Dr. Barnardo Home records

[tony vines]

I've been asked whether it's possible to obtain records of children from Dr. Barnado homes in the UK who were sent to Canada in the early 20th century. Details of the specific child arriving in Canada have been found so it is the information of his time in a home in Stepney, London that is of interest.

I am aware that there is a service provided by the charity which can take several months, but does anyone else know of a quicker and possibly online way of accessing those records?

[Pam Downes]

Because of the extremely sensitive nature of the records I would have thought the answer is 'no' to anything being online.

Their website specifically mentions the Data Protection Act,

which requires us to disclose information only to the person about whom it was written

.
https://www.
barnardos.org.uk/products-2.pdf
See also the next paragraph about written consent which wouldn't be necessary if anything was available online.

Pam

[pat fowles]

From my experience it's impossible to get the UK records of Canadian Home Children. However, all the Canadian census info is online if you haven't tracked him in Canada. Also marriage info in Canada is online, which gives a lot more detail than a UK marriage cert. If you Google Home Children in Canada, it should bring the Library and Archive site up.

[tony vines]

Thanks Pat. I think that my contact has the Canadian end of things fairly well wrapped up but it was the early life in the care home and before that in the UK that was of interest.

cheers
Tony

[maesglas/ssclub]

Hi Tony, I tried to find my grandmothers first family who were all sent to Canada under the Scheme to get rid of the Children in homes, I managed to contact them and they replied that they had information which would me approx £100, its a long story but my brother did not want me to find out anything that might put my gran in a bad light, if you know what I mean.

I cant remember exactly how I went about it, but I do remember an organisation called " British Home Children" help me a lot, I will send another message with a link to them.

Robert

[maesglas/ssclub]

Hi Tony, The British Home Children have a site on Facebook.

[edwardtjones]

Hello tony....Read your note. I am a barnardo child. Was taken into care at 4 months old when my mother died of TB. Was at Hawkhurst Babies castle for my first 18 months. Then another clearing station until was 3 and fostered out to Suffolk. Stayed here until i was 10 then went to Watts naval training school until i was 15. We were told we were Waifs and strays. Out of the blue got a letter from a sister when i was 13. Everyone of us thought we were orphans.... I am in touch with old boys in Australia and for the last 4 years with Lori head of the Canadian home children. We met at the 150 anniversary of Dr Barnardos birthat Buckingham Palace last year.

[tony vines]

Hello Edward and thanks for getting in touch about what could easily be a sensitive subject for you.

I am helping a relative who is trying to find out more about the circumstances surrounding a home care boy who was taken in by the Stepney home while his parents were both still alive. The parents seemed from contemporary records to have stayed in the area and lived a reasonably well-off life for many years afterwards. Their son however was shipped off to Canada where I understand that his life is well-researched and recorded. So it is the early years and the reasons for him being abandoned to the care of Dr Barnados which is of interest.

As Pat says above such matters are very sensitive at the time but given that all the people involved - parents and son - are long since dead it was felt that it was not such a big matter to look into things now.

Tony

[pat fowles]

Hello Edward and thanks for getting in touch about what could easily be a sensitive subject for you.

I am helping a relative who is trying to find out more about the circumstances surrounding a home care boy who was taken in by the Stepney home while his parents were both still alive. The parents seemed from contemporary records to have stayed in the area and lived a reasonably well-off life for many years afterwards. Their son however was shipped off to Canada where I understand that his life is well-researched and recorded. So it is the early years and the reasons for him being abandoned to the care of Dr Barnados which is of interest.

As Pat says above such matters are very sensitive at the time but given that all the people involved - parents and son - are long since dead it was felt that it was not such a big matter to look into things now.

Tony

Hi Tony
The boy I was searching for had a similar story. His Father remarried in 1881 as a Widower (no death record for his Mother though) and he was shipped out to Canada in 1888. They weren't poor either. I contacted the present day group that sent him to Canada and the reply was 'we have never sent any children to Canada'. Unbelievable answer considering there were lots of boys in his group.
I found some school records on Ancestry for him before he was sent to Canada. Have you looked for school records for your boy...may give you an idea about where/when he was in Stepney prior to being 'emigrated'.

[Decoy Farm]

I too have home children in my family also sent to Canada. I was able to find their father through the admission papers. Take a look at the Canadian Archives, their database was a great help to me.

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discov...-children.aspx

also

British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa https://bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=4

and

https://www.britishhomechildren.com/

The later two gave me ideas of where else to look for records.