Genealogy Chat

RomanyStar,
Yes my gt. gt. grandfather hopefully did have a reasonably good upbringing, he was taken in by the vicar (so we've been told), he was reputed to be the son of a prominent well known landowner, unfortunately we'll never know if this is true. Can only find info on him from the time he marries. His surname is still used to this day as a middle name for both boys and girls.

what I find awful is that modern-day hospitals over here, and I think elsewhere in the world, have instituted the Angel Cradles that many convents used to have.

A big Catholic-run hospital in Vancouver brought this in in 2010, partly because several babies had been abandoned in the Downtown area over the previous few years.

A door to the outside opens into a "cupboard" where there is a little crib and blanket.

When that door is closed again, a bell rings inside the hospital, and the inner door to the cupboard can be opened and the baby picked up. At no point is the mother seen.

One baby has been left there in the 2 years it has been open.

None have been abandoned in the streets

Two more Angels Cradles opened recently at 2 hospitals in Edmonton

A similar place is being considered at a hospital in Toronto.

:-( somebody must have known something, hopefully he had a good life. xx

Yes it's really sad, my gt. gt. grandfather was a foundling, found on the steps of the local church, and given the name of the place he was found, I so wish there was a way of finding out his parentage.

lol Gwyn.

The named father conveniently has the same name and trade as the son who is the bridegroom, so I am suspicious......

It gives those names as they are transcription errors it should not have said anything

Tenerife Sun, theres a lot of history behind the Coram. They later opened another home in Ackworth, Yorkshire where my ancestor ended up. It wasnt there long. But I think the London one especially was inundated with babies, many mothers who turned up with their child were turned away (they had to pick the right coloured ball, like a lottery system). I think they have a museum now. One of my lot adopted a foundling named Levi Mansfield....he was abandoned in Mansfield. Ooh Gwyn, thats interesting though that a father was named....maybe as you say, it was to save face. Or a foster father?

I remember someone telling me that her ancestor had been found abandoned and was given the name of the road as a surname.
I've just looked on freebmd and the first recording of the surname was in 1900.... COMMERCIAL.
The marriage register image is online and a father's name is shown, but that would appear to be possibly to save face ?? as I can find no death of that man.

I can quite see the need for answers for foundlings who search for their family.

Gwyn

As a result of reading this thread I have just Googled the Coram Foundling Orphanage this led to more info on foundlings and the way in which they were just left in baskets outside anywhere that may take them in. As a result it makes me feel very grateful for my widowed mothers hard work and determination at bringing up her four very small children and keeping us all together.

It makes quite humbling reading actually.

Oh, how strange it says Thompson and Sharotsky. Its obv the same child.

Yes I am looking at the same it has a dash....the child above has the mothers name as Thompson which has been copied on that record...Freebmd has this

Births Sep 1924 (>99%)
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Bridge Cinderella [aa] Wandsworth 1d 931

Births Sep 1924 (>99%)
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Unknown Cinderella B ? Wandsworth 1d 931 Scan available - click to view
Unknown Cinderella B ? Wandsworth 1d See J 26 Scan available - click to view

FMP and Ancestry have this

Birth record transcript

Name: BRIDGE, Cinderella
Registration district: [?] Wandsworth
County: London
Year of registration: 1924
Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's maiden name: Thompson
Volume no:[?]1D
Page no:[?]931

or this (not seeing this on ancestry)

Birth record transcript

Printer friendly version Civil registration event: BirthView the original image
Name: UNKNOWN, Cinderella B
Registration district: [?] Wandsworth
County: London
Year of registration: 1924
Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's maiden name: Sharotsky
Volume no:[?]1D
Page no:[?]SEE J' 26

Which again with Sharotsky was the name of the mother in the record above it

Not sure if we're looking at the same Jax. I looked at the image and theres a dash where everyone else has a mothers maiden name, theres also a handwritten entry but it says 'unknown' for surname. Glitterbaby (love that username by the way!) its so sad, the Coram foundling orphanage was started because of the amount of babies abandoned and lying dead in the gutters of London in the 1700s :-( (I do have an ancestor who was baptised there but she wasnt abandoned, her parents are named on her baptism so it appears she was given to the orphanage.) It is sad isnt it Shirley, the mums must have been so scared and panicky, also the fear of it coming out years down the line.

How sad .not only for the abandoned child not knowing who they are, but also for the mum who feels abandoning her child is the only choice. :-( :-( :-(

Sometimes you come across entries like those on London baptisms.

Ancestry has the mothers maiden name as Thompson...looking at the image it has been copied from the one above...I have found so many mistakes on there recently

Just to add FMP has Thompson aswell, so imagine Genes say the same

Oh GlasgowLass, how sad. x

A member of my wider family was a foundling. Left on the steps of a Barnado's Home in the 1930's

He never found any info on his birth family.
Many years later, his own son developed leukemia .
Unfortunately there was no match in the family as a potential bone marrow donor.

If only they had info on this man's birth family, his son may have survived.

I mean historically too, not recent. I found a baby girl abandoned in 1924 when I was looking for my grandmothers birth, the child was named Cinderella Bridge and born/registered in Wandsworth, London. I wonder if she had one bootee on and one bootee off. There are 2 entries for her as Cinderella B, surname unknown; and then one as Cinderella Bridge, mums maiden name unknown. Probably found at the foot of a bridge. I find foundlings stories interesting, I always wonder what happened to them in the end and why they were abandoned. <3