My grandfather was born in Stranraer poorhouse in 1876 and boarded out to a local family at the time of 1881 census. Through later Govan poorhouse records he says that from 1885 to about 1891 he was at Oban Cathedral School and he writes Tobermory , Mull next to this information.
By 1891 census he is in a catholic home for young apprentices in Edinburgh.
Research at Oban library shows a cathedral school run by the Sisters of mercy in 1891. I have been told that it was common for orphans to be "fostered" out to the islands as workers for families. This certainly happened on other islands and these children were known as "homers" right up to the 1960's and would make sense of the Mull note.
Has anyone any ideas for tracing more information about what happened to my grandfather in those years in Oban / Mull?
