Reformatory School St. John's Community Home School

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

St. John's Reformatory School, formerly The West Riding Industrial Home for Women.

Established under the Reformatory Act, 1854. In 1865 girls committed to the school under the Reformatory Act were transfered to a reformatory at Doncaster (see Doncaster Archives). In 1872 a new building was erected. St.John's Community Home School was a voluntary organisation until 1921, it then transferred to Wakefield Diocesan Council for Preventative and Social Work. In 1937 St. John's Diocesan Home for Girls became an approved school. It passed to local authority control in 1973. The Home was closed in 1982.

There is an early admission register for the school, 1856 -1865, now part of the H.M. Prison Wakefield collection see C118/102. There are registers for 1885-1920, 1923-1981. Access restrictions may apply to some records. Registers of Staff 1951-1974, Log Books 1937 -1945, 1951-1982, Visitors Book 1861-1982. Also some photographs and plans of the school.