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Record #5490
Name :
: Charles DEVENPORT (1911 - )
  aka : Charles Devonport; Charle


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 1911

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
:
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Shropshire, Bishops Castle
Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 9 Apr 1927
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Lancastria

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Oversea Settlement Committee
NotesA birth registration was found for Charles Devenport: Year of Registration: 1911; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; Mother's Maiden Name: Devenport; District: Clun; County: Montgomeryshire, Shropshire; Volume: 6a; Page: 1041. Mother: Ellen Edith Devenport (later Walsh), born 1886, Kidderminster, Shropshire, England.

(From "Child Welfare" by Nick Frost) Charles Devonport remembers the purity of rural life being stressed when Canada was first suggested to him:

"This Captain Hind got up on the stage where we had been watching a movie. There were twelve hundred boys in uniform, blue uniforms with silver buttons, black leather belts and a strap and a little pillbox hat with white stripes and two silver buttons. To attend the movie you had to be properly dressed. And he said, 'I'd like to have twelve boys, more or less, to go to Canada, who really want to go', and he stressed the advantages, the fresh air, away from the pollution, learning how to farm, and become citizens who would carry the flag, the British tradition, overseas.'"

Most of the recollections of former home children sent out by ... Hind are negative in tone. Charles Devonport claimed that the Dakeyne Farm recruits were treated "like we were mere numbers", never given any advice or encouragement, and defrauded of any money they had by the farm manager. (Bean and Melville, Lost Children of the Empire, p. 16.)

In 1927, Charles Devenport, 15, arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in a group of 12 children bound for Daykene Farm, Falmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. He declared at landing that he had been born in Bishops Castle, England; that he was an errand boy; that he intended to follow the trade of farm labourer; and that his next of kin in England was his friend, Mr. J. Hemsley, 170 Russell Road, Forest Hills, England.

Like thousands of single mothers towards the end of World War I, Ellen Walsh was convinced her child would be better served if she gave him up to a "better life". Charles was placed elsewhere and eventually told he had no living parents. He was sent to Canada until something in him made him seek out his origins. Eventually he discovered he had a mother alive and living in Derby, England and he began to correspond with her. They arranged to meet but in the interim she died and when he finally reached his birthplace there was only her gravestone to visit. Charles reflected, 'I was thinking, Mother, I wish I'd found you while you were still living. I could have told you what I've been doing, and we could have got to know each other. You could have told me who I am.'

Her headstone reads - "Here lies Ellen Walsh, loving mother of Charles Devonport."

A song was written and recorded about Charles by John C. Munro (you can hear the song and view copyright information at {website}britishhomechildren.org/):

"The Ballad of Charles Devonport

Welcome home to Derby Charles, welcome back from Nova Scotia
So many miles, so long to wait and never know your mother,
But I knew you'd mend the broken thread,
The one I never wanted broken,
So here we'll set the record straight, trade one past for another

I never think about the war, it conjures up too many shadows
When life was hanging by a thread, and nothing seemed to matter
Then a child myself I bore a child,
they said it best to hand you over
And who was I in guilt and shame to think that I knew better

The sisters said they'd bring you up and give you what I couldn't offer
Another family, different name, they said I'd soon forget you
And to keep you from the pain and loss,
"poor orphan" was the tale they told you
and to cleanly cover every trace, to Canada they sent you

You must have wondered through the years, as you grew to be this different person
What link you were within the chain, what went to make this man
And Oh to be somebody's son,
And oh to be somebody's brother
To be complete, to know your name
And how your life began

You found your way to Derby Charles, you tracked me down from Nova Scotia
To kneel beside the stone that says, I was your loving mother
But you took too long, I couldn't wait
But here you see I always loved you
Too late to see it in my eyes
Too late for starting over"

His granddaughter, Kim Devonport, related:


"Charles Devonport was my grandfather.

When Grampie was 5 years old, his mother was convinced into giving him into foster care .

One day when Grampie was about 13 or 14 he was hungry, and down the lane from his foster mothers house was an apple orchard. Grampie climbed the wall and picked an apple. He was caught and sentenced to spend weekends at the Dykens Boys Club and while he was there a fellow came and selected him to go to Canada. Grampie was placed on a ship with six other boys and off they went across the ocean. Grampie always had one clear memory of his mother. The day he left England she snuck down to the docks to say good bye. She gave him a box camera and some money and cried as she hugged him - for the last time.

When Grampie arrived in Halifax it was mid March, snowing and bitterly cold. He and the other boys were sent by train to Windsor and when they arrived huddled for what seemed like hours in a filthy shed waiting for someone to come get them. They were British children and wore only short pants and thin vests and by the time they arrived at the Dykens Boys Farm they were half frozen and very hungry. No warm welcome waited for them though. Only a dirty barn that they were ordered to clean. None of the boys had ever seen a farm before, let alone farm animals and had no idea how to clean a stall or tend livestock. My grandfather remembers that at least the barn was warm and the work thawed out their frozen little bodies. After their work was done they were given a bit of bread and some water and sent to sleep in a freezing attic. This was his welcome to Canada and this was his life for the next four years until he escaped.

Grampie always dreamed of finding his mother. Of returning to England to talk to her, to know her and to find out who he really was. "Operation Find Mother" became his life?s work. When WWII began, Grampie lied about his age (he was too old to sign up) so that he could go to war not only to fight for his country but as a way to get to England to maybe find his mother. While there he did not succeed in finding Ellen Walsh, but he did run into and fall in love with my Grandmother who he brought out to Canada as a war bride after the war was over.

Grampie searched for his mother, for any sign or clue of her for almost 50 years. I remember the piles of letters and documents that he had collected from various people all in hopes of one day seeing her again. He had it all planned out. How he was going to go to the Parish and ask the priest to go to her first so she wouldn?t be frightened. How he was going to approach her gently so as not to upset her. And how at last he was going to find out who he was. That?s all he wanted. To see her and to know who he was.

Many people exploited Grampie in his search. One woman claimed to have found my great grand mother only to find out she had made it all up. A dirty crook my Grandfather called her. Then one day he met a lovely lady from the British Child Trust Organization. She was greatly touched by Grampie's story and worked hard to help him and finally my Grandfather got the news he had been waiting 50 years to hear. "We found your mother. " Sadly it was 6 years too late.

Grammie and Grampie went to England to visit Great Grandmothers grave. They placed a stone and Grampie cried for all he had lost and missed out on. Grampie is gone now, but it is a great comfort to me as I am sure it is with others in my family, to know that at last he has met his mother and at last he knows who he was. " 
ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-08 15:21:15 / From original database

Last Updated : 2012-03-12 12:13:17 /

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IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
5490 DEVENPORT, Charles1911ENG, SAL, Bishops Castle Apr 1927 : Lancastria CAN Oversea Settlement Committee