The Apprentice Who Wanted to Go Back to the Industrial School
This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (#AtoZChallenge), where I’m
exploring historical newspaper clippings—one story at a time—through my series
“Behind the Newsprint.”
The Clipping
In February 1871, a short report appeared in The
Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian:
"A case involving a point
of considerable importance to master-tradesmen came before the St. Kilda bench
yesterday. Mr. John Williamson, tailor, applied that the apprenticeship
indenture of William Mesday [sic] might be cancelled, on the ground of permanent
sickness, which completely incapacitated the boy from working. Some time ago
Mesday had been apprenticed to Williamson from the Sunbury Industrial School;
but shortly afterwards symptoms of permanent disease set in and Mesday became
unable to fulfil the terms of indenture. Mesday, who was questioned by the
bench, expressed his willingness to return to the Sunbury establishment, where,
he said, he had always enjoyed better health."[i]
I came across this item while researching my own second
great-grandfather, John Williamson, a tailor in High Street, St Kilda. I wanted
to understand what kind of employer he might have been.
But it was the boy's response that stopped me: he
wanted to go back to the Industrial School.
That was not the answer anyone expected.
What It Suggests
At first glance, this seems straightforward. A master tailor
seeks to cancel an apprentice's indenture because the boy is too sick to work.
The bench debates whether sickness justifies cancellation. The boy himself
offers no objection to leaving.
On the surface, it suggests a failed apprenticeship, one
more case of a boy from the Industrial School system not working out. But
William's own words complicate that reading. He did not ask to stay. He did not
plead for another chance. He said he had always enjoyed better health at
Sunbury — the institution to which he had been sent as a neglected child.
A boy chose the Industrial School over employment. That
suggests something far more troubling: not that the system was harsh, but that
the alternatives were worse.
Looking Closer
To understand how William Measday ended up before the St.
Kilda bench, we have to go back two and a half years.
The father
In September 1868, William's father, Thomas Measday, a
gardener and occasional itinerant preacher, was convicted of a vile assault
upon a young girl and sentenced to two years in gaol.[ii][iii]
Within weeks, William and his two younger brothers, Thomas
and Walter, were brought before the court under the Neglected and Criminal
Children's Act. Their mother was already dead. Their father was in prison. They
had been living on charity.[iv]
William Measday, aged twelve, was sent to the Sunbury
Industrial School for two years.[v]
The apprenticeship
In September 1870, William was apprenticed from Sunbury to
John Williamson, tailor, of High Street, St Kilda. On paper, it was a path to
stability: a trade, a master, a future.
But within months, illness overtook him.
What disease? The record does not say. But it was severe
enough that Williamson, my own ancestor, sought to cancel the indenture
entirely.
What happened next
The bench reserved its decision. But other records tell us
what followed.
William was not returned to Sunbury; there were no
vacancies. Instead, in September 1872, he was transferred to another tailor in
Brighton, taken on after a brief trial.
It is not clear whether he ever completed his
apprenticeship.
When he was eventually discharged from state care, his
health was recorded as "good." But the improvement did not last.
By July 1876, William Measday had entered the Melbourne
Benevolent Asylum.
He was twenty years old.
What Lies Behind It
I began this research wanting to know what kind of employer
John Williamson was. The records offer no easy answer.
He sought to cancel the apprenticeship of a sick boy. Under
the terms of the indenture, a master was required to provide medical advice.
Whether Williamson did so is not recorded. The bench itself was uncertain
enough to reserve its decision.
But the more important question is not about Williamson. It
is about the system.
The Industrial School system is often presented as a harsh
intervention in the lives of children. And in many ways, it was. But for
William Measday, it may also have been a place of relative stability, one he
later asked to return to when life outside it failed.
The apprenticeship system, intended to provide opportunity,
could not accommodate illness. When William became sick, there was no clear
place for him. Not with his master. Not at the school. Not with his father, who, after his release from gaol, regained custody of the two younger boys but does
not appear to have taken William back.
By the age of twenty, William had moved through multiple
systems: Industrial School, private employment, and finally the Benevolent
Asylum.
His story is not one of cruelty or neglect in the usual
sense. It is a story of fragmentation; a boy falling through the gaps between
institutions, each step recorded, but no single place able to hold him.
Reflection
Newspapers are invaluable, but they are not neutral.
The 1871 report in The Telegraph tells us
what happened in court: the master's application, the bench's questions, the
boy's surprising answer. But it does not tell us what William's "permanent
disease" was. It does not tell us whether Williamson provided medical care
as the indenture required. It does not tell us what William thought or felt
beyond that single-quoted sentence.
The father's crime was reported in dramatic detail:
"a vile assault," ... "the heaviest sentence in his power."[vi][vii]
That sold newspapers. An apprentice's quiet illness did not. And yet, it is the apprentice's story that lingers.
The records allowed me to trace William Measday from the
Industrial School to his master's workshop, from the bench to a second
apprenticeship, and finally to the Benevolent Asylum at just twenty years old.
Each step is documented. The experience of living through it is not.
But in that one reported sentence:
"where, he said, he had always enjoyed better health"
we catch something
true. A boy who had learned, perhaps, that institutions were more reliable than
people. And that the place designed to hold neglected children was, for him,
the closest thing to home he could name.
Further reads:
For those interested in learning more about John Williamson or William Measday, see their
profiles on WikiTree.
Endnotes
[i]
MEMORANDA. (1871, February 25). The Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South
Yarra Guardian (Vic. : 1864 - 1888), p. 7. Retrieved March 21, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105820392
[ii] SOUTH
AUSTRALIA. (1868, September 22). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth,
Vic. : 1855; 1857 - 1890; 1892 - 1955), p. 2. Retrieved March 22, 2026,
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197440145
[iii] MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL SESSIONS. (1868, September 17). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 -
1954), p. 3. Retrieved March 22, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177003475
[iv] POLICE.
(1868, October 8). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6.
Retrieved March 22, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5829274
[v]
William Measday Cause of commitment: Neglected Committing bench: Eltham Date of
birth: 1855-11-08 Date of commitment: 1868-10-07 Native place: England
Registration number: 3220 Volume: 10 citing Public Record Office Victoria Ward
Register (known as Children's Registers 1864 - 1887) VPRS 4527/P0000, 2598 -
5865; Boys neglected. Book 3 entry 197 (accessed https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/985028F1-F4C7-11E9-AE98-C790AA852ADB?image=99
: 21 March 2026)
[vi] SOUTH
AUSTRALIA. (1868, September 22). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth,
Vic. : 1855; 1857 - 1890; 1892 - 1955), p. 2. Retrieved March 22, 2026,
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197440145
[vii] MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL SESSIONS. (1868, September 17). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 -
1954), p. 3. Retrieved March 22, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177003475