Two Orphans for Canada
Trying to unscramble a particularly knotty genealogical problem, Pea-bee
came across another story which may be of interest to some Canadian families
whose origins are rooted in the shipment of orphaned children to the colonies
by such organisations as Barnado’s. Throughout much of the 19th and most of the
20th century, there was a general policy espoused by several organisations of
using unfortunate children to provide labourers and domestic servants for
various parts of the British Empire. Not all were orphaned, some were from the
reformatory system, as early Pea-bee blogs have mentioned, but in this case….
This story begins with a gunner
in the Royal Artillery based in Woolwich, south east London, called John Williamson, and his wife Sarah.
They were to have four children baptised at The Scotch Church, Woolwich, in the
first decade of the 19th century. The Scotch Church was a Presbyterian Church,
indicating that perhaps John Williamson was of Scottish origin.
The eldest
child was Esther, born in Woolwich on 17 March 1799 and baptised on 18 January
1801, the same day as her sister Sarah, born on 1 January of that year.
John and Sarah
then had two sons – Samuel, born 18 May 1806 and baptised 24 November that
year, by which time John had been promoted corporal in the Royal Artillery, and
James Farlow Williamson, born 20
October 1807 and baptised on 12 February 1808. It is possible that James’s
second name of Farlow may have been a nod to his mother’s family name.
It has not proved
possible so far to trace what happened to John and Sarah after the baptism of
James, nor, indeed of any of the children except for the oldest, Esther, and the
youngest, James.
Esther’s story
will be told on another occasion as it is from James that this story proceeds.
James followed
in his father’s footsteps and joined the Royal Artillery in 1823 and left in
1851, during which time he is known to have served in Woolwich and at Landguard
Fort on the Suffolk coast near Woodbridge. He may also have served at
Devonport.
James died in
the decade after the 1851 census, possibly in October 1860[1]. He
had married a girl called Elizabeth, from Woodbury in Devon, born about 1810. It
is believed she died early in 1869[2].
James and
Elizabeth had at least five children:
Robert, who appears
only in the 1841 census and was then 3 years old[3].
George, born 3
June 1841 in Woolwich and baptised at St Mary Magdalene on 25 July 1841. He was
last found in the records aged 10, in his parents’ home in Woolwich in 1851.
Edward James,
born at Landguard Fort and birth registered in first quarter of 1844. Last
found aged 8 in his parents’ home in Woolwich in 1851.
Sarah Ann,
born at Landguard Fort and birth registered in first quarter of 1847. With her
parents and siblings in Woolwich in 1851 and with her widowed mother and
sister, again in Woolwich, in 1861. She married a corporal in the RA, Edward
Connor, at St Nicholas, Plumstead, on 9 April 1866. Last found as witness,
together with her husband, to the marriage of her sister in 1869.
Mary Jane, born
at Landguard Fort and birth registered in second quarter of 1850. With her
parents and siblings in Woolwich in 1851 and with her widowed mother and
sister, again in Woolwich, in 1861.
Again is it
with the youngest member of the family that the tale continues.
Mary Jane Williamson married William Knowlton, a gunner in the RA,
at St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, on 9 March 1869. She had already had one child
– Walter, who was born on 7 December 1867. He was baptised as Walter Williamson
at St Mary Magdalene on 1 August 1869, several months after Mary’s marriage;
however, he was listed as Walter W Knowlton in the 1871 census and continued to
use the Walter Knowlton name
throughout his life.
Mary and
William had a second child, Minnie
Elizabeth Knowlton, born in Woolwich on 9 April 1870 and baptised on 22 May
at St Mary Magdalene, when it was noted that William was a gunner in 14th
Brigade RA.
It would seem
that Mary and William died in the 1870s[4]
and the two children were placed in orphanages: in 1881, Walter was in Dr
Barnado’s Home in Stepney and Minnie in the New Orphan House at Ashley Down in
Gloucestershire.
Both children
emigrated to Canada, Walter in 1882 while still a young teenager, and Minnie in
1891 (aged 21).
Walter was one
of the 51 children in the first party sent by Barnado aboard SS Parisian in 1882. They sailed from
Liverpool on 10 August and arrived in Quebec nine days later.
Pea-bee hasn’t
found know precisely where Walter was sent but it seems likely he was in
Toronto before long. Details of his earlier life in Canada may have been
published, however, in the Barnado’s house magazine Ups and Downs. An index indicates that he appears several times but
the details are vague. Certainly by the time he was in his 20s, he had started
a painting and decorating business in Toronto.
Although it is
not clear which ship she came on, Minnie arrived in time to act as a witness at
Walter’s marriage to Ellen Sophia King,
another Barnado’s child, on 1 December 1892 in York, Ontario, and Walter
returned the compliment when Minnie married William Alexander Sidey, a carpenter, on 5 October 1897 in York,
Ontario.
Walter and
Ellen had five children and Walter died in York on 16 July 1936.
Minnie and
William Sidey had three children and the last record found for Minnie is the
1921 Canadian census.
Anyone
interested in the Barnado’s children who were shipped to Canada, two websites
will be of use:
British Home Children Advocacy & Research Association has a website
which covers many aspects of the history of these child migrants http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/
British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO), which
has a special section on Home Children http://www.bifhsgo.ca/index.php
Pea-bee has added some footnotes as pointers
to other researches. These are supposed births or deaths which match the
sequence of known events but which also need money expended to get at the
original records to confirm the details. As this story is so very peripheral to
Pea-bee’s own work, he is not prepared to fork out himself!
[1] A
James Williamson was buried in [London Borough of] Greenwich on 31 October 1860
[deceased online]
[2] An
Elizabeth Williamson was buried in [London Borough of] Greenwich on 9 February
1869 (died 6 February) [deceased online]
[3]
The birth of a Robert Williamson was registered in Stoke Damerel, Devon – the
registration district that included the military establishments at Devonport –
in the first quarter of 1838. It is possible James was station at Devonport for
a time where he met Elizabeth and they had their first child before he was
posted back to Woolwich
[4] A
Mary Jane Knowlton and a William Knowlton both died in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in
the second quarter of 1873
