"Training Ship Formidable"

[lizb]

http://www.portbury-hundred.co.uk/formidable.htm

http://www.trainingships.royalnavy.co.uk/formidhistory.htm

The Training Ship Formidable was a ship for detained youngsters.

The first  link shows a picture and details of when it was at Bristol in an earlier period and lists the boys on it.
The second gives a more general history.

Boys, often quite young and sometimes from good families, were sent to these shops for trivial reasons, often just to keep them off the streets and make sure they got some sort of education. I had a relative in Bristol who was sent to the training shop Akbar for 5 years in 1900 for being part of a gang of boys who stole a tin of condensed milk.

It's interesting the social history this research turns up.

lizb