St. Francis Home Orphanage for Boys, Shefford

[tony vines]

In the 1891 census my wife's grandfather is shown as "Inmate of Orphanage" in this institution in Bedfordshire aged 12. His father and mother were both alive at the time and both he and they came from Northants.

This seems quite odd and while I don't entirely dismiss the idea that I have the wrong person, he is the right age and his birthplace is given as the correct small village in Northants. Furthermore I can find no other record that fits so I think that it is almost certainly the right person.

I wonder whether any of you know anything about this orphanage or can offer an explanation as to why someone should be in an orphanage when their parents were still alive and kicking?

[carolchipp]

Kelly's directory of Bedfordshire still lists the place in 1898. According to one site, the orphanage was set up to care for catholic children who were unable to live in their own homes - so not necessarily orphans perhaps. Try Bedfordshire County Records office who might hold records from this time.
Carol

[carolchipp]

His father and mother were both alive at the time and both he and they came from Northants.

Forgot to add:
The seminary trained priests to serve in the diocese of Northampton, so I suppose not unusual that they took boys in at the orphanage from same.

[tony vines]

Thank you both Finbar and carolchipp. I looked at the site Finbar linked and it seems that one didn't necessarily need to be an orphan to go to such a place. On that site it is described as an Industrial School, which would have made more sense to me. Perhaps it served as both. Actually that is less important to unravel now that the red herring of his being an orphan when his parents were clearly still alive has been explained.

Finbar you are of course correct that the closure date on that site is wrong. Not only was it open in 1891 it was still open in the 1901 census. I have not checked the 1911 census because I don't need that information. I have however sent an email to the site owner on the subject.

Interestingly it was a Roman Catholic institution and carolchipp talks about it being a seminary. The ancestor in question went on to work as a tram driver then in the Post Office and finally as an electrician and as far as one can tell never showed any inclination to take holy orders. Nor as far as I know was his family Catholic. His son (my father-in-law) and my wife were all Methodists!

[denhog]

Hiya Tony, thought this may be of interest.I was a Shefford boy, and turned 50, 2 weeks ago.So it's closure was a lot more recent than you thought.I was resident 68-73 when it finally closed.It was run by nuns and priests on my arrival,bedfordshire s.services prior to closure.It was funded mainly by public donation,and "Orphan" worked wonders in bringing in the funds.Indeed I remember being in a conveyor line of trusted boys,counting monies from collection boxes that came in from as far afield as Ireland,and Scotland in the new year. Population ranged from 250-120 at different times.It was massive.It had dormitories of 30 for the little ones.Cubicles in sets of eight for the mid's.And single rooms for boys of 14 and above.We had a floodlit courtyard for football into the night.2 fullsize football pitches,meadows,apple orchards,and a river running through the grounds.Suitable for canoeing and rowing,indeed we made these ourselves in the workshops.Oh, and fishing of course.Portakabins of scalextric,and train sets.Indoor gyms.Blimey,I'm rambling now,it was heaven.What may be of most interest to you, we had a church next door,directly attached.We had our own entrance,direct from the home.It was of course "St.F.of Assisi"Which is still there today.And would surely be holding both parish,and home records.We were intimately attached,with priests working in home,and boys including myself, being alter boys.Sadly it was closed when I visited 2 years ago.The imposing victorian frontage remains and still dominates the high St. The home itself has seen the attention of developers,housing estates etc.. even swallowing up the football pitches and orchards. Any questions,feel free to ask,Dennis

[tony vines]

Hi Dennis

Thanks for responding to my post. Your description of your time at the school was fascinating and you clearly enjoyed it all. Coming on the day that the news is all about abuse in Catholic schools and churches in Ireland it made a refreshing change.

I wasn't quite sure whether I picked up your point about orphans correctly. I understood that the use of the description was good for fund raising but were you also implying that the pupils weren't all orphans?

My wife's grandfather was sent there in the late 19th Century. His father was the miller at a village called Welford in Northants which is a long way from Shefford. His father and mother were certainly both still alive at the time although their milling business was failing ( as so many mills were due to cheap imports of flour from Europe). Maybe they had no money, so in some way being able to get their child educated at Shefford was helpful. I can't understand how they would have known about it although there was a branch of the same family in Beds. so maybe that was it. I'm sure that I'll never find out the real reason but I hope that the place was as enlightened as it was in your days. No Scalectrix in those days though!

