Genealogy Chat

Hello Diane, Have a look on this site wwwDOTworkhousesDOTorg there is lots of info about most of the UK workhouses so you may find something useful. Steph.

It has always been expensive to look after the poor, so the Union would want to make sure that the children did not re-enter the workhouse as adults. Girls might be trained up to go into domestic service, boys put into the army or navy. At some periods, children were sent half way across the country, to satisfy the need for labour in the mills, at others, children might be sent abroad. There are often records, showing what happened to the children: either in the county record office, or amongst the correspondene held at the National Archives.

It might be an idea to check out and see if your ancestors were sent away, perhaps to Canada. My maternal grandparents, were sent off to Canada in 1885, grandfather & his sisters (mother was there also) were in the work house in 1881, by 1885 the children except for the eldest, were sent off to Canada. my grandmother, had been in a childrens home, she too was sent to Canada, in 1889. It was common practice apparently in those days to send away children, many of them being told they were orphans, and when parents came to look for them at the workhouse etc, they were told they had been sent away, or even had died. There are sites on line giving names of children sent to Canada & Australia, just ask Google for Home Children and you will be presented with several sites, that is where I found my grandparents. If you find they were sent off, Barnardos (in Dagenham Essex) can in many cases supply details, if you give them the name of the Home/workhouse, it does take a long time (up to a year) to receive an answer however, but well worth the wait. I was very lucky to obtain details of my grandmother`s stay in the Marchmont Home in Ontario, and to my great delight, also two photos of her, one at age 14 and another just before she married! So have a look and see what you come up with

Diane I think either could apply. Sometimes, if they were lucky, relatives took them back or even their Father when he could manage to. Others I think stayed until they "came of age" then made their own way in the world. Chrissie

I have just discovered that some of my ancestors were sent to the local workhouse when their mother died and obviously the father could not cope with them. This may sound stupid but what happened to these children? Were they sent back to relatives eventually or were they left to their own devices. If anyone could shine any light on this I would be grateful. Regards Diane