Quick Search : British Home Children : The RootsChat.Com Reference Library

HOME FORUM HELP SEARCH

News : The Surname Interests Table (SIT), the Database for Special Interests Groups (DBSIG) and Ancestral Anniversaries
are now "mobile friendlier" more here ...

The RootsChat Reference Library

RootsChat.Com » RootsChat Reference Library » Database for Special Interest Groups (DBSIG) » British Home Children : Quick Search

Record #5547

Name :: : Joseph T. WHITE (1927 - )
aka : Joe White
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 1927 (approx.)
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland

Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : Jun 1928
Country: : Australia
Ship: : Ballarat
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Fairbridge Homes

NotesIn 1928, Joseph T. White, 7 (along with brother, William W. White, 11) arrived at Fremantle, Australia in a group of children from the Child Emigration Society, The Strand, London, England.

Joe White said that his years at Fairbridge had an enormous, but negative, effect on his life. "Organisations of that kind tend to attract a bigger proportion of people included to be more sadistic than ordinary people," he said. He told of sexual deviance and abuse towards the boys with whom he resided.

"The farm consisted of a number of cottages, each containing 14 boys and presided over by a cottage mother. If you were lucky you got a good cottage mother; if you weren't, like me, you got a religious maniac. There is nothing worse in this world than a religious maniac."

In 1988, Joe White published his first novel, Pringle's War, which was reviewed in Australia by Martin Stewart:

"Joining army was a release

If a nation were to design an upbringing for its sons that would steel them mentally and physically for the rigours of military life, then this autobiographical novel could serve as a manual.

The initiative and resolve of White's character [in his novel, Pringle's War], Joe Pringle, is born of the brutality of an orphanage life, and there's no mistaking the identity of the orphanage which fostered such burning hatreds in this WA author's pen.

From the cover, Pringle's War is a war story set in the western desert, but in truth it's as much Joe White's battle with authority, pomposity and prejudice. As such it's a biting indictment of his minders at Fairbridge, where he was consigned at a tender age, and a bitter assessment of the British class system as it manifested itself through its military graduates.

Joe Pringle's war did not begin in 1939 but the day he was born. The attitudes founded in the indignities and deprivations of orphanage life carry on through his adult years; child as father to the man.

Joining the army for Joe Pringle was a release, his first glimpse that he was a normal human being with a mind equal to, if not better, than the next.

He is the epitome of the Digger and his story is told in the language of the Australian soldier -- crude and colourful. He distrusts authority in any shape or form, the stiffer the officer's uniform the stiffer the bristles on the nape of his neck.

He relies on his instincts and his mates. rules for survival that served the author well. Jose White survived the desert and the jungle and in reality has lived to tell some of his tale through this book. ...

Take from his Manchester home and family at the age of two, Joe White found happiness in his post-war marriage and a farming life near Dardanup.

He later founded the Rats of Tobruk Association, has had several short stories published and is now retired in Perth. He pulls no punches in this book, merely veils the targets by the simple expedient of writing in a novel form. But the real objects of his wrath are there for all to see."

Joe published his autobiography in 1993, and an article was written by Bruce Butler about it and Joe's life:

"War survivor reveals the human side

'War is a very confusing business,' said Joe White, 72. He has seen more of life and death than most.

For much of his youth, Joe could be excused for thinking life itself was confusing. After his father died in 1924 leaving a young wife and seven children, Joe and his older brother Wally were fostered out, then shipped to Australia. Joe lived eight years at Fairbridge, near Pinjarra.

He left at 15, joined the army and served five years on the front line in some of Australia's bloodiest campaigns at Tobruk, El Alamein and the Pacific islands.

In the madness of Beirut he briefly met a brother he never knew. They spent just one night together, in 1942. That brother, Jack, was killed soon after.

Wally, the brother he grew up with at Fairbridge, met an English girl, married her and returned to UK, and they saw each other only once more.

Mr. White, who has written two novels, has now completed a 453-page autobiography about his remarkable journey through life.

He met his wife, Madge, in 1943 and married her three weeks later. This year they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Fairbridge was run by an ex-soldier who ruled with a strap, so Joe ws no stranger to discipline.

'I was a good solider. I was well trained," he said, "I sailed in 1941 and Wally, my brother, joined me at Tobruk. When we were in the breakthrough at Ruin Ridge (El Alamein), Wally was captured and later shipped across to a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy.

'I got postcards, with very basic details, saying he was okay, then I learnt later that he escaped and lived with the Italian partisans. He was badly frost-bitten and later lost his legs as a result of those injuries.

'I saw him briefly after the war but I never saw him again after that. I couldn't find him.'

From Tobruk, Joe moved on to Palestine and up through Syria to the Turkish border to stop the German advance via turkey to the Suez Canal. In Beirut, he was re-united with Jack.

