Cath. Whalin - orphanages/workhouse 1928+

[MarjeEames]

"3"][/SIZE]

Seeking information about my mothers half sister - Catherine (Kathleen) Whalin. Born 1928 in Gregory St, Leigh - Lancs. Mother (widow) Selina Woods (nee Prescott) Father Michael Whalin. Older sister Agnes Whalin.

It seems Selina died shortly after giving birth to Catherine and at some point and being unable to cope with 2 small children Michael put Catherine into care. Was it an orphanage or 'the workhouse' I do not know. It seems she was in care until about the age of 7 when her half sister Maggie Woods took her out as she herself had got work and could now look after her. I am assuming that the institution would have been run by the catholic church as they were born catholics, and also that it would have been withing the confines of Leigh, but then again I could be wrong.

Can anyone help me???

Marje Eames (niece)

[Peter Goodey]

Let's hope it was a public institution or 'workhouse' as you put it - you then stand some chance of finding some records. In the 20th century the Poor Law Guardians ran than lot more than the 'workhouse' (by now called 'poor law institutions') including orphanages, 'cottage homes' etc.

One problem you may hit is that the Boards of Guardians were wound up in 1930 and responsibility passed to local authorities with a consequent discontinuity of record keeping.

I don't see anything in my notes indicating that there are any extant records for Leigh Union covering the late 1920s but you ought to check with Wigan Record Office. Later records I would guess are with the repository for county council records (Lancs RO presumably!). Someone with local knowledge will know!

On the other hand if, as you suspect, it was a Roman Catholic orphanage, I am led to believe that unfortunately the chances of getting any records out of them are zero.

[MarjeEames]

Hello Peter

tks for the information but this was a fishing expedition as I have already tried Leigh/Wigan and no joy. I was given an address of a catholic 'home' but have not had any reply. I shall keep on trying

MarjeEames|banghead|