Young Boarders

[Austringer]

Hi. My 3rd great grandfather, George Turner, born 1840, Manchester and his wife Mary had a few lodgers living with hem in the census records. Nothing unusual about that - but in 1891 they had Charles and Robert Gill living with them, aged 16 and 7, both listed as boarding (Higher West St.). I looked up the names and they appear to be the orphans of Robert Gill 1837-1887 (born Hebden Bridge, Yorks). Robert Jnr was still living in the Turner household in 1901.

I am not sure when George took the boys in, but if it was when their father died, they would have been aged just 12 and 3. It appears that Robert Gill married twice. Susan, his first wife and mother of Charles, died. It looks like the second wife, Mary Ann would have been Robert Jnr's mother and I don't know what happened to her - maybe she had the boys for a while before they lived with The Turners.

I am posting here because I feel that I am missing something. Would the boys be legally able to be "boarders" at such a tender age or should they have been in the care of a legal guardian? Is the term "boarder" just a simplification for the census and might they have been adopted or fostered by the Turners? Was there any kind of relationship between the families, or did George Turner and Robert Gill know each other through work maybe?

Thanks for any ideas or possible clues.
Lee.

[stanmapstone]

 A "Boarder" pays for a room and meals, so it could be that Charles Gill, age 16 an apprentice,  was paying something to George Turner towards his and Robert's keep.

Stan

[CaroleW]

1881 shows a Charlotte Gill aged 9mths.  In 1891 she is living in Cheetham with her aunt, Sarah Cottrell aged 56 b Yorkshire. 

[CaroleW]

1881 shows wife as Annie aged 32 and they were living in the Prestwich registration district

Likely death

Deaths December qtr 1886      
Annie    Gill aged 37  Prestwich    8d   309

[gortonboy]

hi,,,adoption required no legal documentation till after 1924,,,so if they were adopted,,it would have been an informal agreement. I have seen "adopted" children variously described as  son/daughter,,,,lodger,,,boarder,,visiting,,relation etc    not much help to you,,,but there it is. 

[jorose]

They may have been "boarded out" by the local authorities:
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/boardingout/

[stanmapstone]

It says that "Only children aged between two and ten to be boarded out." Boarding-out Order (1870)

Stan

[Austringer]

Thanks all.