The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

by Hallie Rubenhold

The intention of the Dowgate School and others like it was to create a better sort of working-class person: one who valued themselves and the principles of Christianity and who would go forth into the labouring force dignified, clean, thoughtful and obedient. When a student approached the age of fourteen and completed their schooling, Dowgate strove to place them in a respectable industry. Boys were offered placements with architects and engineers, or as clerks in banks and businesses, while girls were prepared for roles in domestic service. Successful pupils who persevered at their new trade and were commended by their masters or mistresses became eligible to receive prizes from the school, amounting to as much as 5 pounds, and Dowgate’s minute books are filled with such stories. Ultimately, one of Dowgate’s objectives seems to have been to separate the child as much as possible from the demeaning circumstances of his or her daily life, where they were viewed simply as another pair of hands, rather than as a scholar. The demands of a full day of schooling seven days a week would have meant that children would have rarely seen their families but for dinner and bed, and would have been at least partially removed from exposure to vices present in their home. Any parent who put their child forward for such an opportunity would have recognized that the Dowgate School offered a stepladder out of the cycle of poverty.

Simikar to balmoral indusrial school