Leaderboard

He was 'sentenced' to the training ship by the Board of Guardians in 1901, after being caught stealing pence at school. He was born 1890 and raised in the Workhouse/Children's Homes up to that point. In Dec 1905, after 4 years of being on the training ship, during an inspection on the Southampton, he is found to be too small and it was recommended he should be sent out to a farming situation, and that the training ship should only be for strong boys. This info was found in the Guardian Minute Books held at the Sheffield Archives. Someone was kind enough to get that much info a few years back for me. So by this time, he would be nearing 16 years of age if taken off the training ship after that report. It is another 9 years before start of WWI, which he enlists, and it is those 9 years I am trying to find where he was and what he was doing. So for the 1911 census, that is half way between and gives me a glimpse. He is actually 21 by the 1911 census as his birth register shows he was older than he thought. His grave marker is off by 2 years. Most curious as to what he did from 1905 until the 1911 census. I know the answer will likely never be really known, but it sure is nice to slowly see what his life was about before coming to Canada. Hopefully he enjoyed the drayman job and stayed on there until he enlisted, where he continued on with horse, being with the R.H. and R.F.A. as a Driver. Thank you all so much for the photos and extra digging of information that I can't access over here! Much appreciated. Here is a photo showing his sentence...

Hi I have attached this postcard which I think is of the Training Ship Southampton. It was given to me by a relative and we believe my grandfather, who had been placed in a home, was sent there in the early 1900's. I went to Hull Archives to see if they had any records of boys who had trained on the ship but unfortunately they hadn't. There was mention of some boys and I wrote down the names of the ones from Sheffield but WILLIAM PARKER isn't on it. Just thought you might like to see the picture. I watched your video and it was very moving. Jenny