Genealogy Chat

Hi, Does anyone know where I might find records from 'Ragged' Schools and Board of Guardians homes in London.

My late Mother was born in Beresford Street, Newington in 1905. She told me she went to a ragged school, close to her home. Her Father was in a Sanatorium (with TB) and when her Mother also became ill, she was placed in a Guardians' home in Peckham. This was a 'family' house, with a 'Mother' and an 'Auntie' in charge.I know she used to play on Peckham Rye.

She was an orphan by the time she was 11 and stayed at the childrens' home until she went in to Domestic Service. For all the hardship, she lived to be 91 years old!

Any information or pointers would be gratefully received!

Try Google

plus

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/

Roy

Thank you, but I have already tried those avenues and even wrote to the Barnardo headquarters, but so far no luck. I'm pretty certain there was no workhouse directly involved, though I imagine the Guardian's Homes would have been similarly classified.

Pauline

Sorry, that should have been Shaftesbury Society not Barnado. :-)

Whilst admiting to getting confused with boundary changes, it might be worth contacting the London Metropolitan Archives.

You could ask if they cover Peckham/Peckham Rye and have any relevant schoolboard records?

Thank you, yes I will do that, but unless the records are on-line or available on CD or Microfiche I can't get to see them. I used to go to the LMA but am now disabled and cannot travel.

Pauline

There are some poor law records on Ancestry. They aren't indexed so you have to trawl them. Can't remember the years off the top of my head though. will take a look and see if i can find them.

Do you know where she is in 1911?

Janice

Here's a link which might turn up something for you


http://www.raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk/nextgen/about/contact.shtml

Hi, re.1911

In the 1911 census my Grandmother Frances Susannah Mountcastle was living at 14 Arthur Street, SE St Mary Newington, Southwark. My Grandfather was already in a sanatorium. My Mother's sister, also Frances Susannah was living there, as was my Mother, Florence Emily Mountcastle (then aged 5/6). I don't know where my Aunt Ann was at that time, though she was only 2 years older than my Mother. I know she later went into service near where the sanatorium was, in Lancing, Sussex.

Thank you for the links and the info.

Pauline

Charities, you mentioned the Shaftesbury Society, would have been expected to produce an Annual Report, which would include an accounts summary, subscribers and donors, committee members etc. And Charities' executive committees and sub-committees would have kept Minute Books in which you might find names of those receiving assistance.
If these documents have survived, they are more than likely lodged at the local record office - but apparently very few have survived, and those which have will carry a 75 yr closure rule.

I am wondering if, as your mother was in the Guardians Home in Peckham, might it be worth searching for the district/county/borough Boarding-Out Committee Minutes. Also, you might try School records - admission registers, log books etc. For all or any of these try the local records office or archives library? It might be worth phoning them, see if they offer a search service

The National Register of Archives/National Archives MAY be able to tell you where each individual Charity has lodged its records.
You could try to locate relevant records on the National Archives website, but I'm not that confident at using TNA website so have little experience. Hopefully someone on here will know more about TNA searching than I do, and can point you in the right direction
.
I hope you understand that these suggestions are just guesses, I don’t actually know for sure you will find what you’re looking for, but I wish you good luck and hope you’re successful in your searching.

Karen

Thank you, I very much appreciate the ways in which members try to help. I have had a number of brick walls knocked down and continue to be amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge shown. I will try all the avenues in turn. At the moment I'm trying to find where my Aunt Ann was in 1911. I guess she may have been with a relative, but that's another set of searches!

Once again, thank you everyone.
Pauline

Ann was with them - but she's there as Annie.

Name: Annie Mountcastle
Age in 1911: 8
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1903
Relation to Head: Daughter
Gender: Female
Birth Place: WALWORTH, England
Civil parish: Newington St Mary
County/Island: London
Country: England
Street Address: 14 Arthur Street, Camberwell S E
Registration district: Southwark
Registration District Number: 23
Sub-registration district: Newington South

Frances Mountcastle 45
Frances Mountcastle 13
Annie Mountcastle 8
Florrence Mountcastle 5

Just solved the whereabouts of Ann. She is shown as Annie on the Ancestry 1911 census, with her mother and sisters. George (my Grandfather) is found at Channel View, Steyning, Sussex, which is the Sanatorium. I have a little information about this place, and know that my Grandfather died there in 1917, a year after my Grandmother died in Camberwell Infirmary. She was known there by her married name of Greenslade and buried under that name. She and my Grandfather were never married.

Such is life, and for them both a fairly short and sad one.

Pauline

Ooops, I was too slow!!!!!!!

Here's the baptism:
Name: Florence Emily Mountcastle
Record Type: Baptism
Estimated Birth Date: abt 1905
Baptism Date: 12 Nov 1905
Father's Name: George William Mountcastle
Mother's name: Francis Susanna Mountcastle
Parish or Poor Law Union: Walworth All Saints
Borough: Southwark
Register Type: Parish Registers

Looks like Ann was really Annie:

Name: Annie Minnie Mountcastle
Record Type: Baptism
Estimated Birth Date: abt 1902
Baptism Date: 27 Aug 1902
Father's Name: George Mountcastle
Mother's name: Frances Mountcastle
Parish or Poor Law Union: Walworth St Peter
Borough: Southwark
Register Type: Parish Registers

Here's another daughter:
Name: Alice Margaret Mountcastle
Record Type: Baptism
Birth Date: 7th June 1900
Baptism Date: 11 Jul 1900
Father's Name: George Mountcastle
Mother's name: Frances Mountcastle
Parish or Poor Law Union: Walworth St Peter
Borough: Southwark
Register Type: Parish Registers

Deaths Mar 1902
Mountcastle Alice M 1 Southwark 1d 77