the fire were sentenced to five years in prison.

Discipline on board the new Clarence was very strict. This led to a serious rebellion in February 1886 when ten boys were caught trying to escape. After being locked up for the night these boys were joined by another three boys. The gang refused to obey orders and attacked officers and other boys. The head school master was stabbed by the group’s ringleader and only narrowly escaped with his life. The mutiny finally ended when Captain Statham threatened the mutineers with a pistol (which turned out to have been unloaded). The thirteen mutineers were arrested and tried. Their leader was sentenced to five years in prison and the rest to twelve months hard labour.

The Clarence was completely destroyed by fire for the second time on 26 July 1899. This arson attack had been planned for some weeks and caused the ship to break up and sink into the river. All of those on board escaped with their lives and were sheltered in St Anne’s School, Rock Ferry on the Wirral and then St Vincent’s Working Boys’ Home on Shaw Street, Liverpool. The Liverpool Catholic Reformatory Association decided not to replace the Clarence but opened a seafaring school called St Aidan’s in Widnes instead. However, this school soon stopped providing any seafaring training.