Author Topic: Home for Friendless Girls  (Read 7741 times)

Offline jane k

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Home for Friendless Girls
« on: Sunday 01 March 09 08:55 GMT (UK) »
I have an ancestor who was in the Home for Friendless Girls (58 Skeldergate, York) in 1881.  I`m hoping someone will be able to tell me more about this institution.
Thanks,           Jane

Offline Bee

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 01 March 09 10:19 GMT (UK) »
Hi Jane,

I don't know of this particular institution, but from what I've gathered over the years, it sounds like it could be a 'home' for unmarried pregnant girls/women.

Bee
 :)
Dinsdale, Ellis, Gee, Goldsmith,Green,Hawks,Holmes,  Lacey, Longhorn, Pickersgill, Quantrill,Tuthill, Tuttle & Walker,  in E & W Yorks, Lincs, Norfolk & Suffolk. Census information is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline charlotteCH

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 01 March 09 10:24 GMT (UK) »
Hi jane, depending on when your person was in the Home, she may be there on 1881 census which would show who else  lived there and give some clues that way.

2 ways of doing this- you could look her up on 1881 census online at familysearch, or give a name and ask fro a lookup.

charlotte

Offline jane k

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #3 on: Sunday 01 March 09 10:45 GMT (UK) »
I think it was more like an orphanage - the girls there are aged between 6 and 16.  My ancester was 13 on 1881 census and I think went there after her mother died, her father was still alive but presumably couldn`t work and look after his children - another daughter went to live with her grandmother.

Jane


Offline Maggie.

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #4 on: Sunday 01 March 09 11:13 GMT (UK) »
Hi Jane,

A search on G**gle brought up this place that was started by the Women's Christian Temperance Movement in 1889, when it was realized the necessity of acquiring a home 'where  friendless females might be sent to receive the training necessary to become useful citizens'.

http://www.cogswellhall.org/history.php

Maggie
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Offline charlotteCH

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 01 March 09 11:39 GMT (UK) »
Probably taught them to dom servs and female companions etc... from what maggie has posted.

charlotte

Offline jane k

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #6 on: Sunday 01 March 09 12:11 GMT (UK) »
Thanks Charlotte and Maggie - it sounds a bit grim doesn`t it? I can`t find my ancestor after 1881 so I`m hoping she married someone nice and had a better life afterwards!
Jane

Offline charlotteCH

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #7 on: Monday 02 March 09 06:24 GMT (UK) »
Jane, it may sound a bit grim to us but it was probably better than the workshouse or homelessness... and if it trained the girls for employment then that opened up better things for them.

There is a very good book that gives insight into life in late 19thC early 20th C called The Classic Slum ... it's a Pengiun but the author's name escapes me- its about a slum corner shop life in Lancs/Yks...
I'll try to remember the author's name  ::)and post it..

charlotte

Offline JAP

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Re: Home for Friendless Girls
« Reply #8 on: Monday 02 March 09 07:33 GMT (UK) »
Hello Jane,

Googling seems to indicate that there were many institutions named 'Home for Friendless Girls' - and not just in England.

The URL given earlier seems to be for such a home in Cleveland, Ohio.

In the 1901 York Directory
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Transcriptions/ARY/York1901b.html
there are listings at 58 Skeldergate for the York Training Home For Friendless Girls (Miss I Knight) and for the York Association For The Care Of Young Girls (Miss M Raine).

If you Google for
"york association for the care of young girls"
there is a hit on a Google book about Poverty and Prostitution in York by a Frances Finnegan.  Perhaps the aim of the Association and the Home was to look after, and train, poor young girls - partly so that they were not drawn into prostitution.  You might want to read through the extracts from the book (not happy reading).  I am wondering whether what is referred to as the 'York Penitentiary' in the book is located at the same place.

Best of luck in finding out more about the Home and about the lady concerned,

JAP