Genealogy Chat

Hi, Were workhouses and childrens homes the same places because I have been looking for a family where the mother died early and wondered if the children and father could be living in different places Margaret

Hi Margret,I have the same problem,I dont think they were the same but it seems very difficult to get any info on childrens homes.If you know the names they should be on the censuses.My problem is the dates are between 1901-1911 i was hoping the 1911 census would be out early to give me a bit of help.I shall be interested to see if any body else has any ideas. hope you find what your looking for. Jan

I don't know anything about workhouses but my father was in a children's home in the period you mention. After much help from people on the boards, I found the records were held by the Children's Society and they found his file, which was closed in 1913. I was given a summary of its contents, after proving I was next-of-kin, so it is worth searching all avenues. (My grandfather had died, and my grandmother on Parish Relief with numerous children.)

Good info about workhouses etc here and some usefull links: http://www.judandk.force9.*co.uk/workhouse.html Bob

Often when children were admitted to a workhouse, they could be despatched to other local orphanages or even to Canada. An ancestor of mine was admitted as an orphan to the workhouse. They then sent her to the nearby Nazareth House Orphanage which was Catholic. A year later she was sent to Canada.

sometimes children of school age could be admitted to Orphan Schools there were several in london, some of them were charities with rich benefactors . Girls and boys were usually segregated, and some schools you had to have the child voted in for a place. There were schools called homes for fatherless boys where the mother could no longer support the infants. try www.victorianlondon.org/ publications/terriblesights-4.htm Kim

another possibility is to try the 1881 and 1901 census with just an initial for the first name (A. Smith, B. Jones etc) lots of institutions (army, prisons, lunatic asylums, hospitals, etc) seem to have enterd inmates/members this way.

thank you all for your ideas Margaret