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 #4728

Name :: : Robert John WILLIAMS (1901 - )
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

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

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, 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 Robert John Williams: Year of Registration: 1901; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; District: Newport M; County: Glamorgan, Gwent, Monmouthshire; Volume: 11a; Page: 254. (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, Robert John's 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. Robert would have been five.

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, Robert John Williams, 6 (along with brother, Gilbert C. J. Williams, 7), 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.

ContributorsCreated : 2009-02-16 14:48:04 / From original database

Last Updated : 2009-02-16 14:50:08 /

Family History ResearchersRootsChatters with family connections to Robert John WILLIAMS:

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 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 2318 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
3023	ABBOTT, Charles	1884	ENG, ESS, Messing	Apr 1900 : Dominion	CAN	National Childrens Home
3029	ABBOTT, Edward	1863	ENG, LIN, Bourne	Jun 1882 : Dominion	CAN	Unknown
3858	ABBOTT, Emily Jane	1886	ENG, YKS, Guisborough	Jul 1903 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3066	ABEL, Charles	1891	ENG,	Mar 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3068	ABEL, George	1887	ENG,	Aug 1905 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3069	ABEL, George	1897	ENG,	Mar 1907 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3160	ABSOLOM, Albert Edward	1897	ENG, BRK, Reading	Aug 1905 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3107	ABSOLOM, Henry Richard James	1893	ENG, BRK, Reading	Aug 1905 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3134	ACKLAND, Herbert George	1898	ENG, LND, Camberwell	Oct 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3142	ACKROYD, John Edward	1886	ENG,	Apr 1902 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3153	ACTON, Alice	1889	ENG,	May 1902 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3154	ACTON, Ellen	1891	ENG,	May 1902 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
6255	ADAMS, Ada Gertrude	1895	ENG, WIL, Highworth	Mar 1909 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
22827	ADAMS, C R	1885	ENG,	Jul 1903 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
26477	ADAMS, Charles W R	1887	ENG,	Mar 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
23730	ADAMS, Eliza	1887	ENG,	Oct 1903 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
5602	ADAMS, Gladys	1898	ENG,	Mar 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
22545	ADAMS, Henry William	1898	ENG,	Mar 1912 : Dominion	CAN	Unknown
23726	ADAMS, Isabel	1888	ENG,	Aug 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3278	ADAMS, Robert Henry	1888	ENG,	Mar 1901 : Dominion	CAN	Louisa Birt
23732	ADAMS, Thomas G	1901	ENG,	Mar 1909 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
10890	ADAMSON, George	1893	ENG,	Jul 1903 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
9834	ADBY, Ethel Caroline	1893	ENG, BKM, Wycombe	Jun 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
8817	ADCOCK, Lily	1896	ENG,	Aug 1906 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3759	ADDERLEY, David Gerard	1897	ENG, WAR, Birmingham	May 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
3758	ADDERLEY, Harry	1899	ENG, WAR, Birmingham	May 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
12851	ADDISON, Gertrude	1886	ENG, LAN, Manchester	May 1899 : Dominion	CAN	Marchmont Homes (now Barnardos)
17080	ADGEY, Robert Hugh	1885	ENG, LAN, Liverpool	Mar 1902 : Dominion	CAN	Louisa Birt
9831	ADKINS, Ann	1899	ENG, LND, Camden	Aug 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
9830	ADKINS, Theodora Margaret	1897	ENG,	Aug 1908 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family 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 30 Entries

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

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