Case 9288

G

Male

G's father died in February 1902 following an operation for a rupture. His death was sudden and unexpected and he left a wife and three children. G. was the youngest and the only boy.[This is according to the information on the application form although the letter of 10 July differs in its description of the members of the family]. The family were very respectable: the father, who was a member of the Church choir and a communicant, had been steady and hard working and the mother did her best to bring up her children "as a parent should do". The loss of her husband meant that it was a great struggle for G's mother to provide food and clothing for the family and to pay a heavy rent. She took in a lodger when possible to earn a little money. It was felt that she would be greatly helped if G. could be cared for by the Society. On 20 November 1902 he was admitted to the Knebworth Home. In April 1904 G's mother became distressed at the proposed transfer of her son to the Society's Home in Dolgellau, Wales. It was a long way from her home in Watford and she would find it difficult to visit him. G. was to be moved because he was going to be ten on his next birthday, and it was felt that he needed to be in a Home for older boys where the discipline was more rigorous and he would be under the control of a Master. The Knebworth Home was intended for "quite little boys." There were no vacancies in Homes closer to London hence the proposed move to Dolgellau. The Society thought that it would be reasonable for G. to return to his mother if she so wished, as the older children were now earning some money and she had no-one dependent on her. G's mother took her son home from Knebworth on 28 April 1904.