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South Africa / Re: Children's Friend Society
« on: Friday 19 April 19 09:46 BST (UK) »
Hi folks
I've been wanting to know what was in Geoff Blackburn's book so thanks, Waddy, for clearing it up! I despair because, as you say, the boys sent out by Children's Friend Society were mostly destitute so tracing my ancestry back from 1822 has had me stumped for years. Guess I was hoping there'd be a rainbow leading me to more info on how the boys came to be on those ships..
My G G Grandfather came out in 1833 on the BOLTON (GEER- WILLIAM H) and fortunately thanks to this info I managed to trace my GG Grandmother's grave on the farm where William was sent to work as an 11 year old apprentice. By all accounts he was happy working on the farm (still run by the same family 7 generations later!) so that gives me comfort when I think of him as a frightened, poor 10 year old.
I have found 2 possible matches for my William but nothing exact. As the society preferred to send boys from 14 I'm not sure whether his DOB stated on his death certificate (11 Nov 1822) is accurate as that would've made him 10 on sailing and 11 on arrival. Not even sure it's worth asking someone to do the 2 lookups as it won't confirm anything. I'd need to find a match for anything to be certain.
Take care and please post if you find any more info on these boys!
I've been wanting to know what was in Geoff Blackburn's book so thanks, Waddy, for clearing it up! I despair because, as you say, the boys sent out by Children's Friend Society were mostly destitute so tracing my ancestry back from 1822 has had me stumped for years. Guess I was hoping there'd be a rainbow leading me to more info on how the boys came to be on those ships..
My G G Grandfather came out in 1833 on the BOLTON (GEER- WILLIAM H) and fortunately thanks to this info I managed to trace my GG Grandmother's grave on the farm where William was sent to work as an 11 year old apprentice. By all accounts he was happy working on the farm (still run by the same family 7 generations later!) so that gives me comfort when I think of him as a frightened, poor 10 year old.
I have found 2 possible matches for my William but nothing exact. As the society preferred to send boys from 14 I'm not sure whether his DOB stated on his death certificate (11 Nov 1822) is accurate as that would've made him 10 on sailing and 11 on arrival. Not even sure it's worth asking someone to do the 2 lookups as it won't confirm anything. I'd need to find a match for anything to be certain.
Take care and please post if you find any more info on these boys!