Orphans in India

[Kit]

What would happen to children whose parents die in 1860's India?

In the family I am looking at at the moment they range from 6-13 years of age.

[Olde Crone]

If they were of British nationality, I think they would have been "sent home", either to relatives, or to an institution. A lot would depend on the economic staus of the deceased parents I expect.

OC

[Kit]

There was Indian blood in them somewhere but the father worked for the Government.

[Olde Crone]

There would have been a scheme for the orphans of government employees I am sure and I am pretty sure they would be sent back to the UK, to school or to relatives.

OC

[Mary from Italy]

I have a family where both parents died in India in 1819; they were both English (father was a soldier). I'm not sure if the children were with them in India, but I assume so, as they were quite young (3 and 7), although I haven't found a baptism for the younger girl, either in England or in India (the older one was baptised in England).

The maternal grandmother in England was appointed their guardian, and they next turn up in the UK, so I assume somebody took them back to her.

I hadn't realised that soldiers' families accompanied them - does anyone know if this was common at the time?

[Olde Crone]

Mary

From the dusty attic of my mind I think it was felt that a soldier's family was a steadying influence (and might stop fraternising with native women, lol) so they would be encouraged to marry. Lots of British girls were sent to India with the express purpose of finding a husband.

I have a twiglet who was born in England, father in the Indian service. Not sure if the girl lived in India, but she was married at age 13 (!) to a high ranking Officer in the Indian army, some 30 years her senior, but that's another story.

OC

[Shona]

Orphans whose father had been in the military in India might have been sent to the Duke of York school in London or the Royal Hibernian School in Dublin.

This is from Wikipedia:

Founded in 1803 by act of Royal Warrant dating from 1801, the school was until 1892 called the Royal Military Asylum. The school’s primary purpose was to educate the orphans of British servicemen killed in the Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1815.

Between 1803 and 1909 the Royal Military Asylum was located at what is now known as the Duke of York's Headquarters in Chelsea, London. For the duration of World War I (1914–1918), the Duke of York's School was evacuated to Hutton, near Brentwood, Essex. The reason for the evacuation was to provide the military authorities with a transit point for troops moved to and from the Western Front. The school was co-educational; making the Duke of York's the very first co-educational boarding school in the United Kingdom. Today the Chelsea site is home to the Saatchi Gallery and the Duke of York’s Royal Military School Old Boys' Association.

Between 1816 and 1840, the Asylum had a branch in Southampton which provided schooling for up to 400 military orphans and children of serving soldiers of both sexes until 1823, when the boys were transferred to Chelsea, with Southampton taking more girls. A decline in the school numbers resulted in its closure in 1840. From 1841, the buildings were taken over by the Ordnance Survey.

In 1892 the Royal Military Asylum was renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School and in the process became an all-boys school. In 1909 the school relocated to new premises constructed on the cliffs above Dover in Kent.

[Chris in Sussex]

Interesting site about the history of Army children

http://www.archhistory.co.uk/taca/home.html

Chris

[Mary from Italy]

Very interesting, thanks.

[KiwiChris]

Army families travelled with the forces, even to war. My gg-grandmother went to Crimea with her soldier husband. From my reading, in that situation not all wives went, there was a ballot. It was better to go than not, those that went got half rations, those that did not go got nothing and went on Parish relief.

[Tilly Mint]

I have 2nd cousins who were born in India and they were orphaned at approx 3+5 years old, their French aunt (mothers sister) brought them up. Their father and all his brothers were also born in India and he served with the South Lancs Reg, he also served in South Africa just before his death. I suppose if you had other family members there, then they may have taken them on.

[Kit]

Thanks everyone. I'll have a look in England and Scotland to see if they were sent home. I can't see if they were taken in by other members of the family as they neither married or died so there is no record of them at all.

The website on the history of army children is very interesting. Thanks for posting that.