Hello again! I'm still struggling to get info on my mums early life. I did find an entry for her in the fulwood homes register. I have 2 questions if anyone could help?
In the register it says she was discharged to situation in 1939 - what does that mean?
Second question- if you were at fulwood did you go to Mayfield school and if so would records be available?
I really want to find out what happened to her between 1931-39 after mother died and father deserted. She was born in 1925 in Sheffield- Margaret machin (Machon)
Thanks for any interest and grateful for all ideas
Janet

Janet, discharged to situation means she left the homes and went to an employment situation. That would most likely be in service.

Dave

Hi Janet, not sure if you realise that Fulwood Cottage Homes were for orphan children and therefore in 1939 your mum would be 14/15 and due to start earn her living. Sorry if this comes as a shock. If you Google Fulwood Cottage Homes Sheffield there are a number of entries there. Regards Barry

Barry,
the Cottage Homes were not restricted to orphans. They were for children who, either permanently or temporarily, could not be looked after by their parents. My mother and her siblings were in there twice. On the first occasion it was for 2 years, and both parents were still alive. On the second occasion it was for 8 months and their father was still alive. They left for the last time when their father remarried and took them back.
Dave

Dave is correct.

One of our members (S&DFHS)was also in Fulwood Cottage Homes for 3 months, he wrote an article for the journal which we printed last year.

Angela

Thanks Dave for revealing what discharged to situation means! This makes sense as she would have been 14 in 1939

Thanks Barry, she was an orphan. The entry I saw in the register was when she was leaving the homes. Her time there was the happiest of her entire very sad childhood. I just can't find who she lived with in the early 1930's and hoped that the school records might give my other clues

Thanks Angela, I'm not sure if I have seen the article, could you point me in its direction?
Also do you know anything about the school the fulwood children went too?

Many thanks

Janet,
I have a very similar problem with finding where my mother was between 1914 and 1918. She was in the workhouse/cottage homes both before and after. Like you I hoped that school records would reveal where she was. Unfortunately, despite the excellent school admission records on this site, most school records are not extant.
One other trick I tried was to identify all the family members who just might have had her, then looked for their children's school records. I found 4 possible families, 3 of my grandfather's sisters and one of his cousins). When I looked for all their children at school I did not find any of them.
You could try that trick. If you find the children but not your mother then you can eliminate that family.
Are you sure she was not in the Cottage Homes all that time?
If you google Mayfield School you will see it did have Cottage Homes children.
Interesting you said your mother's time at Cottage homes was happy. My mother's experience was the same. After she went back to her father she (8) and her brother(9) once tried to run away from home and return to Sheffield.
The Cottage Homes gave unfortunate children a good life, socialised and educated them and trained them to be able to make their way in the world after age 14.
Dave
Ps was your mother the Margaret Machin born 1825 who is on the 1939 register in Scarborough?

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking about checking out some potential aunts and uncles but didn't think about looking st the cousins. I will definitely try that.
I can't imagine why she would be in Scarborough, but who knows! I'll have a look.
She settled in Manchester after ATS service during the war, that's where I live now
Many thanks again