Two orphans for Canada

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!

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[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