'I got a 24-hour pass and that's where I had to walk up to a bloke and say 'I'm your brother Joe'. I'd never seen him since we were children, but it is a funny thing when you know he is your brother -- there is a bonding. We both got pretty full.'

Then they went the ways of their units and Jack was reported killed in the Sicily landing.

'I was lucky not to be a part of the main body of men who were lost. But the desert was tough -- there was no food, there was no water, it was a bad time. It was so hard', Mr White said.

'We would be in a vehicle, it was incredibly hot and dusty, swirling into our eyes and hair. Our food was covered in dirt.'

Mr White said the emotion of war -- and its traumatic effects -- were difficult to cope with.

When he returned to Perth in 1945, he was so badly affected by his experiences he could not use a telephone or ride on a bus.

'After it was over you wanted to go back to war.'"

ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-13 17:06:02 / From original database

Last Updated : 2009-03-13 17:47:18 /

Family History ResearchersRootsChatters with family connections to Joseph T. WHITE:

Readers Comments

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 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 1291 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
27034	ABBOTT, Franz Arnold	1918	ENG, DEV	Oct 1928 : Beltana	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27033	ABBOTT, Harry Franz	1917	ENG, MDX, Hendon	Oct 1928 : Beltana	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5493	ACOL, John	1920	ENG, LND, Hampstead	Nov 1932 : Balranald	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
21189	ADAMS, William	1916	ENG, WAR, Aston	Jan 1927 : Ballarat	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27035	ALDER, John Harkis	1914	ENG, OXF	Oct 1928 : Beltana	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
20888	ALDERSON, Arthur	1912	ENG, DUR	Jan 1924 : Baradine	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
26974	ALEXANDER, Reginald Gordon	1917	ENG, LAN, West Derby	Jan 1928 : Barrabool	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
12114	ALLEN, Clifford John	1914	GBG,	Dec 1928 : Bendigo	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
26426	ALLEN, Walter Bevis	1901	ENG, SRY, Kingston	Jul 1913 : Belgic	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5210	ALSOP, Benjamin H.	1929	ENG, DUR, Darlington	Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl	CAN	Fairbridge Homes
5212	ALSOP, James	1927	ENG, DUR, Darlington	Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl	CAN	Fairbridge Homes
5211	ALSOP, Norman Frederick	1923	ENG, DUR, Dunsdale	Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl	CAN	Fairbridge Homes
25270	AMOTT, James	1913	ENG, LND, Lambeth	Feb 1924 : Euripides	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25136	ANDERSON, Muriel Helen	1921	ENG, ESS, West Ham	Oct 1930 : Barrabool	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5494	ANDERSON, Robert	1918	ENG, LND, Lambeth	Oct 1930 : Barrabool	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25616	ANDREWS, Gwendoline	1914		Feb 1924 : Euripides	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25137	ANDREWS, Herbert George	1912	ENG, SSX	Feb 1924 : Euripides	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25138	ANKCORN, Dennis George	1925	ENG, WAR, Birmingham	Jan 1937 : Oronsay	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25139	ANKCORN, Emma Dorothy	1922	ENG, WAR, Birmingham	Feb 1934 : Jervis Bay	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
8780	ANNETTS, Raymond Douglas	1917	ENG, LND, Lambeth	Mar 1928 : Benalla	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5413	ANSELL, Maurice George	1926	ENG, OXF, Banbury	Nov 1938 : Themistocles	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5404	ANSELL, Peter Albert John	1928	ENG, OXF, Banbury	Nov 1938 : Themistocles	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
23615	APPLEFORD, Harry	1921	ENG, BRK, Reading	May 1933 : Otranto	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27036	APPLEGATE, Sidney Thomas	1916	ENG, LND, Hackney	Oct 1928 : Beltana	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25954	ARMSTRONG, Benjamin John Emmerson	1918	ENG, HAM, Hartley Wintney	Nov 1929 : Ballarat	AUS	Fairbridge Homes	splmum , Pinjarra1929
21149	ARMSTRONG, John Kenneth	1915	ENG,	Aug 1921 : Themistocles	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5496	ARNOTT, Anthony Robert	1923	ENG, DUR, Darlington	May 1934 : Ballarat	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5497	ARNOTT, Michael	1925	ENG, DUR, Darlington	May 1934 : Ballarat	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
25271	ARTHUR, Frederick	1913	ENG, SRY, Kingston	Feb 1924 : Euripides	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27391	ARTHUR, James Lafferty	1940	ENG,	Jan 1949 : Ormonde	AUS	Fairbridge 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 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 1291 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

The Database for Special Interest Groups (DBSIG) is a RootsChat Reference Library project.

[Copyright] [Shrink Link] [Terms of Use] [About RootsChat]