This ship was repossessed and replaced circa 1874 by the hulked third rate, HMS Boscawen, moored on the Tyne at North Shields and also renamed T.S.

By the early 1900s Wellesley was accepting boys from London, Manchester and Liverpool as well as from Tyneside and Yorkshire.

A change occurred in 1914 when the training ship was destroyed by fire, although all boys were brought ashore safely to reside until 1918 in the Tynemouth Plaza, on a temporary basis.

Wellesley became an approved school in 1933, but continued to train boys (some of whom were still there as abandoned children or voluntarily) for sea-going trades in a variety of vessels sailing out of Blyth.

In 1973, following substantial changes in the treatment of young boys incorporated in the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, Wellesley became part of The City of Sunderland's Council's Social Services Department and although the nautical element continued into the 1970s the last thirty years of its operation saw a distinct move away from sea-going training towards more general education and training as "Wellesley Community Home".