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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Norfolk Nan on Monday 10 November 25 16:24 GMT (UK)

Title: Barnardoes
Post by: Norfolk Nan on Monday 10 November 25 16:24 GMT (UK)

Is there any way to trace a child born/handed to Barnardoes between 1900-1915? 

Thanks.
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: rosie99 on Monday 10 November 25 16:30 GMT (UK)
Surely they should be on a census 1911/1921 unless they left the UK  :-\
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Norfolk Nan on Monday 10 November 25 16:39 GMT (UK)
That's part of my question - I know it was a boy and mum's name but if the child was illegitimate would mum have registered the birth in her own name?  I have a long list of possibles that I'm working through but not every child appears on the next census. Would that name still apply while with the Home?  And would he appear in the 1911 census under Barnardoes? 
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: rosie99 on Monday 10 November 25 16:53 GMT (UK)
The mum should have registered the birth in her own name unless the father was present at registration.   I would doubt that Barnardo's would change a child's name unless of course they did not know who he was
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Norfolk Nan on Monday 10 November 25 16:57 GMT (UK)

He never went back to the mum so either he stayed in the home or was adopted - still held on to his original name?

Sorry, I don't know the full story so I'm throwing around options to see the limits of my research. 
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: CaroleW on Monday 10 November 25 17:35 GMT (UK)
Think you are going to need a lot more info to progress but I agree with Rosie's advice re 1911/1921 as a starting point.

Do you know for certain he was "handed to Barnardo's"

If he died using his original name - when & where?  If he died after 1969 his full birthdate should be on the entry
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Norfolk Nan on Monday 10 November 25 17:41 GMT (UK)

I had a feeling it wouldn't be simple, hence the question.  I don't have a right to the info, not being a relative, but I've always been curious.  I think it will have to stay one of life's mysteries - I hope the poor lad had a good life.

Thanks both :) :)

Update - took one last try at the census suggestions and found a likely candidate, a young boy who was an inmate in a home for epileptics and the feeble minded.  I'll do some more digging but I think that probably explains the situation.  Thanks again.
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Darnity on Wednesday 12 November 25 16:40 GMT (UK)
Don't forget that there were other organizations like Barnardo's - there was one in my part of what was North Bucks called Mr Fegan's Home and they had a training farm in Kent where young boys in their care were trained and then shipped over to Canada.

So if you have a name have a look at emigration records as he might have been shipped to Canada or Australia or other parts of what was the Empire at that time. Also look at Home Children records in Canada etc and see if he appears.

Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Norfolk Nan on Wednesday 12 November 25 17:03 GMT (UK)
Hi Darnity - was that in Stony Stratford?  I remember the building and heard stories of it's original use.  Hadn't thought of that in years, thanks for the reminder.

I know this lad went to Barnardoes because he was always the 'brother who went to Barnardoes' in conversations I wasn't supposed to be listening to.  As he was talked about so openly amongst the adults I can't think he would have been sent abroad and there must have been a good reason for him to be put into care.  But there are children in my tree who were sent to Canada, I hope it was a good move for them, you hear some sad tales. 

Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: ValJJJ on Wednesday 12 November 25 17:27 GMT (UK)
The problem is that Barnardo was used as an umbrella term for a home or a charity for children.  Bit like calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover. 

We have this Barnardo problem in a part of the family I've been researching, yet Barnado's have no record of the children concerned.
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Norfolk Nan on Wednesday 12 November 25 17:30 GMT (UK)
Very good point  ;D 
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: Darnity on Wednesday 12 November 25 18:53 GMT (UK)
Hi Darnity - was that in Stony Stratford?  I remember the building and heard stories of it's original use.  Hadn't thought of that in years, thanks for the reminder.

I know this lad went to Barnardoes because he was always the 'brother who went to Barnardoes' in conversations I wasn't supposed to be listening to.  As he was talked about so openly amongst the adults I can't think he would have been sent abroad and there must have been a good reason for him to be put into care.  But there are children in my tree who were sent to Canada, I hope it was a good move for them, you hear some sad tales.

Yes, Mr Fegan's in Stony Stratford - the building is still there but has other uses nowadays.
Title: Re: Barnardoes
Post by: PrawnCocktail on Thursday 13 November 25 10:57 GMT (UK)
My great-aunt's husband and two of his sisters were put into care following the death of their father, in 1907. Not Barnados, it was National Children's Homes, now Action for Children (which is where we got some paperwork from).

I found him in Essex in 1911 (he was from Yorkshire), boarded out with a family. I put him and the family up on Lost Cousins, and one of the family contacted me. She told me they had planned to take him with them when they emigrated to Canada (I think shortly after the census), but his mother refused permission, to their great sadness. His sisters were both in orphanages, but not the same one.

He eventually joined the police, married my great aunt, and lived on Tyneside. Lovely man.