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Record #5551

Name :: : Frederick RICKARD (1924 - )
aka : Fred JENKINS
aka : Frederick Farnhill
Father: :
Mother: : Winnifred RICKARD

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 24 Jun 1924 Notes : Source: Fairbridge Kids
Marriage (1): : Spouse/Notes : Joan
Marriage (2): : Spouse/Notes : Eileen
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, London, Hackney

Sep qtr 1924, 1b 630, mmn RICKARD, as Frederick F RICKARD (FreeBMD)

Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : Nov 1935
Country: : Australia
Ship: : Balranald
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): : Barnardos
Agency: : Fairbridge Homes

NotesIn 1935, Frederick F. Rickard, 11, arrived at Fremantle, Australia, in a group of 25 children from the Child Emigration Society, The Strand, London, England, en route to Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra, Australia.

In an article written around 1993, Fred Rickard told his story to "That's Life" magazine:

"Mum died when I was 11 and, soon after, two stern women in suits came to our house. 'We've come to take the boy,' one of them said, pointing at me. 'You can't support three children on your own.'

Dad tried to stop them. 'You can't do this!' he cried, but the women just ignored him. They stuck a name tag on my coat and bundled me onto a train like a piece of luggage.

I was taken to the Barnardo's Children's Home in Stepney, East London.

It was a grim-looking building and my only welcome was an ice-cold bath in a tin tub. 'You're a dirty little boy,' the matron said as she scrubbed me with carbolic soap.

Afterwards, I was taken to an office where a man fired questions at me.

'Name!' he barked.

'F-F-Fred Jenkins,' I stuttered and the man consulted a piece of paper.

'That's not right,' he said.

'It says here your name's Fred Rickard.'

'But my father is William Jenkins,' I protested.

'He's not your father,' said the man. 'Your real mother couldn't keep you and the Jenkins family adopted you as a baby.'

It was the biggest shock of my life, but I never had any time to absorb it. From the minute I arrived at Barnardo's, I had to work like a slave. If i didn't I was ordered to strip naked and stand in the freezing-cold dormitory.

After six weeks, the master called me into his office.

'Would you like to go to Australia?' he enquired.

I had no idea where Australia was but anywhere was better than this place.

'Yes,' I said.

I ended up on a farm in a home for British orphans in Fremantle, WA.

Time passed. I took a job on the railways, married Joan and had two children, Barbara and Stephen. I never discussed my childhood. I thought it was best forgotten.

But after Joan died, I ended up marrying an English widow named Eileen. And when we visited the UK, all the old memories came flooding back. I told Eileen what had happened to me.

'Haven't you ever wanted to contact your birth mother? she asked.

'No,' I said the subject was closed.

Back home in Australia, we were watching TV when a documentary came on. It was called Children of the Lost Empire and was about kids who, like me had been taken away from their parents and sent to Australia. A woman called Margaret Humphreys had set up an agency to put the children back in touch with their real families.

'You should write to her,' Eileen said and eventually she persuaded me.

A year later Mrs Humphreys sent me some photographs. 'These are your stepsisters, Maureen and Peggy,' she told me,' and this is your stepbrother, Bill.'

'But I don't understand...'

'After you were born your mother married a Mr Dover,' said Mrs Humphreys. 'These are their children. I've got their telephone numbers if you want to call them.'

I called Peggy next day. And as soon as I said who I was she burst into tears. 'We've been trying to find you for years,' she wept. 'Mum kept all your baby photos...'

Eileen and I flew to England to meet my new family. All of my siblings were waiting at the airport. Maureen even flew in from Canada for the occasion and, today, we still keep in regular contact.

They've told me heaps about my mother and it's a comfort to me.

Even at my age, it's important to know where you come from."

ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-13 20:57:56 / From original database

Additional Contributions from : mollipops1

Last Updated :

Family History ResearchersRootsChatters with family connections to Frederick RICKARD:

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 22 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency
20120	JENKINS, Agnes M	1896	ENG,	Jul 1910 : Virginian	CAN	Maria Rye
2764	JENKINS, Elizabeth	1866	ENG,	Sep 1882 : Circassian	CAN	Liverpool Catholic Childrens Protective Society (now Nugent Care)
6981	JENKINS, Elizabeth	1862	ENG,	Aug 1871 : Prussian	CAN	Maria Rye
20125	JENKINS, Elizabeth	1894	ENG,	Jul 1910 : Virginian	CAN	Maria Rye
6952	JENKINS, Ernest	1893	ENG, GLS, Bristol	Jul 1905 : Lake Champlain	CAN	Bristol Emigration Society
7035	JENKINS, Fred.	1860	ENG,	Aug 1871 : Prussian	CAN	Maria Rye
21135	JENKINS, Frederick Edward	1903	ENG, MDX, Islington	Jan 1913 : Australind	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
18943	JENKINS, George	1891	ENG,	May 1905 : Bavarian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
17671	JENKINS, Harry	1898	IRL, , Dublin	May 1911 : Tunisian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
19413	JENKINS, Harry	1864		Apr 1883 : Sarmatian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
4676	JENKINS, Ivor Henry	1892	ENG, GLS, Bristol	Jun 1904 : Lake erie	CAN	Bristol Emigration Society
8476	JENKINS, John S L	1913	ENG, , Amesbury	May 1927 : Samaria	CAN	Middlemore
5790	JENKINS, Laura	1901	ENG,	Oct 1910 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
7019	JENKINS, Mary A.	1861	ENG,	Aug 1871 : Prussian	CAN	Maria Rye
6951	JENKINS, Minnie	1895	ENG, GLS, Bristol	Jul 1905 : Lake Champlain	CAN	Bristol Emigration Society
11258	JENKINS, Percy	1891	ENG,	Jul 1899 : Lake Huron	CAN	Barnardos
8229	JENKINS, Richard	1913	WAL, , Swansea	Sep 1928 : Duchess of Bedford	CAN	Barnardos
13685	JENKINS, Richard	1876	ENG,	Apr 1887 : Circassian	CAN	Fegan Homes for Boys
13686	JENKINS, Richard	1879	ENG,	May 1887 : Circassian	CAN	Liverpool Catholic Childrens Protective Society (now Nugent Care)
20418	JENKINS, William	1898	ENG,	Feb 1908 : Grampian	CAN	Louisa Birt
10525	JENKINS, William George	1909	ENG, , Balham	Apr 1923 : Melita	CAN	Barnardos
5551	RICKARD, Frederick	1924	ENG, LND, Hackney	Nov 1935 : Balranald	AUS	Fairbridge Homes

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