Re: Industrial School FELTHAM middlesex

[cathayb]

it has been ages since I did this search.I found james Thorpe was definately sent to Winniepeg by Dr.Barnardos.It would seem all british home School children as they were Known were sent either to Winniepeg or Australia by Dr,Barnardos or the Catholic Church and without the parents permission either.I do not know if any were sent to Wales??There is a facebook page for British home School children.

[pen y bryniau]

Thanks for the update and tweaking the links.
As I understand it, these boys were arrested, sent by magistrate to Feltham until they were 16.  They were then able to join a scheme to work in rural Wales, arriving by train I assume.  They were allocated to rural farms in totally Welsh speaking communities - so who did the organising in Wales - more research required!
My Parish has about 10 -15 of these boys/farm workers; over 70 Parishes in Carmarthenshire plus they were in Breconshire, Cardiganshire, possibly Pembrokeshire.  Basically, quite a lot were moved to Wales.  Some learnt Welsh and were absorbed into these rural communities. 
Any further information would be useful.
Best wishes.

[barbaraeldred]

A book worth reading, if you can get a hold of it, is Guttersnipe by Sam Shaw. Amazing detail of daily life at Feltham Industrial School, followed by his immersion into a Welsh world on a farm in West Wales.

This was the history of my great grandfather, Frank Eldred. Taken off the street in 1890, and on the census return in Feltham industrial school in 1891. His discharge recorded show the details of the farms he was sent to in West Wales in 1894, with an assessment of how he was getting on. These records I got from London Archives.

He settled in the Welsh speaking village where my grandad , my dad and I were all raised (as Welsh speakers). My dad told me that his grandad could speak Welsh albeit with a ‘Cockney’ accent.

There were agents in this part of Wales (Carmarthenshire). That’s how many boys from Feltham ended up here. My friends Greatgrandad , Harry Dalton, had the same story 10 years earlier.

[pen y bryniau]

Hello Barbara and thank you for the message and information.

I've not read Sam Shaw's book, but he is/was the starting point for this research/project we have.

To take it further, I'm still confused between Feltham and Barnardo's.  Were they working together?  Who was finding these farms, that is who were the agents?  At present (and still counting), I have over 35 in one Parish.

Regarding the records from London Archives - were they easily obtainable - are they online - how much information did you get from them?

Apologies for hijacking this thread from its original track and the Canada link.

Thanks in advance.