ALL OUR YESTERDAYS HMS

EMPRESS and her boys

How a sea borne pipe band improved the lives of a city’s wayward youngsters

THE CLYDE INDUSTRIAL Training Ship Association was formed in 1868 by a small number of infl uential Glasgow people. T e purpose of the Association was to provide care for homeless young boys, petty off enders, truants and those thought to be at risk of involvement in crime.

In 1869 the Association was given an old Royal Navy ship – HMS Cumberland – which was fi tted out as a training ship and moored off Rhu, near Helensburgh. HMS Cumberland, built in 1842 at Chatham, Kent, was a 2,214 ton, 180 feet long, two-deck man of war with 70 guns, three masts and a crew of 620. In 1854 she operated in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War and she was involved in the attack on Bomarsund, Finland, in August that year.

When HMS Cumberland sailed into Rothesay Bay in 1869 she was reported as ‘a wonderful and magnifi cent sight’. In the fi rst year 174 boys were placed on board, mostly from the Glasgow area. Within fi ve years 300 boys were on board, all young off enders. T e boys were dressed in smart naval uniforms and they spent all their time on board apart from shore duties and leave. On board ship they undertook school lessons and physical training, all designed to develop them into responsible adults.

Unfortunately HMS Cumberland was completely destroyed by a fi re in 1889, a spectacle which attracted huge numbers of onshore spectators. Some of the boys were suspected of starting the fi re and fi ve were tried for the crime, but nothing could be proved. ••

On deck .... the boys pictured in 1914

20 APRIL 2014 Pipe Band Magazine