Was there a traineeship to be a barge boy?

[loo]

Right you are.  I had forgotten they'd made that free, as I don't use them for that purpose. 
It's not as thorough as some other pay sites, but in most cases it will suffice, and, hopefully, you will find what you're looking for.

[Abygail]

Annie Louisa LAWSON was my biological father's grandmother and I have found info about him, his siblings, parents (Frances Sarah was his mother), located an uncle and gathered additional family history all starting with a name, a suburb and an approximate time for arrival into Australia plus the fact my father had been a merchant seaman.   I started on this in 1988.
From what my uncle told me both 'girls' migrated to Australia with spouses and family early 1950's, he doesn't know what happened to his uncle Thomas LAWSON or when his grandmother (Annie Louisa LAWSON) died.    The history seemed to have been glossed over a bit.
To achieve this I have written to the Merchant Seaman Association in both Australia and UK, searched the National Australian Archives for immigration records post WW2, electoral rolls and phonebooks.  When I found out Frances had been with Barnardo's I wrote and obtained a copy of her records and 2 photos from her time with them.   I just had this silly notion that it may be nice just to tidy up the last few ends and see if I could find something about Thomas LAWSON even though it is highly unlikely to happen.

[Eilleen]

Abygail, you mentioned in you note, that a letter to Annie Louisa Lawson, in 1921, was addressed to Mrs Parish,      as far back as 1881, the Parish family ran the "Victoria Tavern " in Hogsthorpe, near Alford, Lincolnshire.   picture may not be big enough.  from Eilleen.

[seyshell]

Thanks loo,
All this info is taken on board and duly processed.   I really have no expectations with this family, nearly everything that has been passed on orally has been seriously embellished.   Seems to have been a lot of heartache over at least 3 generations.    I need to find where the mother was born, all I have is Frances's birth certificate, and her mothers age when she was taken into care at Barnardo's (34 Y). 
At least I have another avenue to research, if nothing else I am learning at lot about our history.

Abygail?

Frances Sarah is Thomas Edwin Taylors wife, my gg.  if you are interested please feel free to email me.

Michelle