Interestingly two of his sisters were there at the same time but as servants not pupils.

Good to hear from you. Thanks.

[denhog]

As the home was around for a long time,I'm sure there was a higher proportion of orphans at different times.Think Boer war,Great war,2nd World,and indeed the enduring "Troubles" of Ireland itself.During my stay I'd say eighty percent were of Irish heritage,as I am myself.The remainder were of Polish,Pakistani,African, and Italian mainly.Many Irish families struggled to stay together,as the work available was transitory.And it has to be remembered the racism displayed to my forebears.Think,No Irish,No Blacks,No Dogs-common signage in it's day.And not so long ago!Most of the lads had visits from parents,but unlike today it was discouraged somewhat.Being more usual at Christmas,Easter,etc...
I remember the good days of Shefford,mainly because of the bad times elsewhere.I had been at Nazareth Hs Northampton,for 3 years prior.Daily beatings were the norm.Homes I went to after Shefford were pretty awful.Funny enough I work in the social care sector now,and I can testify that things have improved tremendously.I'm not bitter I'm a survivor.The catholic church should be applauded for running homes when social care was in its infancy.But the sexual abuse others suffered is very real,and not to have defrocked,sacked and prosecuted known perpetrators is the shameful element. Best Wishes,Dennis

[denhog]

Sorry forgot to acknowledge that question,how would they know of "Shefford". Of course there were other providers of childrens homes,back in the day. The majority were church based,of differing denominations.I was previously housed in Northamptonshire,as mentioned.I then went to Peterborough,don't know county. Then to Hertfordshire,Bedfordshire once again.Norfolk was next on my tour.Before being released to my sisters care in London.As a church based service they had contact with others in the network,as it were.
Bestest,Dennis

[gordon mcintosh]

Dennis, what you have written is the biggest load of rubbish ever to be written , every word you have written is a lie.I was at St Francis Home in Shefford from 159-66. Life in that hell hole was so different from the picture you have painted, we were beaten by the priests and the nuns and some of us boys were sexualy abused by the priests. We had a gym, 1 football pitch, yes we had a river,where you got canoes from God only knows, fishing with bamboo canes and string bought from the local shop, there were no portacabins with scalextrix, werent even invented yet. Why have you lied to these people. Go on the internet and type in St Francis Home and see all the newspaper articles regarding the abuse, look up the Shefford Scruffs, thats us and were gonna get justice, finaly.There is a police investigation underway, in 2003 one priest was actualy arrested.Stop telling your lies, it was a hell hole.

[tony vines]

Hi Gordon

As I started this thread I guess that I owe you an apology for inadvertently opening up old wounds, innocent though my original question was. I'm not going to get into the argument you have with what Dennis wrote a few years ago because I know nothing about it, except what I've seen on the TV and, thanks to your reply above, to the articles online about the Shefford Scruffs. My reply to Dennis at the time must now seem pretty naive to you! I had no idea that such allegations involved St. Francis Home but a few months ago I saw a TV programme about Fr. Ryan, among others. I can only wish you all the success in the world as you seek justice.

There were three main reasons for my original question. First the home was a long way from where my wife's ancestor who went there lived, Second, the census stated that he was an orphan when his parents were both still alive. Third, it was primarily a Catholic home but to the best of my knowledge the family was either C of E or possibly Methodist.

I have since discovered contemporary newspaper articles about the boy's father who apparently was a pretty disreputable individual and who also kept his sons away from the local school and was prosecuted for doing so on more than one occasion. I now believe that the reason the boy went to Shefford was because he was taken away from home and sent there by the 'authorities'.

Interestingly the papers today report the scandal of local authorities spending a fortune on children sent to care homes miles away from their families into areas where criminals of all kinds are abundant. Their defence is that they need to remove children from the vicinity of abusive relationships to 'break the cycle' whereas in fact they have only been making things worse in that regard.

I have no evidence that the boy in question was abused while at home or at Shefford and anyway it happened in 1891 so even if he was there is not much to be done now.

I guess it's possible that you joined this forum because you came across the thread online. I hope that this was not your only reason because genealogy is a wonderful hobby but as I've said many times before, you need to be prepared to unearth some pretty unpalatable facts about your ancestors every now and then. I certainly have, but fortunately they had no effect on me or my generation.

All the very best

Tony