On the 1881 census David Burns aged 12 is listed at the address Sunderland Moor. The head is listed as John Wright master of orphan asylum, David's relationship to him is as an inmate with occupation scholar. This leads me to believe that he was an orphan, however his widowed mother, Elizabeth Duncan Burns is still alive and living a few streets away at 7 Hedworth Street with three of his older sisters and his Grandfather. Also the other 26 "inmates" are all male aged between 9 and 13, I feel that it is unlikely that all the orphans in Sunderland fell into such a tight group, so I think that it may be the orphanage was a school for boys. Does anyone have any information relating to this institution that may help me understand what was happening? Richard