Portrait of Levi Prinski

Category

Library Item

Item no

21030

Title

Portrait of Levi Prinski in the Register of the Edinburgh Industrial Brigade and Home

Description

A portrait of Levi Prinski is mounted on a page. The small boy's short hair is combed into a side parting. He wears a blazer with shirt and bowtie. The oval portrait is framed by a rectangular border. Above the border the page is titled 'Home for Destitute and Homeless Boys' in stencilled lettering with flourishes. Below the portrait there is a handwritten annotation identifying this as Levi. A biblical motto is printed in gothic script.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1870

Size

22.2 x 16.4 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Accompanying text from Edinburgh Industrial Brigade and Home for the Rescue of Destitute & Homeless Boys: " I was born in Germany. After my Mother died my Father left the Country. We travelled...until we came to England: here my Father got work in a Coal Pit...but five months after...they told me a great portion of the roof had fallen...my dear Father was not found. I did not form a very good opinion of Edinburgh People when I first came...it was a cruel man who came up and gave me a beating without the least provocation...I could not sell more than Sixpence worth a day in Edinburgh, so after paying my lodgings...I went without breakfast.
It was one night when I was walking along the High Street...I had no place to go...Boys...told me to go to the Night Asylum...the Master kept me eight days and was very kind to me. Then he took me to the Brigade, and I am now working as a Lithographer, and mean to stick to it like a Brick...
The Edinburgh Industrial School and Home for the Rescue of Destitute & Homeless Boys was on Grove Street in Fountainbridge. The school took in homeless boys, provided them with education, and found them positions training as apprentices in various trades.
This image comes from a bound volume that contains a photograph and transcription of the life story of each boy. Levi Prinski is the only boy who has been identified by name, the others are only numbered.

This item was digitised as part of the Whose Town? project, an educational resource for schools. Unique archival material was gathered together to create a snapshot of a person's life at a particular point in Edinburgh's history.

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Related subjects

Education > Educational facilities > Schools

People > Children > Boys

Places > Edinburgh areas > Fountainbridge

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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