Case 1399

P

Male

P. was born in the Rhine district of Germany. His father, a commercial traveller, married P's mother under the impression that his first wife was dead. It was later discovered that the first wife was alive at the time of the second marriage, and had since died. The father went to America to obtain his first wife's death certificate, but he caught yellow fever and died in New Orleans. P's mother later died "through grief". The British Consul in Germany returned the family to England. P. and his brother lived with their grandmother, in Hampstead, London. She tried to support them by doing needlework but was unable to make enough money. The Waifs and Strays' Society boarded P. with a family in Waldingfield, Suffolk in June 1888. In May 1893 he went to the Jersey Home for Working Lads in Blackfriars, London. This was not one of the Society's homes. In August 1893 P. was discharged from the home because of bad behaviour and went to live with his grandmother.