A bit of a puzzle - any ideas welcome!

[jacdee]

Hi,

I've got a bit of a puzzle which i've been pondering over for a while and wonder if anyone else has any theories or suggestions really.
My grandad and his siblings went into an orphanage around 1918 (my grandad always told me he went between the ages of 8-10, and he was born in 1910). Grandad said both his parents had died young, around the same time, which was why they went to the orphanage.
Straight forward enough. But here comes the puzzle....
Grandad's dad - Henry - died in 1914. So that fits with what i've been told.
Grandad's mum - Jane - had another child in 1918, who died almost straight away. I then assumed that Jane may have also died around the time of the birth, and that would fit really well with the time scale that my Grandad had given me. But things are never that simple are they?! I searched the BMD for Janes death, and found one possibility, but it was in 1925. Afer um-ing and ah-ing i decided to buy the certificate. Well, its arrived and it is definately my Jane (it states she was the widow of Henry and his occupation was listed and it all matched).

So my puzzle is this - Why did my grandad and his siblings end up in an orphanage in 1918 when his mother was still alive (and lived for a further 7 years until 1925) ?
My grandad was told that his mother had died.
Is it possible that Jane's children were taken away from her after the birth of her illegitimate child in 1918?
Or do you think she just gave them up?

Any other theories would be great as i'm just going round in circles on this one!

Jacdee
P.S Sorry it's so long winded!!

[Jones the Search]

Hi Jacdee 
She may have been too poor to keep them. If she had no income she might have thought it better to relinquish them to the care of an orphanage.
You might find out more if you located the records of the orphanage at the appropriate record office/archive.
So Sad isn't it , We don't know we're born do we 
Good Luck in your search
                   Patricia 

[Gadget]

Jacdee

Dredging up something that I've heard or seen - maybe the  Who do you think you are? programme, it might be that Jane would not be able to afford to keep them. With two illegitimate children, I think that any out relief would be taken away. All it needed was someone to tell on her - Oh remembered it was Jeremy Paxman's ancestor.

Gadget

[liverpool annie]

Hi Jacdee !!

What was her cause of death ?
maybe she was too sick to look after them - TB was a terrible thing in those days - maybe she had post partum blues and ended up in the hospital for a few years!!
Theres all manner of reasons .... !!
As their father had died during the war - they would be eligible for widows and orphans funds maybe!

Annie

[Wendi]

Hi Jacdee

"any ideas welcome"   you don't say how old the siblings were, or if they all went together.....sometimes if it became too much for a single parent the older children were taken into a home, while the younger ones stayed with the parent.

Can't argue with your Grandpa, children were in an orphanage, parents did die   how long were they there?

Wendi

[Sisterjane]

Maybe after Henry died in 1914 , she met Janes father and went to live with him and he wouldnt take, or couldnt afford to keep the others

Joe

[jacdee]

Crikey - you guys were quick off the mark!!

On Jane's death cert it said she died of Heart failure caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. But she was working as a house keper, so i guess that means she wasn't in a hospital?

My grandad was 8, his brother joe was 16 so was sent to a naval training ship, Betty was 5 and Harry was 4. My grandad remembers them all going together. They went to a Barnardos orphanage in Alnwick, Northumberland. Would i find records for that do you think? My grandad only stayed at the orphanage until he was old enough to go onto the naval training ship aswell, but they all managed to stay in touch with each other.

Grandad's dad - Henry died of a cerebral haemorrage - I don't think it was war related.

Jacdee

[MaryA]

Relating this tale back to my own grandfather who I believed was an orphan, it wasn't until I checked up on the Admittance and Application Registers that I discovered his mother was actually working to help support him in the school.  I don't believe it was a case of having him "taken away from her" more a matter of her not being able to keep him and support them both so she took a job to pay for his keep.

Between the death of his father and when he went into the school later, I have no idea who he was with and this includes the 1881 census, but his mother was certainly working "in service" as it were for the same family for over 20 years.  The lady of the house apparently had something to do with sponsoring his application too.

Definitely worth trying to get hold of any paperwork you possibly can from the Orphanage Records.

Mary

[Jones the Search]

Hi Jacdee  

Try this site it may give you some links

http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Alnwick/

                         Patricia