Adopted/fostered children in c1907

[jonwicken]

Hi I am looking into the life of my 2 x great uncle. He was George Albert Binns (1870-1949) and he married Ada Frances Wadey in Hackney, London, in 1900.

She had three children: George Leopold Binns (1901-1980), Hilda Frances Binns|Dixon (1902-1969) and Albert Edward Binns (1904-1979).

The daughter of George junior born in 1901 was told that Ada left the family when her father and aunt Hilda were 5 and 6, so around 1907.

In 1911 George senior is with the two children George junior and Hilda at 18 School Road, Manor Park, East Ham. It states he had 3 children of whom 2 were then living so one had died.

I assumed Albert had died but actually he is at 40 Hertford Road, Kingsland, Hackney aged 6 with Sarah Newman, a 50 year old chair caner. He is listed as an adopted child.

George Binns senior joined the army in 1915 and his service record only lists two children, George junior and Hilda.

So what happened? Was Albert not actually his biological child? Could he just not look after a 3 year old in 1907 when his wife left?

Why does he say one of his children had died on the 1911 census? Is that how he felt about it after the adoption? There are no other children I can find who died.

When Albert got married in 1925 George Albert Binns is listed as his father (which of course doesn't mean anything) but his brother George was a witness, so they clearly were in touch then.

I know there could be some private arrangements with children being fostered but if George was paying for a child to be fostered, why wouldn't he have mentioned the child in his 1915 service record? Did the parish still pay for children to be fostered then?

Has anyone please got any thoughts on this at all and might any records relating to such arrangements perhaps survive anywhere?

Thank you,
Jon

   

[brigidmac]

it would be interesting to see what was written on the childrens baptisms if they had them

could the grandaughter be wrong about when ada left maybe closer to birth of third child and George senior did not acknowledge albert as his child

otherwise dna of alberts descendents and hildas + george juniors would show if they were full or half siblings

did you find where Ada went and were there any Alberts in her vicinity who albert could have been named after ?

[jonwicken]

Thanks for the reply as it made me look again at Albert's baptism. The address on that for the family in September 1904 is 38 Hertford Road. This is the house next door to 40 Hertford Road, where Albert was in the 1911 census with his adopted mother. So presumably he was brought up by their neighbour.

There is no way of knowing if the granddaughter is incorrect as all I have is what she wrote in 1995 and said that is what she believed. Albert had no children so can't test their DNA unfortunately either!

But if George did not acknowledge the child as his, which is possible, who would have overseen paying for the fostering. I don't suppose George would have wanted to pay for a child that was not his. Would there have been anything official or would it just have been a private arrangement?

After the separation Ada went on to have more children including two she also gave up.

Any more thought welcomed!

Thanks,
Jon

[Spidermonkey]

Looking at the 1911 census, to me it looks as if George or his father Frederick have completed the form and said that George has had 3 children and 3 children are still alive.  Then the enumerator has come along and changed it to say that only 2 children are living - perhaps because only 2 children are listed on the census form???

[wivenhoe]

GRO births

BINNS, George Leopold      mms.   WADEY 
1901  MarQ  West Ham      Vol 04A  Page 511

BINNS, Hilda Frances         mms.   WADEY 
1902  DecQ  West Ham      Vol 04A  Page 460  ​

BINNS, Albert Edward        mms.     WADEY 
1904  DecQ   Hackney       Vol 01B  Page 478

BINNS, Ada Millicent          mms.    WADEY 
1909  JunQ    Hackney       Vol 01B  Page 443

BINNS, Robert                  mms.       WADEY 
1913  JunQ   Shoreditch    Vol 01C  Page 119
 

[Galium]

Ada Binns and Robert Binns in 1911 say they have ben married 3 years, which ties in with her leaving George  c1907.  Who is Robert Binns, is he related to George? 

____

Although there were no official adoption formalities in the early 1900s, I think that it would be generally understood that adopting a child  meant that the he/she was then your responsibilty, so Sarah Newman would be paying for Albert's upkeep.  Otherwise, if she was only caring for him, and George was paying her she would have said that he was her foster child, or nurse child.