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Record #3963
Name :
: Felix Peter JOHNSON (1909 - 1994)
  aka : Peter


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 8 Jul 1909

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
: 11 Jan 1994   Notes : Pneumonia
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Hampshire, Southampton

1a Chilworth Road
Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialEngland, Hampshire, Eastleigh, Southampton
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 23 Sep 1921
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Minnedosa

Placement Family
: Walkom, Staffa; Riley, Milford Bay, Musk
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
: Hospital

Agency
: Barnardos
NotesA birth registration was found for Felix Peter Johnson: Year of Registration: 1909; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; District: Southampton; County: Hampshire; Volume: 2c; Page: 51.

Felix and his eight month old sister, Violet, were admitted to Barnardo's [Southampton] in November 1913. She was sent there immediately on being taken into HM Hospital as she had an umbilical hernia. She was sent to a foster home in Suffolk afterwards. Felix went to Babies Castle in Kent, then spent three days at Stepney Causeway in transit to his foster home in Norfolk where he did make contact with his sister again.

Felix attended school in Norfolk, England, while fostered out. He appeared to be the only Barnardo child on the page of children listed in the admittance record. As he was seven when he arrived in Norfolk he is not on the page where most of his classmates would be, there is only one person who left the same day (end of July 1921) to go to Secondary School. So it seems that once he reached that point in his education Barnardo's decided to ship him to Canada instead of continuing his education.

Felix spent five years with the same family and then was sent 3,000 miles to an unknown future. He said he knew his mother was aware that he was being sent, as did his younger sister over the border in Suffolk. To the family's knowledge, his mother never tried to contact him in Canada. The address Barnardo's had for his mother from the admission papers to give Felix when he requested it a couple of years after his arrival in Canada was no longer of use, so it seems she did not keep up correspondence with Barnardo's to check on Felix's progress.

In 1921, Felix Johnson, 12, arrived at Quebec, Canada, along with a group of 134 children en route to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

His daughter, Beth, described her views on the journey to discover her father's life in Canada:

For myself the discovery of the family with whom my father stayed for fifteen years, and where he seems to have been happier than anywhere else, has given me the chance to fulfill a lifetime's wish. To see the places where he lived and worked was a possibility, to actually meet his 'foster' brother and sister and stay with them [on the same farm] awhile is beyond what I had ever hoped for. They have extended this kind offer knowing that we all need to discover why my father never contacted them after returning to England. These people had no idea that their father had contracted as employer to him, to them he was an older brother. living, eating, sleeping, going to school, church and the Boy Scouts as one of them. One of the first questions they asked me was whether he had ever spoken of ill-treatment. They were upset at recent publicity that suggested all Home Children were badly treated. For me the realisation that my father was not an isolated case [in being sent to Canada] caused me great distress, I too felt that there might be a less 'cosy' truth behind what he had made apparent.

[M]y father was extremely fortunate to have been placed with them - he might not have been so if he had stayed with the first farmer he was sent to. ... in my father's case he seems to have found a stable and loving home.

[He] never forgot them, he ensured that they were remembered through me.

I was shocked at the condition my father and sister were in when taken into Barnardo's care. For me that tells me that he may never have survived childhood, and so were it not for what happened, I might not be here now. "

Felix Peter Johnson returned to England in 1936. He died there in 1994. 
ContributorsCreated : 2008-08-02 19:31:58 / From original database

