Portraits of children of the XIX century, sentenced to hard labor and prison for petty theft

In the color portraits of the 1870s, colored by the colorization expert Tom Marshall, children look at the lens too severely and seriously. For minor crimes, such as stealing basic necessities (food and clothing), children were sentenced to hard labor or prison. 

All the children in these portraits are from poor families, their sentences vary depending on the severity of the crimes — from ten days of hard labor to two months in prison. 

Tom Marshall: "I bring color to archive photos to enliven the faces of convicted children whose lives were hard and unhappy. People can only imagine the terrible conditions in which these children found themselves, and imagine what they must have felt."

Thanks to such photos, we can get to know real people who came from the lower strata of society and really struggled to survive. 

Children's portraits were found during the demolition of a prison in Newcastle, UK. 

Stephen Monahan, 14 years old, sentenced for stealing money to 10 days of hard labor and three years in a correctional institution, 1873.

Robert Charlton, 16, a worker, was sentenced to four months in prison for stealing two pairs of shoes.

Rosana Watson, 13, was one of four girls who stole an iron. For this, she was sentenced to hard labor.

John Reed, 15 years old, was sentenced to 14 days of hard labor and five years in a correctional institution for stealing money, 1873.

James Donnelly, 16 years old, prison sentence for stealing clothes.

James Scullion, 13, was sentenced to 14 days of hard labor for stealing clothes.

Ellen Woodman, for stealing an iron, was sentenced to hard labor.

Mary Hinningan, 13, also stealing an iron.

Jane Farrell, 12, was sentenced to 10 days of hard labor for stealing shoes.

14-year-old Henry Miller was sentenced to 14 days of hard labor for stealing clothes.

Michael Clement Fisher was sent to prison at the age of 13 for illegal entry into a house.

At the age of 14, Mary Catherine Docherty was sentenced to seven days of hard labor for stealing an iron.

12-year-old Henry Leonard Stevenson was sentenced to a 2-month prison term for breaking into a house.