I am looking at an 1881 census return for the Gables Private School in Eastbourne. The child Louise Duncan Christie, aged 8, is recorded as WARD. All other children (apart from one other child) are listed as Boarders. Any idea what WARD could mean? Louise was born in India - would that be a clue? Thanks David
David it sounds as tho' the child was sent to a guardian for schooling in UK & so is a ward of that person, or even the school board people. I'm allowed to err.
Wendy was right........and I was slow, lol. From the British Dictionary....a person, especially a child, who is legally put under the protection of a law court or a guardian: For instance.....The girl was made a ward of the court to stop her father taking her out of the country. Knew that, but figured I had better check. Here in Canada, we had boatloads of children from the UK, known as "Home or Barnardo Children". They either had no parents living or the parents were that poor that they sent them here for a better life. IOW, they were not "foster children" or "adopted children"......they were taken in by families to help with farming or cleaning and so on. They could be considered "wards" as well. If you are familiar with PEI's Anne of Green Gables, she was a Home Child. Hope this helps......
Basically, it is where the government takes control of the care of a child. The reasons for this may be that the child was an orphan, the child had only one parent who could not or would not care for it, the child was in danger from the parent/s, the child was naughty and needed care of a residential and reformatory nature, the parents would not get the child necessary and available medical care etc. Very common. Catriona in Tamahere
I think an individual could look after the interests of a minor until they came of age. This child might be called a ward and the adult would be their guardian. The child might have been orphaned and need an adult to take care of his/her affairs.
I'm with Libby on this one. 'Ward of Court' in a Legal sense, has a different meaning. I'm presuming that the main difference between 'Adoption' and 'Wardship' is that the former would convey Inheritance rights, whereas the latter wouldn't.
Many thanks for ALL your replies - I had made an assumption but I wanted to bounce the query off others before I proceeded with my "story" of this particular family. Kind regards David
Memory is a strange thing . . . after reading this query, a long-forgotten book popped into my head: A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It's the story of Sara Crewe (born in India) and her time at boarding school in England. I remember, or think I remember, that the copy we had was an old hardback, green with gold lettering. This one looks familiar: http:// images.worldofrarebooks.co.uk/1372065130CEB_1.jpg except for the picture . . . perhaps it had fallen off. If it was that edition it may well have been my grandmother's when she was a child. I wonder where it is now? P.S. sorry David, this doesn't answer your query at all!
Hi You may not have answered the query but when I Googled "A Little Princess" I found a couple of sites from which I was able to download a copy of the book. So you have given me something interesting to read, thank you. David
