This month’s history talk at Chorlton Good Neighbours given by Andrew Simpson explored the subject of British Home Children; a scheme which saw many thousands of destitute children “transferred” from Britain to (largely) Canada between 1870 and 1930.
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| Thomas John Loveland’s headstone |
One of these children was Thomas John Loveland who, after the death of his father (1) impoverished his mother with five young children, was, at the tender aged of eight, sent to Canada by the Barnardo Homes. Thomas John later returned to the United Kingdom as a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force which came to Britain’s aid during the First World War. He was invalided home to Britain, where he died on 6th November 1918. He is buried in Manchester’s Southern Cemetery. Andrew also mentioned Thomas John’s family which he was separated from as they remained in England and that one of his 4 siblings, his brother Edward, was also a casualty of “The Great War”. In his case dying on 6th August 1917 of wounds suffered while serving as a Gunner / Acting Bombardier with the Royal Field Artillery. He is buried in Lussenthoek Military Cemetery, West- Vlaanderen, Belgium. (2)
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| Canadians returning from trenches on the Somme, November 1916 |
Starting with the 1911 census I found the mother living with a widower (3) William Smith Fearis, a house painter, at 4a, George Street, Walsoken, Norfolk.
Several factors made further progress a painstaking business. Firstly, although the village is located in the west of Norfolk it adjoins the town of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire which results in a split in the registration of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, with some catalogued as Cambridgeshire events and some Norfolk. Of more confusion however is the fact that although William Smith and Eleanor did not marry until the December quarter of 1915, they had several children between them. Also, I found William Smith’s last name spelt at least three different ways.
The 1911 household then comprised of William Smith and Eleanor living as man and wife, Eliza the 15- years-old daughter (4) of Mr. Fearis’s first marriage, Mary, William and Eleanor’s child and John a child of Eleanor’s first marriage.
Following further research in the 1911 census I discovered Thomas John’s two sisters Eliza and Harriet had both remained in London, Harriet who was 15 was living at 100, Leven Road, Poplar, London; a few doors away from where her family were residing in 1901. This was also the address Edward gave on his attestation papers at his enlistment into the army on New Years Day 1915. According to the census return Harriet was living with her aunt, a widow, Eliza Walter however, I have discovered she was more likely her great aunt as in the 1891 census, Harriet’s mother Eleanor (Hawks) was recorded in the Walter’s household.
Eliza Loveland, Thomas John’s other sister was, working as a general domestic servant for John Conoley, a beer seller, his wife Minnie and their five children at 5, Crosby Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, London.
The 4 years of the First World War were incredibly tragic for Eleanor Loveland / Fearis as not only did she suffer the loss of two of her sons in the conflict but two of her daughters died within months of each other in 1916, Harriet in Poplar during the June quarter, then Eliza in the December quarter in Hampstead.
Sadly, she had also previously had to grieve the death, during the March quarter of 1899, of a third daughter, Eleanor Elizabeth who was just seven years old
It is not hard to fathom her feelings then when her remaining son was mobilised into the royal Tank Corps on 27th August 1918. He survived the war and was demobilised on 2nd December 1919 and returned to live with his, by then again widowed, mother in George Street, Walsoken.
Both Edward James and Thomas John were taken into care by Dr Barnardo's Homes, as was their younger brother George, who was born in the West Ham registration district during the December quarter of 1902. Whilst Edward James was to remain in Britain, George was also a British Home Child. He was one of 195 such children, some as young as seven, who sailed from London on 14th March 1912 onboard the S.S. Corinthian bound for Toronto via St. John, New Brunswick.
Interestingly in the 1911 census he is shown as a “boarder” with an elderly couple Henry and Ann Dorsett and their unmarried son Herbert (40) and daughter Matilda (42) on the High Street, Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire. Herbert was a journeyman baker while Matilda is described as a chapel cleaner. One of George Loveland’s fellow boarders, Alfred William Dodson was also a “Barnardo's Boy” and in turn was shipped to Canada in March 1914.
William Fearis died in July 1917 and was buried in Walsoken on 6th July. His widow, Eleanor Elizabeth, remained in Walsoken until at least 1931 largely on her own though both her son John and stepson, George William briefly resided with her on the demobilisations from the army. When she died in the March quarter of 1937 however, she had returned to Poplar, London.
Mrs. Loveland/ Fearis had two daughters with William Smith; Mary Elizabeth born on 16th September 1909 and Eleanor E. born June 1911. Mary Elizabeth went to live with her Aunt Eliza in Leven Road, Poplar; she later married Leonard H.W. Hutchins there in the December quarter of 1932. The 1939 register records her living at 17, Constance Road, Leicester with her half-brother John Loveland and his wife Gladys Ethel (née Cunnington) who were married in Leicester during the December quarter of 1935.
In 1921 Eleanor E. (Nellie) was recorded as an adopted child of the Coleman family at 19, Nene Parade, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The household was a Public House, “The Nene Inn”. The licensee was Henry James Coleman, who was married to Rebecca Ann (née Jackson). Also in the household were two sons and a daughter, one of the sons, George Henry, being married to Nellie’s half-sister Rose Emma.
Eleanor married William Jackson during the March quarter of 1931 and gave birth to a child in the March quarter of 1933 only for tragedy to strike this extended family yet again. Eleanor at just 24-years-old died in Ipswich, Suffolk in 1936’s March quarter.
Finally, what is evident that in the face of all the hardship and loss this family suffered they steadfastly endeavoured to maintain family connections. Desperately sad evidence of this can be seen in this request sent by Eleanor to the Army ---
“---- can son be sent home, on leave, as sister is dying”.
Notes: -
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| “Bow Creek Mystery” -The Echo London 10th September 1903 |
1) Thomas John’s father Edward Loveland married his mother Eleanor Elizabeth (née Hawks) in the West Ham registration district during the June quarter of 1891. As this cutting from “The Echo (London)”, dated 10th September 1903, reveals his death was both tragic and mysterious.
2) Thomas John’s story and that of Arthur Wisdon Ervine, another British Home Child and soldier of the Canadian Expeditionary Force buried in a neighbouring grave in Manchester’s Southern Cemetery are covered extensively in these blog posts. 26th June 2019 and 11th November 2018.
3) William Smith’s first wife, Emma, appears on the 1891 census at 12, Morley Carr, North Bierley, Bradford, Yorkshire. It is likely she is the Emma Feairs who died in Wisbech during July 1897 and buried in the town’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery on 25th July 1897. Despite repeated searches I have found no record of their marriage.
4) Due to the variations in the spelling of William Smiths surname allied to the family moving counties regularly it is hard to be accurate concerning their pre- 1901 history. The daughters Emma Rose and Eliza were born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and Cleckheaton, Yorkshire respectively. Emma Rose on 12th March 1887 and Eliza during the September quarter of 1896. According to the record of his time as a prisoner-of-war in Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany George William was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire on 17th August 1891. These detailed and well-preserved German records also state alongside his home address, name, rank, and serial number that he was captured “Nicht verwundet” at Lille on 20th October 1914. However, the birth details shown on them are incorrect as George William appears with his parents on the 1891 census aged 7 months, born in North Bierley, Bradford, Yorkshire (West Riding).
Pictures: - Thomas John Loveland’s headstone from the collection of Tony Goulding, Canadians returning from the Somme, November 1916 by Castle, W.I. (William Ivor) - Library and Archives Canada -Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33407592 “Bow Creek Mystery” -The Echo London 10th September 1903 Content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
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