Hi everybody, some advice/help needed please.
My great grandfather Hugh Millar, was supposedly born in Scotland in around 1881 (I've found the record of his death, 1943, supposedly aged 62) in the Stirling area. By 1902/3 he was living in Shiremoor, Northumberland (I can't find any trace of him there in the 1901 Census). He was married in 1903 and I know he lived in Duchess Street, Shiremoor.
His last surviving daughter knows very little about his past as it appears he kept it under cover! The common consensus is that he was something like a 'Barnardo's boy', but what type of home it was and where it was is not known.
I have found record of a Hugh Millar in the Shaftesbury Home in London in 1891 but its states place of birth is Hammersmith, London. As it was a boys' home, can this sort of birth information be trusted - was 'London' just entered for convenience? In the 1881 Census there is a Hugh Millar living in Upminster, Essex, with (I assume) his mother Henrietta, sister Clara and uncle(?) Fredrick Hannent. Place of birth for all of these Millars is given as Scotland. In the 1891 Census, it appears that Henrietta and Clara (Claire?) are in nearby West Ham (ages match the 1881 Census), living together, but there is no Hugh and their place of birth is given as West Indies! Could they have fallen on hard times and sent Hugh off to this home?
Does anyone know how (or if) I can fill in the blanks? I've ordered Hugh's marriage cert so might glean some more from that but I've got a feeling that his parents' names might probably be missing. Does anyone know of any homes in Scotland at the end of the 19th century?
Many thanks
Mick