Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum

[cdnsctgirl]

A family member gave me some information that states that an ancestor was brought up at the "Royal Victoria School in Barnet, a home for orphans of the Crimean War." The only such institution I could find was the Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum in Wandsworth. But it was for girls, and the ancestor in question was a boy! Some sites about the asylum state that there was a section built for boys later, but I can't find a name for it (whenever I find the name "Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum", it says it is for girls... I'm assuming the boys' portion would have had a separate name).

Is there an expert on old orphanages that could help me out here?

Thanks,

Sarah

[AnnB]

Can't help directly, but might be worth your while getting in touch with the Barnet and District Local History Society. They have a web page at https://www.barnetmuseum.co.uk/ with contact links, etc. Local History Societies can be a mine of information that you might not find anywhere else.

Best wishes
Ann

[Frank W]

Don't know whether this will be of any help, but I'm now indexing an 1861 Census Piece for Chipping Barnet (aka High Barnet) and found the following:

Bells Hill Lane

Silesia House, Orphan Asylum of the Royal Patriotic Fund

Census ref RG9-788 ED 3 Folios 85 to 87

Staff and members of their families appear in Folio 85 Page 47, with usual details of Forenames, ages etc, but (on pages 48-52) the scholar orphans are all male and are shown only by initials, though birthplaces are shown (widely diverse). Ages are from 15 down to 8 years.

FWIW the Barnet Union Workhouse is a few Folios earlier in the same Census Piece.

The surnames and initials details will be posted shortly on my CENdexes website.

Regards........Frank W

[Frank W]

As an add-on, in 1871 the establishment was shown as Silesia House School, (no mention of orphans or the Royal Patriotic Fund)

It had as its Head the "Chaplain of Barnet Union" and had only six boy scholars aged 16 down to 13 years.

Census ref is RG10-1332 Folio 56 Page 35 Sched 176

Regards......Frank W

[cdnsctgirl]

That's very interesting. It may well be the institution I'm looking for. My ancestor's name was John Carden, and he would have been about 7 in 1861 (he wouldn't be at the school in 1871... he'd supposedly gone to live with his grandparents in Aberdeen in about 1868).

I'll keep an eye on your site to see when you get that index posted.

Thanks!

Sarah

[cdnsctgirl]

Thanks! I did not know that. I'll see what I can find there (if I can ever get the page to load !).

Sarah

[Frank W]

I'm afraid you won't get much from my indexes, as they don't give any more than surnames, or in this case, initials.

The possible contenders are:
J_C, 1O, born Ireland
J_C, 8, born America
J_C, 8, born Hants, Southampton
J_C, 11, born W INDIA (or INDIES)
J_G_C, 11, born Gibraltar

and in case there was an elder brother present:

W_C, 13, born Devonshire(?), Charrington
W_C, 12, nk
C_C, 13, born INDIA
W_C, 10, nk
F_C, 12, nk
C_C, 11, ---
C_C, 11, Ireland

(This assumes that the final initial is that of the surname)

Regards.......Frank W

[cdnsctgirl]

Hmmm... those don't look promising. John was born in Weymouth, Dorset in 1854. Thanks anyway!

[Frank W]

Hi Sarah

Sorry the other refs did'nt prove useful, but I found another ref (which unfortunately is equally negative) and thought you might like to add it to your 'been there, done that' list.

Chipping Barnet
RG9-788 Folio 91 Page 59 (follows Sched 257)

Royal Patriotic Fund - Infirmary for Sick Children

This had 13 Boarders, (5 boys + 8 girls) including one 10 yr old boy T_C
One had Place of Birth shown as Berks, Windsor?, but all others were NK.

Had you looked for John Carden in the Dorset 1861 Census?

Regards........Frank W

[cdnsctgirl]

No, I haven't looked for him in Dorset. I only had access to the 1861 census through 1837online.com, and they don't have the Dorset part of the census. I don't think John would be there, at any rate. I don't think his mother lived there for very long. She was back up in Aberdeen by 1856 and married to another man. She must have taken John with her (these orphan institutions didn't seem to take kids as young as 2!). It's just that newspaper article that has me puzzled... I guess I shouldn't rule anything out, but I'm not sure where a toddler would be placed, especially if he had family in Scotland.

It's interesting to note that I found John (age 17) on the 1871 census in Aberdeen, living with his widowed grandmother, his aunt, and his 13-year-old half-sister (from his mother's second marriage).

I suppose I'll just have to wait until more 1861 census pieces are available online. Since I don't even know where to look, it probably wouldn't be a very good idea to start ordering CDs!

Thanks,

Sarah