FOMV

Scuttlers

Scuttlers, or Scuttling gangs, were a series of youth crime gangs present in and around Industrial Manchester from 1870-1900. Each gang was associated with a different area and often fought against neighbouring districts. Within Ancoats the Bengal Tigers and Alum Street gang were infamous for their fights with Scuttling gangs from Angel’s Meadow.

Members of Scuttling gangs were often 14-19 years old and from working-class districts. Scuttlers were noted for wearing pointed clogs, bell bottoms, silk scarfs and belts with big buckles. These belts would be used during skirmishes with rival gangs. Social reformers of the time argued participation was the result of appalling living conditions and feelings of social insignificance. Scuttling offered working-class individuals a sense of belonging and the chance to achieve social status they struggled to find elsewhere.

Reports of scuttling were in decline by 1900. Social reformers at the time believed this was due to the rise of ‘Young Lads’ clubs established in response to youth crime. Between 1888 and 1890 alone Ancoats saw four youth clubs established including Ardwick Lads Club on Palmerston Street. These clubs offered safety and a sense of community to youths who could achieve something through craft, education and sports facilities that they couldn’t elsewhere. Whilst ‘Young Lads’ clubs around the city still offer an important service to the community, many others, such as Ardwick Lads Club, have been demolished after years of disrepair.

For more, see; 

Andrew Davis, ‘Youth Gangs and late Victorian Society’ in Youth in Crisis? Gangs, Territoriality and Violence, ed. By Barry Goldson (Routledge, 2011), pp. 67-89.

‘Ardwick Lads Club: A History of Altruism, Philanthropy and Forgotten Communities’, HISTORYME, https://historyme.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/ardwick-lads-club-a-history-of-altruism-philanthropy-and-forgotten-communities/.