Thursday, May 03, 2007

Trivia Pur$uit

William Gladstone (1809-1898) is one of only two people to have had his coffin transported on the London Underground. Dr Thomas Barnardo (of Dr Barnardo's Homes fame) was the other.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barnardo like the one that sent children to Canada? My Great Grandmother was a Home Child sent from Liverpool to Quebec about 1900. They were cheap labor for the farmers in canada.

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Sadly, most of those kids were forcibly taken, from mothers of "ill-repute" (Single parents, in today-speak). I saw a sad and moving doc on it, not so long ago. Happily, some good works were also done in his name. Not that the later negates the former.

david mcmahon said...

Hi Chewy,

I didn't know any of that background. What an amazing story.

Jeez, you and Shrink have really put that in perspective.

Take care

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Carol,

Like I said in my reply to Chewy - I had no idea.

Must see if I can find some information on the doco.

Thanks for educating me.

Cheers

David

Anonymous said...

I wrote to Barnardo's in England 3 years ago and my request for info was properly addressed. I was sent all the records they had for her. Even letters describing her care with the family in Canada and the date of her Mother's death.

david mcmahon said...

Hi Chewy,

That is an amazing story. What a tangible connection with your ancestor.

As you probably know, my brothers and I are trying to get our own family history together.

We're a genuine genetic cocktail, so this could be an interesting project. Hope we get the same help with records and info as you did.

Bless ya

David