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Dr Barnardos Home Birmingham

J

jake

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i have traced an ancester from barnardos to canada, who was killed in action in the first world war, i applied to barnardos for his records,
i have had a reply saying that they want £55 for his records this seems very excesive to me, some of us can't afford that sort of money,
from what i have read about the way the children were treated at barnardos in the 18/1900s they should be free, what happend to freedom
of access to this sort of thing, he fought and died for our freedom, anyone else had dealings with barnardos.

jake
 
I also traced one of my Fiddler relatives who was sent to Canada by Barnardos as what they called a Home Child in 1895. I then found that he was conscripted to the Canadian Army in 1917, but when he tried to kill himself after only three days at training camp, he was discharged to a convalescent home. He was clearly disturbed, claiming he thought that the army was building a scaffold to execute him. It is a terrible story and I can't help thinking that his trauma came from the way he was taken away at the age of 11 and sent alone to Canada to a children's home. When I applied to Barnardos for his records (which they confirmed they held) I was told that I was not a close enough relative - he was a cousin of my grandfather - and that I would have to get permission of a nearer relative. As he died without children, this meant finding descendants of his brother. I am glad to say that after a huge amount of work, I am very close to achieving this. There are still Fiddler families in and around Birmingham.
As all this happened 112 years ago, I believe Barnardos' policy is far too strict. I am sure their records contain a great deal of information about the family background that would be of enormous interest to me as a serious family researcher. They are exempt from the provisions of freedom of information legislation and I have a suspicion their reticence to provide records has more to do with protecting their reputation than anything else.
 
Does anyone know where I can find information on inmates and photographs of the orphanage in the 1900's as I had family that were sent there according to the 1911 census.
 
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