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 #4315
Name :
: Alfred George PUGH (1877 - 1956)


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 19 Aug 1877

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
: 5 Apr 1956
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Southwark

9 Ann's Place, Lant Street
Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialCanada, Calgary
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: Mar 1889
Country
: Canada

Ship
: - Unknown -

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Fegan Homes for Boys
NotesAlfred George Pugh (called George)'s mother, Louisa Mary Ann Ash's, first marriage was to John Thomas Noakes, on November 15, 1869 in the Church of St. James the Great in Bethnal Green, East London. After she was widowed she married George Pugh.

George and Louisa Mary Ann Pugh lived in London's impoverished Southwark district, where all four of their children were born, all at different addresses. George worked on the nearby coal wharves as a "carman," "filler," and "porter."

Louisa Mary Ann died in February 1888 at the age of 39 of phthisis (consumption), with George present; she probably died in the morning, as George was able to have the death registered on the same day. Louisa Mary Ann Pugh's place of burial is currently unknown.

Following his wife's death, George was apparently unable to take care of his children (perhaps he was already in failing health), for by the summer of 1888 his three sons were residents of the "Little Wanderers' Home," 137 Greenwich Road, which was one of J.W.C. Fegan's "rescue homes." Nellie, his sister and the oldest sibling, was not admitted as Fegan accepted only boys; she found (or was given) work as a domestic servant, and as of the census of April 1891 she worked as a housemaid at a boarding school in Folkestone, Kent (26 Castle Hill Avenue). She married Arthur Dove in late 1893, not long after her eighteenth birthday, and lived the rest of her life in Surrey.

Young George was shipped to Ontario in March 1889, the middle brother William in early 1891, and Sidney on March 31, 1892 on board the "Sarnia;" Liverpool was probably the port of departure in each case.

Their father, George's, health took a turn for the worse not long after William's departure for Canada. Widowed and separated from his children, George was living in April 1891 (when the census was taken) with his sister Louisa Horlick and her family at 128 H Block, Queens Buildings, Southwark; his occupation was listed on the census as "general labourer." The next month he apparently collapsed away from his sister's home, for when he was admitted to Guy's Hospital, Southwark on May 19 he was listed as "John Pugh" in the admission records. The hospital's death records state: "Entry 200: John or George Pugh was admitted on 19th May to the Clinical Ward, bed 16, under Dr. Shaw, and died of a cerebral tumour 20th May at 12:15 a.m.. There was an inquest stating that patient had been inspected by Dr. Shaw the previous evening (reference number 183). He was buried by Friends (Castle)." Castle was apparently the surname of a local undertaker; the London trade directory of 1891 lists an F.J. Castle, undertaker of 94 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich. George's death certificate indicates cause of death as "tumour on the brain, natural death about 8 hours P.M." As it is known from the hospital's records that George died at 12:15 a.m., and that "P.M." on Victorian death certificates oftentimes denotes a "Post Mortem," it is possible that the certificate is stating that George died about 8 hours after admission to the hospital (which would have been at around 4:00 p.m. on May 19). The death certificate further states than an inquest into George's death was held on May 23 by S.F. Sangham, Coroner for Southwark, and that the death was registered on May 26.
George's place of burial is currently unknown.

Fegan's boys were given a suit of clothes with peaked caps before they were sent overseas, and this was probably the outfit worn by Sidney and his brothers when they arrived separately in Ontario. All three brothers began their service ("engagements") on their farms for food, clothes and lodgings only, but George and William began receiving modest wages also within the first two years of their lives in Canada. The records for Sidney, however, do not show that he ever received anything more than food, clothes and lodgings for his work. The personalities of the three brothers might have had something to do with this.

J.W.C. Fegan had written to his agents in Ontario that George was "rather dull" but had "no moral failing," and George's employment record documents a modest but steady rise in the terms of his contract. No negative comments were recorded about George, and by January 1897 he had saved enough funds to afford a visit to England.

Something apparently happened in the next few months, however, which forever altered the brothers relationships, for instead of remaining reunited, they went their separate ways (that is, George and William went one way, while Sidney remained behind). Maybe this was the result of a disagreement among the brothers, but we have no direct testimony as to this. All that Sidney's sons ever knew about their dad's relationship with his brothers was that he resented that they "went out west" without him. Fegan's records on George and William end in 1898, and it is known that they relocated together to the Canadian west, where George became a bachelor farmer in Alberta and where William also worked for a time before setting in Spokane, Washington. Sidney evidently retained some affection for William, for following William's death in February 1917 (in Spokane) Sidney named his next son (born in March 1919) after him. Sidney's anger against George was stronger, and was compounded by the fact that George made several more trips to visit their sister Nellie in England after 1897 (the last time in the 1930s) but only once stopped to see Sidney (probably in 1907--see below). On that occasion, Sidney was already married to Ethel Beatrice Samson, who testified (years later, to her daughter-in-law Doris Pugh) that Sid was so rude to George during that visit that he (George) never visited Sid again. (Told by Doris A. Pugh to Ralph A. Pugh, March 6, 1997).

Alfred George Pugh died on April 5, 1956 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His farm was apparently at or near Coronation, Alberta. He died in a nursing home in Calgary, Alberta. His burial record indicates that his funeral arrangements were handled by the Whyte Funeral Home of Hanna, Alberta, and that he was buried at Hanna ("Grave 3, S.W. 79"). Family tradition maintained that Alfred Geoge's nursing home burned some years after his death. 
ContributorsCreated : 2008-10-05 00:42:56 / From original database

Last Updated : 2009-01-31 16:03:01 /

Family History ResearchersRootsChatters with family connections to Alfred George PUGH:



 
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  6 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
4315 PUGH, Alfred George1877ENG,    , Southwark Mar 1889 : - Unknown - CAN Fegan Homes for Boys  
5398 PUGH, Dorcas1900ENG,    , Leominster Mar 1915 : Scandinavian CAN Barnardos  
20810 PUGH, Francis Lewis1887ENG,     May 1904 : Dominion CAN Unknown  
4312 PUGH, Sidney Herbert1882ENG, SRY, Southwark Apr 1892 : Sarnia CAN Fegan Homes for Boys  
24329 PUGH, Thomas1886 Oct 1900 : Numidian CAN Canadian Catholic Emigration Society  
4314 PUGH, William Edward1879ENG, SRY, Southwark Apr 1891 : Parisian CAN Fegan Homes for Boys