Moral landscapes and manipulated spaces: gender, class and space in Victorian reformatory schools

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative study of two Victorian reformatory schools; the Philanthropic Society farm school for boys at Redhill, Surrey, and Red Lodge girls' reformatory in Bristol. Situating the study within the context of broader Victorian assumptions about forms of human settlement and association most likely to foster "morally acceptable" behaviour, it explores contemporary ideas about the location and design of these environments of moral reform. It suggests that dominant ideologies of class and gender were central considerations in determining the location and design appropriate to each institution.