Figure 1.-- One photograph shows a group of barefoot, perhaps working boys if they can find jobs. As they are barefoot presumably they have not. The group apparently is the before picture of a group to be resuced by the Marine Society.

We note a group called the Marine Society. We do not know much about it at this time. We do not know when the institutiin was founded nor who funded and administered it. It worked with at risk boys before they got into serious trouble. The were presumably boys without home or at least stable homes. One photograph shows a group of barefoot, perhaps working boys if they can find jobs. As they are barefoot presumably they hasvevnot. The group apparently is the before picture of a group to be resuced ny the Marine Society. The Marine Society was a charitable group who rescued boys from the street. They apparently were boys that were not yet committed to reforatories, aslthough I do not know if participation was entirely volunary. The boy in the centre can be seen in an after photo showing a group of Marine Society boys. We have few details on the group and who sponsored them. Nor do we know if they were a residential progream or more like a youth group. Its principal object was to qualify poor, abandoned, and distressed boys for the Navy or Merchant Marine. As a policing function it appears to have been extremely useful. Many questionable youths having been sent there, on being detected in erroneous ways, and thus rescued from criminal pursuits. There were receiving ships along the Thames, manned with naval or former naval officers to instruct the boys in moral duties as well as maritime skills. Thousands of boys were prepared and clothed for the sea-service, during World War I in particular. The Marine Society according to one source clothed and sent to sea 71,806 boys by 1918. They had Royal Navy styled uniforms. Many if not modst of the boys went on to serve in the Royal Navy.

Figure 2.-- Here we see a group of Marine Socierty boys in their naval uniforms. The tallest boy, at the back, just left of centre appears in figure 1 presumably before he was rescued by the society. Click on the image for an enlargement.

Created: 6:07 AM 2/21/2006
Last update: 6:07 AM 2/21/2006