Hidden Lives Revealed. A virtual archive - children in care 1881-1981 * Image of handwritten text

Case 9045

Case number: 9045
Application year: 1902
Name:

G

Gender:

Male

Year of birth: 1895
Home: Byfleet Receiving Home; All Saints' Home For Boys, Ashdon

Description:

G's father had died in July 1901 from heart disease. His mother worked as a cleaner at the Infirmary in Camberwell but she was not strong and it was felt that she might find it impossible to continue at this work. She was away from home all day and had to pay a considerable proportion of her wages to have her two youngest children cared for while she was at work. G. was left without anyone to look after him and had become troublesome and unmanageable. He had "fallen in with rough bad companions and [was] in great danger of growing worse and developing criminal tendencies." It was seen as imperative that he should be removed from the neighbourhood. On 7 July 1902 he was admitted to the Byfleet Receiving Home and transferred to the All Saints Home, Ashdon ten days later, on 17 July. On 5 January 1903 G. was removed from All Saints Home by his mother who had remarried and was in a position to care for him. The authorities at the Home were sorry to see the child leave as he had been good and they knew they would miss him, but they were pleased that he was returning to his mother.


Keywords: Behaviour; Poverty

Items: 1. Application to the Waifs and Strays' Society 17 June 1902
2. Medical certificate 17 June 1902
3. Letter from the All Saints Home about G. leaving and returning to his mother's care 3 January 1903




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