ORPHANAGE INFORMATION

[Marie]

Some time ago I got, via Rod Hall, some basic information re my father and his siblings placement in an Orphanage. It just gives admittance details and there is nothing relating to which orphanage on the pages. I forwarded this information to a cousin I traced, who lives in Canada. She is puzzled as to why the siblings lost contact, her father and two sisters stayed in touch. They were told that their father had a brother but he had been sent to Australia. Does anyone know what records were kept re where children went once leaving the orphanage. The cousins father was sent to work at the Racquet Club in Liverpool when he was fourteen. We were led to believe that my father was sent to a farm in Wales. I am now wondering whether it was New South Wales and he some how got back. I would have thought there would have been some record of the child leaving and where they went? Any advice of where to look appreciated.

[dickiesam]

Hi Marie,
What time/year span did these events take place?

In the case of the children who were sent to Canada, Australia etc, as far as I know very little documentation would be kept as to what happened to those unfortunates once they arrived at their destination. In many cases, where children had been placed in care, even their parents didn't know what had happened to them.

I do know from my own family that once a child left an orphanage to enter service or a trade, they were more or less on their own. There were three children in total, two sisters and a brother. On entry to the Myrtle Street [Liverpool] orphanage in 1930, the sisters [aged 6 and 1 year] were separated from their brother [aged 7] and they were not fully reunited until the youngest was discharged in 1942.

This is a link about the Canada children:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... echildren/

And here's one about the Australian children:
http://otoweb.cloudapp.net/

I have previously found emigration children in the outgoing passenger lists on Findmypast.

[Marie]

Thank you for replying. The children went into the orphanage in 1916. They were 9, 8, 7 and 6. Although I have a cousin in Canada. She went there, under her own steam, when she was 25. Her Aunt was in Canada prior to that working for a family looking after children but I have no idea whether she went via the orphanage or later. Out of 4 children, who were taken to the orphanage by their Uncle's in 1916 One ended up in South Africa as a Nurse eventually returning to the UK. The one mentioned above was single and stayed in Canada. The youngest boy as stated worked in the Racquet Club from 14 until he was 70! My Dad only told my Mum that he was sent to a farm in Wales.

[dickiesam]

From http://otoweb.cloudapp.net/empire-dominions.html

Orphans, waifs and strays

Today the term ‘orphan’ refers to a child who has lost both parents, but historically it was used to describe all children who were abandoned, illegitimate or in care. Terms such as ‘waif’ and ‘stray’ were also commonly used.

Child migrants were often labelled as orphans even though many simply had parents who were unable to look after them. They were placed in temporary care and later emigrated – or effectively deported – without their parents’ consent. So far the Child Migrants Trust has uncovered only one case of a genuinely orphaned Australian child migrant.

Sending organisations told children they were orphans to ensure they severed all ties with allegedly unworthy relations and made a fresh start. For former child migrants this deception caused tremendous pain and suffering and created great obstacles in reuniting with their families.

[dickiesam]

Re:

One ended up in South Africa as a Nurse eventually returning to the UK.

I would say that this girl went into nursing on discharge from the orphanage and perhaps arrived in South Africa during WW2. Her passage out there could be in the Findmypast outgoing passengers lists.
Re:

The one mentioned above was single and stayed in Canada.

Likewise, you should be able to find her in the outgoing passenger lists. If she went as part of a group of children, this will be indicated by her age and companions on the voyage.

If you would like to post some names [with YoBs] perhaps we could find them as well as the possibility of your father having been sent to a farm in New South Wales. It is always possible that arrivals may have been recorded despite being children.

[Hilary]

Do you mean yu got the information from Roger Hull at liverpool Record Office or somewhere else? Either way I would contact them, and ask for the name of the orphanage and whether there is any information in the discharge registers.

[Marie]

Dickisam,

They were orphaned Mother died 1912 father 1915. There were Uncles and Aunts I believe they lived with father and grandmother after mother died. One of the Uncles had his own business and two children of his own. Why they did not take the children is a mystery. According to the cousin in Canada the Aunt who was in South Africa married someone quite well off and lived in Bramhall when they returned to the UK.

I will contact Roger Hull again it did take a long time to get a reply last time though 3 months I recall.

[MaryA]

I will contact Roger Hull again it did take a long time to get a reply last time though 3 months I recall.

It may take some time again as they are in the process of moving all documents back to the newly refurbished library from the Sandhills Satellite, this job is going to take until Spring.

[jan44]

Hi Marie,

When you contacted Roger Hull did he give you a reference number at all for the orphanage details?

I thought you might like to have a look at this website, I don't know if it will help at all, but worth a look.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... echildren/

Jan

[ZED]

Could the orphanage in question be the Liverpool Sheltering Homes on Myrtle Street?

An estimated 6000 children were emigrated to Canada by the Liverpool Sheltering Homes.
Archive (D715) contains Committee minute books 1873-1933, Annual Reports 1873-1907, and other items 1903-1973 including a 1909 appeal leaflet Our Work in England and Canada.

I managed to trace 3 McQuinn girls who were admitted to the Sheltering Homes and sent to Canada (Knowlton Quebec) in 1909, on board The Corsican. (Passenger lists on 'Ancestry'). They weren't strictly orphans ... their mother had died in childbirth in 1905 and their father re-married in 1907!

Edited to add: I think the only records that were kept related to the children's arrival in Canada ... certainly in the case of the McQuinn girls, they seem to have been very quickly dispersed to live with families: I was able to trace the eldest girl (Florence Mabel McQuinn b. 1900) via the 1911 Canadian census, to the home of a 60 year old man and his 56 year old wife. (Florence didn't ever marry - she died in Quebec in 1940).

[Marie]

The copies of documents I have just give a page number at the top and the child's and parents details. The names of the aunts and uncles who admitted them and that they where temporarly in Smithdown Road Workhouse The last paragraph states that permission to remove the child was given by Herbert Robson of the Cotton Exchange. There is nothing on the pages to say where the entries relate to.

[ZED]

There is a search facility on the Canadian Archives website ...

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/data ... 0.01-e.php

Enter the child's name on the online form plus the year of arrival in Canada (and the name of the ship if you have this information - although the search will still work without it!) When you get a 'result' click on the child's underlined name and this will bring up information from the data-base: it will tell you which orphanage/organisation in Liverpool the child came from, and the exact dates of departure & arrival.


Edited to add ... sorry, I don't have any info about searching for children sent to Aus. (The only Aus search I've conducted was amongst the convict registers!)

[Marie]

Thank you, I have looked, and I don't think she went as a child probably when she was about 14 in 1921 and there is no one called Nellie at that time.