General Chat

how would I find out why a child would have been sent to the other end of the country? and a couple his siblings be living with an aunt and the other a grandparent....the rest of the kids stayed with mum.

how would I find out if he was fostered out or something?

i'm getting frustrated because I don't know where to look

jane

Could you give a few details, eg names and locations then members can get searching and hopefully help?

Maybe the parents were unable to support a lot of children, perhaps some of them were illegitimate? Was it a single mum? It was quite common way back to farm children out to relatives but finding out why will be difficult unless you can trace someone who has this info.

Some children were taken away from the authorities because they were running wild and beyond the control of the mother.

Some of those were sent to other parts of the county or country, lived with foster parents and went to school. It was supposed to help them change their ways ........ get them out of the environment where they had been living, and put them with foster parents, often an older couple, who might have only 1 or 2 foster children and so could devote more time to helping children curb their bad behaviour.


When living with other family members, it was usually a sing that the mother could not control all the children .............. an aunt might take one because she had no children. Grandmother would be dragged in to help, just as they are today.


How many children did this mother have, and was she married or not, or had the husband left the family?



Just think that similar things happen today, and it always has happened!

thanks you guys

she had quite a few children,they had 5, her husband was killed in an accident in 1901 when the youngest was only 2years old, there was a daughter 4 yrs who went to live with mothers sister, and was on 1901 census and still there in 1911, a son who went to live with paternal grandparents and ended up in the boys workhouse but she went on to have 3 more kids with somebody else, first one in 1903
my person of interest is John Willie Whitehouse, who was moved between 1901 and 1911 he appeared on the census living with a family called Markwick in Great Missenden, he was a boarder along with another boy who was a boarder also, I wanted to find out if this could be a foster family or how he had ended up so far away from his family in Sheffield, he joined the army in 1915, Middlesex Regiment and then returned to Sheffield, back to his family in 1919 when he left the army.
if anyone could try and shed some light I would be eternally grateful

Jane <3

Jane


from something I found out last year, I would say that the authorities had moved John Willie to Great Missenden because he had been getting into trouble. It was a version of putting them into the local school for bad boys, but in another part of the country and in a more homely setting.

Just to get it clear ............


This is your John Willie???

1911 Census

Name: John Willie Whitehouse
Age in 1911: 11
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1900
Relation to Head: Boarder
Gender: Female
Birth Place: Brighton, Derbyshire, England
Civil Parish: Great Missenden
Search Photos: Search for 'Great Missenden' in the UK City, Town and Village Photos collection
County/Island: Buckinghamshire
Country: England
Street address: Rowan Cottages, Hyde Heath, Gt Missenden, Bucks
Occupation: School
Registration district: Amersham
Registration District Number: 143
Sub-registration district: Missenden
ED, institution, or vessel: 3
Household schedule number: 145
Piece: 7786
Household Members:

Ellen Jane Markwick 62
William Markwick 31
Ellen Elizabeth Markwick 21
Stephen Thomas Bath 9
John Willie Whitehouse 11


That's a similar situation to the one I found for someone last year ................. 2 young boys, living with an older couple.

If he was born in 1900, and joined the army in 1915, he joined as a boy soldier, unless he lied about his age. Do you have his service records??

yes this is my john willie
we were under the impression that he lied abut his age, this is what he told people in years gone by!
he was born in 1899, we have his discharge record, he left in 1919 aged 20 with malaria.

I do have to say though that many of the boys who were under this scheme did indeed join either the army or the navy at the young ages of 12-15 ........... but that was mainly in the 1890s and 1900s, ie, before WW1 started.

Barnardos often boarded children out .they didn't always keep them in one of their homes

The fact there is another unrelated boy with the same family suggests this could be one of the times they have done this

I belong to the British Home Child group on Facebook and have come across this several times when looking for info on ancestors who became Canadian BHC children .in all cases so far that I have found this it has been boys who were fostered

In the uk the foster parents were paid to look after the child

thank you Sylvia and Shirley
is there any Barnados records or anything that I will be able to look at to find out why and when this would have happened?

was it common for these boys to finally end up back with their families?

Not online Janey but Barnardos are very open with children's records from that time and will take a look to see if he was one of theirs

They do charge though and will will send copies of children's records BUT you have to be the nearest surviving relation


https://www.barnardos.org.uk/former-barnardos-children

Thank you Shirley
I have been on their website, the nearest surviving relative is my hubbys aunty but she lives in australia and is in her late 70s, so I won't be able to do it.
How frustrating x

These children were fostered, and so contact with thei r family was not cut in many cases. So, yes, they could go back as an adult ........ when they would be supporting themselves in any case!