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Record #3912

Name :: : Alice Maud GOWLLAND (1901 - )
aka : CUNNINGHAM
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 5 Jul 1901
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Middlesex, Pancras, London

33 Burton Crescent

Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 28 May 1909
Country: : Canada
Ship: : Corsican
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Barnardos

NotesIn 1909, Alice Gowlland, 7 (and her sister W(inifred) Gowlland, 12) arrived at Quebec, Canada, along with a group of 92 girls en route to Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. (The outbound British manifest of the Corsican, however, on May 20, 1909, shows Alice and Winifred as "Gowland", not "Gowlland"; but there is no doubt they are the same children. Winifred, at 12, is considered an adult, whereas Alice is shown as a child. The ship was carrying a total of 1,346 passengers, of whom the overwhelming majority were children.)

On the immigration record, for both girls the country of birth is stated as "England". However, going through the complete English birth records for the years 1895 to 1897, and 1901 to 1903, there are no Gowlland births. The children?s births, it was discovered, were registered in the name of the ?Putative Father? whose name was Arthur Cunningham. There were siblings, who were recorded on the files but did not enter the Home, presumably because they were adopted: their details are: Gowlland, Arthur, born c1892; and Gowlland, Elsie, born c1898. Her mother's name was Alice Maud Gowlland, who was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Richard Gowlland (1823 ? 1863) and Louisa Ann n?e Mayes: she was born at 13 Fulford Place, Southgate Road, West Hackney on 30th October 1861.

In the 1891 census Arthur Cunningham was shown living at No 22, Cambridge Place, Paddington, London, with Alice Maud Gowlland . Arthur's occupation is now shown as "Clerk" and Alice's the same. In the 1901 census (click here) they are living at No 55 Queen Street, Marylebone. Arthur's occupation is now shown as "Accountant" and Alice's as "Book-keeper". Barnardo's records state that Arthur was fifty-six when the children entered the home, which corresponds with the age of fifty-three declared in this census.

In both the 1891 and 1901 censuses, Arthur and Alice are described as "Married" although no marriage certificate has been traced, and in fact Barnardo's records state that they never married, possibly for the reason that Arthur was already married. In the 1901 census none of the three living children appears.

It is understood that the couple had been together for fourteen years, and that they had never married. With Alice dying in 1903, this implies that it was in 1889 that the relationship began. Alice Maud (the mother) died after twelve months suffering from "aortic valvular disease" on April 17, 1903. The family had to be split up nine months later. Interestingly the records also state that at the time of Alice Maud's death Arthur's occupation was "canvasser - of no fixed abode". This seems a very rapid come-down from his census declaration of ?accountant? of just three years earlier. Barnardo's records state that the children were handed over to their Portsmouth Home. The information implies that Arthur asked for help from the family, particularly the maternal grandmother Louisa Ann; but, whether because she did not like him, or because of inability to cope, she was either unable or unwilling to accept them.

The "Admissions History" on the Barnardo's files confirms that the procedure in those days was that an application for assistance had to be made to Dr Barnardo's, and then enquiries were made; and it was only after completion of these enquiries that a decision was made whether to admit or not. In this case, the files state that Arthur and the children, after being refused help by the maternal grandmother, were referred to the workhouse while enquiries, usually lasting two or three weeks, were made as to the validity of their application; and so we are attempting to trace their entry into a Portsmouth workhouse in the last weeks of 1903. As a result of a favourable decision, Winifred and Alice entered Barnardo's home, and, as mentioned earlier, Arthur and Elsie seem to have left their sisters by this time.

Barnardo's records also mention the names of the siblings of the mother (Louisa, Florence and Ellen), and also the grandmother Louisa Ann Remy (married to Hermann Wilhelm Remy). The procedure in those days was that illegitimate children entering the Home were given their mother?s surname, and thus their immigration documents for Canada were in the name of Gowlland.

In 1911, Cunningham, 9, (no first name given but almost certainly Alice Maud Gowlland Cunningham) was shown as a home girl residing with Hannah Jones, 73, South of Jones Street, Brock Township, Sunderland Village, Ontario, Canada. Her date of birth was shown as July 1901 and her immigration year as 1903.

Alice Maud Cunningham married Abraham (Abe) Ecker in Ontario on November 12, 1924. She used the surname of her putative father and the certificate is in the name of "Alice Cunningham". Alice Maud gave the bride's father's name correctly as "Arthur Cunningham", but was wide of the mark with the bride's mother shown as "Alice Dowlands".

