Blank Hi all, Am trying to help a friend in need, who lived in a children's home and is unsure of his parentage, name etc. I have put messages in before (and thank you to those who responded), but this one has more details if anyone can help, please? The gentleman was always called David John Buckle - however on leaving the home he was told his surname was Clarke with an E!!!!! He believes that he may have been born on August 11 1924 (the day he celebrates his birthday) to Hilda Marion Clarke of Westbourne Sq, Paddington, London. He has a birth certificate registering the birth in Honiton, Devon. There is no reference to a father. His earliest memories are of living in an unregulated childrens home in Tooting Common, London - he has no details. The second memory is of an unregulated home (i.e. not Barnardos or The Childrens Society etc) called Beechcroft House, Ringstead Road, Sutton, Surrey. This was run by a Miss Butler who David always refers to as his guardian. Later Miss Butler moved the home to Crouch House, Crouch, Boro Green, Sevenoaks, Kent before finally moving to 21 Vale Square, Ramsgate. David stayed here until WW2 broke out when he left for good. During his time with Miss Butler he remembers children being sold, allegedly to provide funds to keep the home going. He was also offered for sale but thank goodness was considered too scrawny by the men who "inspected" him. Somewhat ironically within a few years of these awful events he was embroiled in WW2 as a marine commando. However back to the main script. As explained before, he was given the name David John Buckle but on the day he left Ramsgate Miss Butler told him "never forget David that your real name is Clarke is with an e" - no more or less than that. For the rest of her life she refused to tell him anymore and took whatever else she knew to the grave. From this scrap of information his family have been able to obtain the birth certificate for David John Clarke which I referred to above. We know this same Hilda Marion Clarke married a Cecil Robert Dack in November 1929 and as a result of discovering this fact we are trying to trace members of the Dack family in an attempt to learn more about Dads mother and father, who he really is etc and maybe make contact with any (hitherto unknown to us) family members who might be interested to meet us. The poor chap and his family are desperate to find out something - they have emailed barnado's - with no luck as yet. Sorry for such a long winded message. Louise.