30/09/2024

Dan Ewers is a PhD researcher based at the University of Leeds. During 2023 he explored the archives held at the National Justice Museum researching the history of borstal institutions in the United Kingdom. Over the next few months we will be sharing what Dan found out about health, wellbeing, and everyday life within borstal institutions.

In this blog post, Dan’s research explores the history of sport and physical training in borstal.

For many boys living in borstals, a typical day began with physical education. In many borstals, including Feltham, Portland, Gaynes Hall and Hewell Grange, physical training would take place before breakfast, with the boys getting up around 6am. These classes were typically taken by all borstal boys (unless medically unfit) and sessions were overseen by a borstal officer who typically had qualifications in conducting physical education.

Borstal Boys Lining Up for Physical Training, Feltham, c.1940s.

According to criminologist Sir Lionel Fox writing in 1952, women did not undergo daily physical training like the men did, but female juveniles in borstals did attend evening classes which included ‘keep fit’ classes, therapeutic exercise, and dancing classes.

Borstal boys were often given instruction in gymnastics, and, in several institutions, they would either volunteer for or be specially selected to form a Physical Training Display Team. These teams would perform routines at public events throughout the year and often featured within advertisements printed in local newspapers. Examples of this include the display team from Gaynes Hall who would perform physical training and gymnastic displays at the local St. Neots Carnival or the ‘Gymnastics and Physical Training Display’ described in the 1947 Sports Day Programme from Hollesley Bay Colony, which saw boys performing for the gathered staff members, other boys, and visiting spectators.

Rochester Borstal Boys Performing a Physical Training Display, c.1920s.

Football, cricket, rugby, basketball, and even boxing featured within the sporting programme that many borstal boys participated in. Several institutions held yearly Sports Days, where borstal boys (often divided into Houses like in public schools) would compete against one another. Events included long and short distance running, relay, Tug-O-War, Long Jump, High Jump, Shotput, and (on one occasion) the bun and treacle race, where boys would race in a relay to see which team could eat a treacle bun the fastest. Competition between boys, fostered through the house system, was encouraged in borstals, due to the prevalent belief amongst staff and commentators alike that competition led to the betterment of all who participated.

Boxing Match, Hollesley Bay, c.1950s.

Boys didn’t just compete in sporting competitions against one another: At Gaynes Hall borstal, they also regularly played sports matches against other teams from the local area. Football and Cricket league scores as well as boxing competitions which saw Gaynes Hall boys boxing against competitors from the armed forces were all reported in the local press. In 1969, there was even a minor controversy surrounding the Gaynes Hall borstal boys joining the local rugby league, due to difficulties regarding payment of membership fees to the local league and that the boys needed to return to the borstal site at a certain time, making them being unable to join the other teams in drinking beer after fixtures. The Gaynes Hall boys were regularly invited to attend local events, such as sporting competitions, youth organisation rallies, local festivals, and boat races, showing how the borstal boys engaged with the wider community. In 1969, the Secretary of Huntingdon Athletics Club even stated that ‘Gaynes Hall is virtually our home course now’, following a call for greater sporting co-operation between Gaynes Hall borstal and local sporting clubs (Cambridge Daily News, 30 May 1930).

This research has been produced by as the result of a 4-month REP placement at the National Justice Museum. Many thanks go to The National Justice Museum and the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities for their support throughout this project.