Help with poss boarded out child in Bexley Heath 1880s

[misstinkerbell77]

Help!  I am stuck!  I am researching my mother-in-law's family tree.  Her great grandmother was "in an orphanage" according to mil.  The name is Lily Edwards, DOB 1874/1875.  She married Sidney Beagley in 1897.  No fathers details on marriage cert.  She is on the 1881 and 1891 census as being a boarder with the Button family in Bexley Heath (with the son of the family - Walter Button - as a witness to the marriage). 

I have been trawling through workhouse records for children, pregnant women with the surname Edwards.  No luck! No luck on BMD for birth either.

Is there any way I can find out her parentage and why she ended up as a boarder without knowing her parents names or even where she originated from?  Would a boarder come from nearby or possibly from the other end of the country?

Thank you so much for any advice you can give!  I have a headache! 

[avm228]

What birthplace was given for Lily in the censuses?

[avm228]

Ok I see that she was Lilly Edwards b Bexley Heath, aged 7 in 1881 and 17 in 1891 so born 1873-4.

Have you searched for a corresponding birth in Dartford registration district?

[avm228]

Apologies - I see you had drawn a blank on BMD, as have I.

The Button family seem to have had young boarders in several censuses, so perhaps what we would now call foster parents became an "orphanage" in the family folklore.

[misstinkerbell77]

Thank you for all your suggestions and help, it is appreciated.  Walter Buttons mother is actually the Elizabeth Button listed as his sister in the census.  I did start off with the possibility Lily was Elizabeths daughter too whom had been adopted out and was visiting them (I know, clutching at straws or what?!  )

If Lily were born in a workhouse, and say the mother died or abandoned the baby, I guess the workhouse would name the child and they may just make up a surname?  Even if that were the case, wouldn't the child still be baptized?

I fear I have hit an immovable brick wall 

[jorose]

Which workhouse records have you looked at? Dartford?
Bexley Heath had a separate parish, have you looked at those records from 1873-1881 (in case of late baptisms/the Buttons having her baptised after she came to them) for any potential Edwards or even just a "Lily"?

Looking in Dartford registration bmds, the "Lily" birth that stands out as having no later trace is Lily Ellis in early 1874, but your Lily could easily have been born elsewhere, and then "Bexley Heath" was just the best guess of her foster family.

[misstinkerbell77]

Hi jorose and thanks for your reply.  I have looked through Dartford workhouse records, Westminster and St Pancras (following 'infant Edwards' type leads).

I am going to go down the 'late baptisms' road tonight! Thank you for that suggestion

I have a Lily Edwards born in Liverpool in 1872, baptised with mum a Leah Edwards.  I so far haven't been able to find Leah on the 1881 Census.  Am hoping she died and this will prove to be my Lily!

Would a child born in Liverpool have been fostered out to Kent?  Seems a rather long way to travel :/

[Carmela]

Hi,
Another possibility that you might consider is that Lily could have been in a childrens' home such as Dr. Barnardo's. Barnardo's homes were very overcrowded and they often boarded out babies and younger children. ( a woman or couple were paid to care for the child until it was old enough to be trained for work or sent abroad) They sometimes sent them to live with people far from their original home. I came across a case like this in helping a friend a few years ago. Her grandfather was put in a Barnardo's home in Nottingham when he was a baby and 5 years later turned up as a boarder with a family in Kent.
Since the Buttons seem to have a history of having child boarders in their home, they may have
had an arrangement with Barnardo's or another childrens' home.

hth,
Carmela