Children's refuge

[Orlaith17]

Can anyone give me any information please about a children's refuge in Rutherglen? I believe it may possibly have been a Catholic one. I don't think it was an orphanage as an ancestor of mine died in there aged 12, and his mother was still alive, though his dad had died in WW1.

[paddyscar]

Hi Orlaith17, and a Warm Welcome to TalkingScot!

I did a search on Yahoo UK with 'childrens refuge Rutherglen' and found this page http://www.theirhistory.co.uk/70001/info.php?p=13

There is a home mentioned for Rutherglen 1955, but that wouldn't have been correct if the cousin's father died in WWI.

Frances

[SarahND]

Hello all,
Members have already given answers to Orlaith17's post on the same subject in another thread:

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1709&start=15

All the best,
Sarah

[Orlaith17]

Thank you everyone who has replied. Apologies, I hadn't realised I had put the same query in another thread. I still can't get any specific information on this refuge or the circumstances in which children were placed there. I know my relative was not an orphan. He was the youngest of 6 children who's mother was still alive and living with her other children. I had found the website you mentioned paddyscar (http://www.theirhistory.co.uk/70001/info.php?p=13) but couldn't get specifics there either, though it was a very informative site. I'll keep looking but I realise that finding any sort of records of residents from that time is most unlikely.

[hg]

Wonder if this might help! I found my great grandfather in the 1881 census in a place called Smyllum Orphanage yet his mother and siblings were still alive and living in Edinburgh, his father had died in 1879. I found lots of information about Smyllum on the internet, but like you I wanted to know why he was there when his mother was still living.
I knew they were catholic so wrote to the church where they were baptised, the priest there was very helpful.
I also contacted a Sister Joan who has the records of children in care in the catholic church, although for the life of me I can't remember where I got her details from, she did email me back though.
She states,quote "The answer is yes, Smyllum did take children other than orphans and the reasons varied from "mother dead, to "family evicted", from "mother in hospital" to "father in jail" with the inevitable "father (or mother) deserted", so you see it is impossible to put a definite answer to your question as I have not got the records until 1906" unquote, then quote" With regard to Roberto being placed in care and not his older brother, this was often the case as the mother could find work if she did not have the younger children to care for and there are several examples of this in the later registers. Life was very hard for people in those days with no social welfare to help, when the bread winner died they were left destitute dependent on the parish which often meant the workhouse both for the parent left behind and for the children. That is why places like Smyllum were opened -to provide a more caring atmosphere for the children, to give them more freedom and a good basic education." unquote
I would not agree that Smyllum offered a more caring atmosphere though as the things I have read about it on the internet are not at all caring.
I wonder if Sister Joan may be able to shed some light for you, I still have her address, and she has said her records start in 1906, let me know if you want it?
all the best
Helen

[joe.feeney3]

Can anyone give me any information please about a children's refuge in Rutherglen? I believe it may possibly have been a Catholic one. I don't think it was an orphanage as an ancestor of mine died in there aged 12, and his mother was still alive, though his dad had died in WW1.

At age 5 in 1939 I was placed in a catholic "Children's Refuge - Bellvue" Greenhill Rd. Rutherglen. Run by the Sisters of Charity, for orphans and children of broken homes, whose parents were expected to contribute to their child's upkeep. We were taught by the Sisters up to the age 11 and then sent to St columbkills day school, next to the church where I remember at 7 being in a group making their first communion in celebration of the new church building.
I left the home in 1950 age 16. Joe Feeney