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Record #4727

Name :: : Gilbert Charles John WILLIAMS (1900 - )
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 1900
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthWales, Monmouthshire, Newport

Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 22 Sep 1907
Country: : Canada
Ship: : Dominion
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Barnardos

NotesA birth registration was found for Gilbert Charles J Williams: Year of Registration: 1900; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; District: Newport M; County: Glamorgan, Gwent, Monmouthshire; Volume: 11a; Page: 190. (Parents: Robert and Lewsia Williams.)

His father, Robert Williams, was a dockworker, not a wealthy man, but from photos it is apparent the family was clean, well fed and well housed. They lived in one of the many stone row houses that still line the streets of Newport, near Cardiff, Wales. They were Church of England. The children attended school.

On the second of March, 1906, Gilbert Charles' father was struck by a piece of timber at the docks and killed. His mother was 31 at the time and pregnant with her ninth child. The eldest girls were 11 and 12. There was a year-old baby girl and a little boy of maybe three. Gilbert would have been six.

In the official report, the Barnardo `relieving officer' spoke of Lewsia Williams as "a striving, respectable woman who elicited much sympathy." The ten shillings a week in relief she got from the parish was paid away in rent. Her attempt at setting up a business with one of her brothers trading in fruits and vegetables failed. Still, she managed to keep the family together for a whole year. It was somebody from the parish who said, `I'm going to see if I can get help for you.' That's when Lewsia was approached by the orphanage.

The lady from Barnardo's must have been as convincing as Lewisa Williams was desperate. Lewsia had no intention of giving up her four middle children permanently; the arrangement was to last only until she could get back on her feet. The two older girls would look after the younger three while she worked.

The family would never be whole again. Someone somewhere in the Barnardo organization made the decision that the four Williams children, ages six to ten, should be included with a group of orphans scheduled to emigrate to Canada.

In 1907, Gilbert C. J. Williams, 7 (along with brother, Robert John Williams, 6), arrived at Quebec, Canada, with a group of 252 Barnardo children en route to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In 1990, his grandniece, Barb Perkins, went to Wales to do more research, people who knew the family described the way it had been ripped apart. They said Lewisa Williams never got over it. Even in her old age, after she had remarried and had a tenth child, she still wept for her four lost children.

In Canada the children were separated. One boy was shot (but survived) trying to run away. One sister seemed to have fared fairly well. The other did not.

Eventually the Canadian siblings were reunited and for a time they all lived together as young adults. Relatives in Wales remember receiving packages from them.

Gilbert Charles WILLIAMS, 22, truck driver, Wales England, Hamilton, son of Charles John WILLIAMS (b. Newport Wales) & Louise Lillian EVANS, married Mary Rebecca WINTERMUTE, 17, looper, Hamilton, same, daughter of Philip Franklin WINTERMUTE (b. Caledonia Ont) & Ida Bell REYNOLDS, witn: Robert John WILLIAMS & Bessie PHILLIPS, both of Hamilton, 5 May 1923 at All Saints Church, Hamilton (Reg. 25107-23)

ContributorsCreated : 2009-02-16 14:37:01 / From original database

Additional Contributions from : alanmack

Last Updated : 2009-02-16 15:25:21 /

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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 20 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
6256	ADDIS, Herbert	1897	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1909 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
4181	BERRYMAN, Hannah Maria	1891	WAL, MON, Pontypool	Sep 1907 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
4183	BERRYMAN, May Harriet	1899	WAL, MON, Pontypool	May 1911 : Victorian	CAN	Waifs & Strays
16596	BOOTH, Annie May	1892	WAL, MON, Abergavenny	Oct 1903 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
13440	BRIDGES, James	1873	WAL, MON, Newport	Apr 1886 : Dominion	CAN	Board of Guardians (Various)
16584	BUTCHER, Gladys Ruby	1894	WAL, MON, Newport	Aug 1906 : Tunisian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
16583	BUTCHER, Milicent Florence	1901	WAL, MON, Newport	Jun 1912 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
4128	CLUTTON, Charles H. J.	1914	WAL, MON, Newport	Apr 1928 : Andania	CAN	Waifs & Strays	eclutton
12235	DAVIES, Gustave	1921	WAL, MON, Pontypool	Nov 1932 : Balranald	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
14495	EMERY, John	1912	WAL, MON, Bedwelty	Oct 1927 : Montclare	CAN	Barnardos
12834	GATEHOUSE, Henrietta Maud	1888	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1900 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
16623	GATEHOUSE, Mary Louisa Edith	1890	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1900 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
8350	LLOYD, Edith Ann	1894	WAL, MON, Abertillery	Oct 1906 : Dominion		Barnardos	LMBT79
21805	MAYO, Gertrude Blodwin	1896	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1911 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
23557	PRICE, Edgar	1916	WAL, MON, Abergavenny	Mar 1928 : Benalla	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
23312	SUTTON, George	1890	WAL, MON, Newport	Apr 1902 : Dominion	USA	Barnardos
4727	WILLIAMS, Gilbert Charles John	1900	WAL, MON, Newport	Sep 1907 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3922	WILLIAMS, Hilda Winifred	1898	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1911 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
3923	WILLIAMS, Lavinia Ellen	1896	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1911 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
5505	WYATT, William John	1894	WAL, MON, Abergavenny	May 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos

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