The couple subsequently had four children, the oldest of whom, John Everett Ecker, was born on 6th December 1925 and died on 17th February 1956: he married Jean Helen Shepherd on 3rd March 1951 and they had two sons. Alice and Abraham's other three children were born between 1927 and 1931.

Barnardo's archives mentioned that Alice Maud Gowlland Ecker had been in touch with them in 1993, seeking information about her background, in order ?to set her mind at rest?. She must have been about ninety-two at the time. Alice Maud and the daughter who wrote on her behalf still lived in the Ottawa area.

(Sources include J.G. Gowlland October 2006)

ContributorsCreated : 2008-07-23 16:51:56 / From original database

Last Updated : 2015-08-28 18:56:12 / alanmack

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Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 417 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
3020	ABBOT, Alice	1877	ENG, MDX, Islington	Oct 1893 : Labrador	CAN	Barnardos
3035	ABBOTT, Geoffrey Robinson	1898	ENG, MDX, Paddington	Mar 1912 : Empress of Britain	CAN	Sailing Alone
3036	ABBOTT, George	1894	ENG, MDX, London	Jul 1904 : Southwark	CAN	Barnardos
27033	ABBOTT, Harry Franz	1917	ENG, MDX, Hendon	Oct 1928 : Beltana	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
3038	ABBOTT, Herman Henry	1882	ENG, MDX, Hoxton, London	Apr 1895 : Parisian	CAN	Barnardos
3082	ABEL, Walter John	1869	ENG, MDX, London	Aug 1884 : Sarmatian	CAN	Board of Guardians (Various)
3133	ACLAND, Arthur Edward	1874	ENG, MDX, Holloway	Apr 1886 : Parisian	CAN	Barnardos
5391	AKERMAN, Martha Rosina	1891	ENG, MDX, St. Giles	Sep 1901 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
9843	ALBON, Frank Baldwin	1889	ENG, MDX, Staines	Jul 1900 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
4649	ALBON, Mildred Margaret	1891	ENG, MDX, Teddington	Jun 1905 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
16328	ALLMAN, Sophia Mary Ann	1875	ENG, MDX, St. George in the East	Jun 1885 : Lake WWnnipeg	CAN	Middlemore
3517	ALLUM, Jessie Maud	1899	ENG, MDX, Hillingdon Heath	May 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
10946	ALLWRIGHT, Bertha Isabella	1869	ENG, MDX, Mile End Old Town	Jun 1879 : Sardinian	CAN	Maria Rye
10947	ALLWRIGHT, Phoebe	1871	ENG, MDX, Poplar	Jun 1879 : Sardinian	CAN	Maria Rye
7528	ALVAREZ, Florence Rebecca	1862	ENG, MDX, Hackney	Nov 1869 : Hibernian	CAN	Maria Rye
3801	ANSELL, Alan Joseph	1894	ENG, MDX, Whitechapel, London	Oct 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3800	APPLEBY, Nelson F.	1910	ENG, MDX, Lewisham, London	Jun 1924 : Minnedosa	CAN	Barnardos
2934	ARMINGER, Eleanor Florence	1886	ENG, MDX, Mile End Old Town	Mar 1895 : Mongolian	CAN	Maria Rye
22113	ATKINS, Valentine	1915	ENG, MDX, Edmonton	May 1931 : Duchess of Bedford	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
3080	AUBURN, John George	1855	ENG, MDX, London	May 1872 : Varuna	CAN	Shoe Black Brigade
3680	AYRE, Arthur	1896	ENG, MDX, Stoke Newington, London	Jul 1909 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
3681	AYRE, Elsie	1892	ENG, MDX, Islington, London	Mar 1910 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
3682	AYRE, Maud	1893	ENG, MDX, Stoke Newington, London	Mar 1910 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
3687	BAILEY, Emily May	1897	ENG, MDX, Edgeware	Aug 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3969	BAKER, Alfred Augustus	1886	ENG, MDX, Whitechapel, London	Jul 1898 : Labrador	CAN	Barnardos
16181	BAKER, Edward George	1909	ENG, MDX, Staines	Jun 1921 : Scandinavian	CAN	Barnardos
17321	BALE, James Arthur	1896	ENG, MDX, London	Jul 1905 : Lake Champlain	CAN	Bristol Emigration Society
14741	BALL, Frederick Phillip	1878	ENG, MDX, London	May 1892 : Numidian	CAN	Childrens Aid Society
22014	BAMFORD, George Joseph	1897	ENG, MDX	Jul 1907 : Kensington	CAN	Barnardos
10259	BANKS, Constance	1899	ENG, MDX, Hendon	Aug 1913 : Tunisian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links

Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 417 Entries

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

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