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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  30 Entries        
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 630 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
3090 ABRAHAM, Reginald Robert1908ENG, STS, Newcastle-under-Lyme Sep 1920 : Minnedosa CAN Catholic Emigration Association  
3091 ABRAHAM, Thomas William1906ENG, STS, Newcastle-under-Lyme Sep 1920 : Minnedosa CAN Catholic Emigration Association  
3125 ACKERMAN, James David Ernest1910ENG, ESS, West Ham Sep 1921 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
3126 ACKERMAN, Leslie David1914ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
10220 ALEXANDER, Jack1908ENG, KEN, Hoo Jul 1921 : Minnedosa CAN MacPherson Homes  
10417 ALEXANDER, Kevin Ernest1909ENG, SSX, Littlehampton May 1921 : Minnedosa CAN Father Hudsons Homes  
23376 ALEXANDER, Walter1906ENG,     May 1920 : Minnedosa CAN Middlemore  
23195 ALLEN, Lilian May1905ENG,     Sep 1921 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
22730 ALLEN, Lily1906ENG,     Sep 1921 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23775 ANDERSON, Frederick1909ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
6594 ANDERSON, Leslie1913ENG, LDN, London Jul 1927 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
22785 ANDREWS, Bertram Arthur1912ENG,     Sep 1922 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
22731 ANDREWS, Edward1911ENG,     Sep 1922 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
15843 ANSCOMBE, Queenie May1909ENG, KEN, Dover Sep 1922 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23786 ANSELL, Charles1909ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23787 ANSELL, Jack1909ENG,     Sep 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
3800 APPLEBY, Nelson F.1910ENG, MDX, Lewisham, London Jun 1924 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
22207 ARCH, William Alfred1908ENG, LIN, Grantham Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23377 ASHFIELD, Ernest1904ENG,     May 1920 : Minnedosa CAN Middlemore  
23048 ASHTON, Samuel1908ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
11940 ASPDEN, Margaret1911ENG, CHS, Birkenhead Jun 1924 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
22581 ASTLEY, Kenneth Alfred James1911ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos klms65  
23851 ATKINSON, Lavinia1910ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23893 AVERY, Leonard1912ENG,     May 1921 : Minnedosa CAN Middlemore  
6585 AVES, Rose1912ENG, LDN, London Jul 1927 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
22586 BALES, Mary1910ENG,     Sep 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23925 BALL, Frank1909ENG,     May 1920 : Minnedosa CAN Middlemore  
10456 BALL, George Ogilvie1911ENG,     Jul 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
23372 BALL, Herbert1907ENG,     May 1920 : Minnedosa CAN Middlemore  
23673 BALL, Irene1912ENG,     Sep 1923 : Minnedosa CAN Barnardos  
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 630 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