Last Updated : 2012-07-07 11:16:31 /

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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  35 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
7448 ADAMS, Ernest Alfred1889ENG, HAM, Southampton Jul 1901 : Numidian CAN Barnardos  
9986 ADDERLEY, Edward George1890ENG, HAM, Southampton Jul 1902 : New England CAN Barnardos  
10932 BAKER, George Edward Windsor1937ENG, HAM, Southampton May 1948 : Empire Brent (formerly Letitia II) AUS Fairbridge Homes  
7165 BLANDFORD, Elizabeth1856ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1871 : Prussian CAN MacPherson Homes  
7042 BLANDFORD, Frances Amelia1859ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1871 : Prussian CAN MacPherson Homes  
16647 BLANDFORD, Kate Jane1861ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1872 : Sarmatian CAN MacPherson Homes  
16646 BLANDFORD, Mria 1865ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1872 : Sarmatian CAN MacPherson Homes  
15301 BOLWELL, Eva1868ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1884 : Parisian CAN Board of Guardians (Various)  
11006 BOUNDEY, Reginald Emmanuel1910ENG,    , Southampton Sep 1922 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
11007 BOUNDEY, Stephen James1912ENG,    , Southampton Sep 1922 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
4721 BROCKLEBANK, Jane May1899ENG, HAM, Southampton Apr 1912 : Corsican CAN Louisa Birt  
12663 BROWN, Harry 1895ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1905 : Dominion CAN Barnardos  
12502 BROWNING, Amy1894ENG,    , Southampton Aug 1905 : Dominion CAN Barnardos  
12503 BROWNING, Maud1895ENG,    , Southampton Aug 1905 : Dominion CAN Barnardos  
5053 BUCKLEY, James 1915ENG,    , Southampton Mar 1930 : Duchess of Richmond CAN Barnardos  
2987 CHANNON, Fanny1898ENG, HAM, Southampton Sep 1912 : Sicilian CAN Barnardos  
2986 CHANNON, Rose1896ENG, HAM, Southampton May 1911 : Victorian CAN Waifs & Strays  
9328 COX, Gladys1898ENG,    , Southampton Jul 1911 : Sicilian CAN Barnardos  
8556 CRUTCHER, Clara1877ENG,    , Southampton Apr 1894 : Labrador CAN Bristol Emigration Society  
15193 GOVER, Emily Alice1867ENG, HAM, Southampton Aug 1884 : Parisian CAN Board of Guardians (Various)  
8921 HARVEY, Charles Henry1897ENG, HAM, Southampton Mar 1911 : Sicilian CAN Barnardos  
12680 HENDRY, Thomas1881ENG,    , Southampton Jul 1894 : Sardinian CAN Barnardos  
2985 HERITAGE, Hilda1892ENG, HAM, Southampton May 1911 : Victorian CAN Waifs & Strays  
3963 JOHNSON, Felix Peter1909ENG, HAM, Southampton Sep 1921 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
15083 KENNETT, George W1871ENG, HAM, Southampton Sep 1884 : Circassian CAN Colonization Fund, London  
15081 KENNETT, John Dennis1872ENG, HAM, Southampton Sep 1884 : Circassian CAN Colonization Fund, London  
16713 MINTRAM, Charles Thomas1893ENG, HAM, Southampton Mar 1903 : Canada CAN Barnardos  
9927 OCKLEFORD, Ernest1889ENG,    , Southampton 1903 : - Unknown - CAN Louisa Birt  
9932 OCKLEFORD, Rose1888ENG,    , Southampton 1903 : - Unknown - CAN Louisa Birt  
5622 PENNY, Daisy May1896ENG,    , Southampton Sep 1907 : Dominion CAN Barnardos  
23466 PETTY, Sidney Arthur1898ENG, HAM, Southampton Jun 1913 : Victorian CAN Waifs & Strays  
3825 SAVAGE, Lilian Kate1900ENG, HAM, Southampton Sep 1914 : Corinthian CAN Barnardos  
11033 SEED, Walter1880ENG, HAM, Southampton May 1891 : Mongolian CAN Louisa Birt  
8943 STICKLAND, Kathleen 1915ENG,    , Southampton Apr 1931 : Duchess of Richmond CAN Barnardos  
16236 WEBB, Daisy Hilda1894ENG, HAM, Southampton Oct 1910 : Sicilian CAN Barnardos  
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
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  35 Entries