| Description: |
J. was the first boy to be in the care of the Society. He was partially disabled due to a fall on ice and neglect by his parents. At one point, when he was about 10, he worked as a crossing sweeper on Clapham Common in South London. A district visitor found J. in a poor state of health and had him removed from his home to an Orthopaedic Hospital. He spent time in a number of convalescent homes both before and after he was taken into the Waifs and Strays' Society's care. He lived at the Clapton Boys Home in London for a number of years. He became a reader in a print firm, got married and had a daughter. He also became a grandfather to two boys and a girl. In 1907 an article about J. was published in the Society's Our Waifs and Strays magazine. In the 1920s he wrote poems under the pseudonym "A Waif". J. died of tuberculosis in March 1930. |
