Mitcham (Industrial) School, Poor Law Unions

[TimothBStard]

  D  Hello everyone,
I'm a little bit new here.... 

Can anyone tell me whether,

(if, as appears to be the case), my great uncle was sent from Bromley Union Workhouse to "Mitcham School" (part of Holburn Union?)
at an age of about five,

this implies anything at all about anything.... Especially the whereabouts of his parents who are supposed to have abandoned him at
Sidcup Hospital (Bexley Union area)

[jorose]

A continuation from your other thread?
( http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,479969.0.html )

Depends a bit on date, but it does suggest possibly that they found he was "chargeable" to Holborn Union rather than Bromley. This might have depended on where his parents were from. (I suppose there possibly may also have been some arrangement between the two unions - depending where you found the information about him being moved, the best way to check this would be to see if at around the same time several children were transferred there or if it was just him).

This from 1881 at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ for example:

To Ampthill Union from Melton Mowbray Union. On 16 May last Henrietta Peters and 2 children were removed to your Union. Recently she returned to Melton with her children and deserted them; children now in workhouse. Will your Board send an order for readmission of the children into the Ampthill Union to save trouble and expense?

[TimothBStard]

Hi JoRose,   

yes, I'm still following up leads on the same folk.    (I still haven't managed to get hold of my aunt; and I am also waiting to hear from Bromley local studies to see whether they have anything their creed records)

One of the few details I have to go on, is that my great uncle (Francis JEFFRIES) had been told that he went to "Mitcham School" from the Bromley Workhouse.  I didn't realise until I started looking for school records, today, that Mitcham School was part of the workhouse, and that it belonged to Holborn Poor Law Union.

If this referral could mean that Francis'es parents were traced to the Holborn area, then I might need to do some snooping in that part of London - (remotely, metaphorically or cyber...ly [?], as I live on Skye)

How did you search the records to find your quote?

To Ampthill Union from Melton Mowbray Union. On 16 May last Henrietta Peters and 2 children were removed to your Union. Recently she returned to Melton with her children and deserted them; children now in workhouse. Will your Board send an order for readmission of the children into the Ampthill Union to save trouble and expense?

   (The sun was shining here, yesterday)

[TimothBStard]

Forgot to mention:  F. originally abandoned circa 1920-1926?  Sent on to Mitcham School c. 1926

T

[jorose]

Those records are just from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ , coverage is very patchy.

You are unlikely to find anything online from the 1920s. Holborn Union records would be at the London Metropolitan Archives, I'd think. If you do get a chance to visit any of these places you should contact them first to make sure the records are available and open to public viewing. I seem to recall that some of the LMA's records, particularly in cases where the original books have not yet been put on microfilm, are not on site and they need a couple of days notice to make them available.

[TimothBStard]

ok, thanks Jo Rose 

[TimothBStard]

JoRose, do you have a feel for how complete/incomplete the BMD data is for the turn of the century, particularly for folk who may have moved around a bit and were certainly poor?

[dawnsh]

There is a lot of info about Holborn and Mitcham here

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

type Mitcham in the search box, top left of the screen.

There are some surviving records at the London Metropolitan Archives, they may not be what you want though. A few are on microfilm. Holborn Board of Guardians is ref HOBG once you get to the LMA online catalogue here

http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Log-in as Guest

And to add, they may be 'closed' as the records are less than 100 years old.

[TimothBStard]

Thanks for that Dawnsh - I had found the LMA site a bit overwhelming, I'll see what happens when I log in as a guest.  Might get a chance late/this evening.