B.A. (Manitoba), M.A. (Trent)
Supervised by Jennine Hurl-Eamon
Committee: Van Nguyen-Marshall and Kevin Siena
External Examiner: Lynn MacKay, Brandon University
Chair: Fiona Harris-Stoertz
"The Lives of Young Delinquents: Relationships of Power in the Royal Philanthropic Society"
The Royal Philanthropic Society (RPS) was the first institution in England to care for young offenders. While historians have demonstrated the legal importance of this institution, none have examined the experience of the youth it attempted to reform. The admission registers of the RPS reveal the importance of adults and peers in the experiences of the inmates of the institution, as both could be sources of conflict and support. Youth could express power over their own lives by resisting the authority of adults, but also by conforming to the rules of the RPS. Inmates could restrict the choices of their peers by working with the RPS, but also through peer pressure or violence. Networks of collaboration and youth culture could also exert a positive impact on peers. Because this thesis represents male youth as actors, it makes a significant addition to recent histories emphasizing the impact of the subaltern groups on eighteenth-century reform movements.
Michelle graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.A. Honours in History. While her courses focused on a wide range of subjects, from the cultural Cold War to the study of material culture in premodern Europe, Michelle has always been interested in the representation of children and youth in the past. Michelle focused on the history of juvenile delinquency and the development of the juvenile justice system in both England and Canada. Her thesis will examine the Royal Philanthropic Society, a private charity established in London, England at the end of the eighteenth-century, designed to deal with the rising number of juvenile delinquents. Michelle examines the youth of the Royal Philanthropic Society as historical actors and asks whether conformity is an expression of agency.