Hi, I'm unsure if anyone can help with this, but I am wondering if anyone has found any Barraclough's is English Orphanages. I am unfamiliar with the areas around Manchester where she later married, but remember my Grandma mentioning Halifax. (That was also the name of the Bomber she installed the wiring on in her teens...). Grandma (Violet Miriam) was one of 14 kids. The first born was Stanley and he was to be the only boy. Both Stanley and Violet were put into orphanages at the age of about 2 and 5, and Stanley was adopted by a well-to-do family, so it was apparently said, as Grandma never saw him again. Grandma returned to the family home when she was about 10 to act as midwife, nanny and housekeeper to her younger siblings. I wonder if it is possible she may have actually been placed in domestic service, but to the best of her knowledge her mother was a dressmaker who raised the children alone, however Grandma does recall a stepfather (the father of some of her sisters) named Joe. Her next born sister (I think) was Shirley, and Grandma assisted in the delivery of several children. I will try and get the names of the other sisters, I think there was also an Elsie and possibly some other flowers (maybe Rose...Lily... I will check) Grandma celebrates her birthday on December 14 and was born abt 1920. She told me she never actually knew her birthday growing up, as they weren't celebrated in the orphanage, and once she returned home, her mother told her she had forgotten when it was exactly, after having so many! All searches suggest to me that she may have possibly taken this name after placement with the Barraclough family - but Grandma says her and Stanley were the Barracloughs, as they others had stepfathers names. She says she was always addressed as Violet Miriam while in the orphanage. I am at a loss as to work this out. Has anyone come across a family of 14 children born from >about 1917 (the first being Stanley)? Or possibly two children, Stanley and Violet? Is there any way to actually search orphanage listings from that time? I would love to hear from anyone who can help with this. I have contacted Grandma again, to see if she has any more information, but she became upset by her inability to remember. She has dementia, so information tends to come piecemeal, but when it flows it is fascinating stuff. We are now in Australia, as Grandma and Grandad emigrated in 1950 on the Ormonde. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Nic