Find Ancestors

hi can some one please help were trying to find a family member who lives in australia i beleave he was shipped out just after the war he was born to an elsie lane and a albert lawrence his name is john t lawrence and was born in july-sept quarter of 1944 i would appreciate any help if possable thank you

Hi Sharon, I am in Australia so offer my
help to you.
Any idea where in Australia John Lawrence
was last heard from?
Let me know any details you have and I will
see what I can find.
REgards
katrina

to be honest the only thing i know is that realy he came over to visit family brothers he has over the uk and they only told me today so i dnt knw much more would u still be able to help me

Sharon

Found John - he left Southhampton in 1953 for Fremantle, Western Australia.

findmypast.com

Why not ask for a lookup on this board, it should give you more info, maybe tell you who he travelled with?.

LAWRENCE John T 1945 M 1953 Southampton Australia Fremantle

Also on whitepages.com.au there is a J.T. Lawrence at Marmion Western Australia. Marmion is a northern coastal suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. Fremantle is the port.

bye Helen

Thanks helen, that may well be him, hopefully someone will read this and be able to tell me more, it would be great to find him as there are so many family members who would love to meet him, and so much he will have to find out about us, thank you so much for looking for that for me

Hi Sharon,

Following on from Barry's posting, looks like your John T Lawrence could have been one of the child immigrants sent to the colonies after WW2. Have a look at the following website, entitled British children deported to Australia. Really heartbreaking what some of these poor children had to endure, fortunately not all !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series9/week_nine.shtml

A little bit from the website....

" Shipped Down Under

Between 1947 and 1967 up to 10,000 children were shipped to Australia.

They were sent to populate a nation with what was called at the time "good white stock".

They were also the unwilling contestants in a competition between religious faiths to boost their numbers.

Parents weren't told the truth.

Their children lost their real identities and were told they were orphans going on holiday to a place where the sun always shines.

The policy was endorsed by Government of the day.

It was cheaper to send children to Australia than care for them on British soil.

It cost £5 a day to care in the UK but only 10 shillings in Australian institutions".


All the best, hope you find John,

bye Helen

Barry thank you so much, i have called the Father Hudson Society and am waiting to hear off a Social Worker later today who is going to search their records, and hopefully get me more information.. Well done you!! thank you so much for that :o)

Helen, thankyou, it's truely heartbreaking, but i hope at last to find him and build the gap across the ocean, thank you all so much for all the info, it's been a great help to me, fingers crossed everyone!

Thanks barry, i've just got off the phone to the social worker and given her all the details we have and they are now going to trace threw the archives and find his information if they still have it, hopefully they do! It's going to take a few weeks unfortunately, i don't know if i can wait that long, but she said he may have contacted them and left an address for any family searching for him to contact him, i really hope so... thank you so much, i couldn't have done it without yours and everyone elses help, you really don't know how grateful i am to you all xx

Hi Sharon,

Glad we could be of help. Another organisation located in Fremantle W.A. may be able to assist you, or provide guidance in your search.

From their website it looks like;

"It was set up to meet the on-going needs of former child migrants and Australian born ex-residents and students of Christian Brothers' institutions and to help people in a number of areas: family tracing, literacy classes, no-interest loans, supportive counselling, and funded travel for family reunification".

http://www.cberss.org/index.html

Email: [email protected]

In one of their newsletters there is an article on a lady who was sent out from one of the Father Hudson's homes to Australia. Scroll down to page 8 of 12. It gives a greater insight into the plight of both the children and their parents. Fortunately in her case she was able to retrieve her records. It is entitled "Something to hand down to the grandchildren”.

Link to page is ;

http://www.cberss.org/docs/Issue2_Network_newsletter_Nov_2006.pdf

Yes please let us know how you get on, and if you need any further help, just ask.

bye for now
Helen

Helen, thanks for that, well it is in their hands now .. i so hope they have his records, if not i will just have to keep trying to find him using the information everyone has found for us, i don't know quite how i will do that, but i'm sure some of you will have some more great ideas for me.. i'll check that website now, but hopefully he has contacted them and maybe left an address like so many adopted people are doing nowadays as it's much easier and more acceptable to broach the subject of adoption, thanks again for all the help we have received and as soon as i get the call i will let you all know the outcome, here's hoping it a good one!

Hi Sharon,
Sounds like your man was a Home Child as they became known, over 130,000 children sent mainly to Canada and Australia to work, some as young as 3 years old. My gt uncle was shipped off to Canada without his parents consent.
If you google - british home children sent to australia you will find loads of info - very interesting reading but incredibly sad also the british government set up a select committee, you can find that at tweetybirdgenealogy (top of page)
good luck,
Regards,
Barbara.

Thanks for that barbara, that's very interesting to know.. i will go and check that out now, many thanks, sharon

******IMPORTANT UPDATE******

Just to let you all know, I have just had a phone call from Father Hudsons, the Social Worker has found his file, and he has made contact with them in the last few years and they have an address for him, whether he still lives there we don't know, but they are going to check and try to initiate contact!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! to everyone who has helped me and my cousin to find him, words can not express how wonderful you all are!! we are forever in your debt :o)

Thankyou Kay, I can't believe it all, i really cant believe we will finally find him! It's just all a bit of a shock, and a lot to take in, i'm happy but nervous too! thanks so much kay for the support

Sharon
I too have just read through all your thread.

Everything looks hopeful for a really happy result....I do hope so and it's great that your relative has already indicated that they want to be 'found'.

Please update us when you make contact....We love happy endings!


Gwyn

Hi Gwyn, i pray it's a happy outcome too, nothing would make us happier then to be able to bridge the gap, as soon as i know more i'll let you all know, but fingers crossed!! thank you so much for all the wonderful support and help, i never thought in a million years we would find him, and this site is just so fantastic at making dreams/miracles come true :o)

Sharon,

Fantastic news..

Alison

Hi Sharon,


I was so pleased for you and the family, absolutely fantastic news, please keep us informed.

bye Helen

Hi Sharon,

Just seen this,

Great news, they are a lovely lot on here aren't they?

Let us know how you get on.

Good Luck

Linda