Can anyone help please with info on the availability of reformatory ships records?
My grandfather, Cecil George Brown (born January 1902 Lexden,Colchester, Essex) left school December 1915 and at somepoint during 1916 ended up on the HMS Cornwall reformatory ship moored on the Thames at Purfleet.
(Legend has it he set fire to his bedroom with his two sisters inside and then jumped out the window leaving them to deal with the problem. No harm or real damage was done thankfully. But it was the last straw for his parents.)
From there,he served in the Royal Navy on a few ships,including a destroyer on convoy duty in the North Atlantic.
Would any records have survived to show how long he was at the reformatory school or his service with the Royal Navy? I think he left in 1922.
thank you,
Rob
