At 12:59 05/08/2006, Norman Lee wrote: >One of my great uncles spent his life in and out of one of these, >finally discharged into apprenticeship at the age of 18, although >the workhouse's records weren't too good and had him down as 15. He >probably looked like a 15 year old due to starvation in early childhood. Or more likely, nobody would take an apprentice at 18 years, the workhouse knowingly lied about his age. John

I hadn't thought of that one, John. You're probably right. But he had been in and out of the infirmary from his admittance at the age of not quite two. It was quite encouraging to see him surviving until 18. After that, he disappears from our records. He was the only child to remain in the workhouse. Of the others, the baby, who was a few days old when admitted, remained in the infirmary until she was around a month old and was then transferred to Dr. Barnardo's - their home called Babies' Castle at Hawkhurst in Kent. She died at two and a half months. The older two children, who had been toddlers when their father deserted their mother, were stronger and were released from the "Workhouse School" quite quickly. The girl, then aged ten, was taken into Barnardo's several months later and eventually shipped to Canada. The older boy went to live with his grandparents. His father was also living there but only for a short time. Not long afterwards, helped by his uncle, the boy ran away to sea. The errant "husband" married, describing himself as bachelor on his wedding certificate. Of these four children, two had been left for their mother to care for alone, the other two were disclaimed by the man named as father on their birth certificates and both those admitted to Barnardo's were signed onto the Canada list. In the case of the baby, anytime up till her 21st birthday - something she really didn't need. Their mother had died on admittance into the infirmary from the effects of childbirth. We knew that the children were starving when they were admitted to the workhouse. My grandad told us they were. He also told us how different starving felt to just being hungry. It wasn't until a few years ago that we discovered the details of what had happened, after my grandad was long dead, having survived until he was 86. When Paul talks of Dickens' descriptions of London life and its deprivations, suggesting that there was plenty of work to be had where men could earn reasonable wages and poverty was not so prevalent as he, Dickens, showed in his novels, he may be right to a certain extent. However, my family history tells tales that could have come straight from one of Dickens' novels. I believe that he got a lot of his material from Mayhew's "London Labour and the London Poor". Wherever you get concentrations of population, you are likely to also get extremes and the whole gamute of circumstances from the desperately poor to the very wealthy influential. Fortunately, there were also philanthropists at work. Audrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "John" <[email protected]> To: "Norman Lee" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2006 2:16 PM Subject: Re: [OEL] missing baptisms > At 12:59 05/08/2006, Norman Lee wrote: >>One of my great uncles spent his life in and out of one of these, finally >>discharged into apprenticeship at the age of 18, although the workhouse's >>records weren't too good and had him down as 15. He probably looked like a >>15 year old due to starvation in early childhood. > > Or more likely, nobody would take an apprentice at 18 years, the workhouse > knowingly lied about his age. > > John > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.7/409 - Release Date: 04/08/2006 > >

Audrey: > When Paul talks of Dickens' descriptions of London life and its > deprivations, > suggesting that there was plenty of work to be had where men could earn > reasonable wages and poverty was not so prevalent as he, Dickens, showed > in > his novels, he may be right to a certain extent. I don't claim that poverty was not as prevalent as Dickens says. I do claim that, however bad it was in the towns, it was even worse in the countryside. And my evidence is that people moved voluntarily from the countryside to the towns in vast numbers. > However, my family history > tells tales that could have come straight from one of Dickens' novels. Mine too; and well into the 20th century too. Best wishes Paul Prescott