Black History Month

In recognition of black history month the story of Arthur, a young resident of the Charity admitted in April 1892 is well worth re-exploring. Part of Arthur’s story has been recorded previously in this blog but didn’t include this wonderful photograph:

M189/9/2/1 emigration book

Arthur’s entry in the 1892 admission book originally drew attention with an interesting reference to his father as: ‘coming over from Africa with “General Tom Thumb” and having settled in Manchr’ [Manchester].

Charles Sherwood Stratton, more widely known as General Tom Thumb was a popular performer under the management of P.T Barnum in the mid nineteenth century and travelled widely around the world.

M189/5/1/1/2 from admission book entry 23 April 1892

As shown in the admission book above, Arthur was aged 11 when he came into the Charity’s care. His mother had died and it seems his father was no longer working in entertainment, according to the admission book he was, ‘selling papers and portering’ and told the Charity’s he ‘cannot do anything’ for his son Arthur.

We get a further glimpse of the circumstances behind Athur’s entrance into the Charity’s care from the magazine ‘The Christian Worker’ which in October 1892 includes the photograph of Arthur and a few more details:

M189/8/1/11 Christian Worker October1892

The small amount of information we have about the life of Arthur’s father sounds fascinating as well as sobering. This ‘well known character’ would have had no pension to rely on and suffering the effects of both age and poor health meant the workhouse was the only option in late nineteenth century.

Arthur was admitted to the Boys Brigade Home on Great Ducie Street in Manchester where he may have been employed in the Shoeblack Brigade, cleaning the shoes and boots of the city’s residents. Alternatively, he could have been in the Messenger Brigade, stationed at one of the city’s railway stations delivering parcels or messages, or in the Caxton Brigade selling the Charity magazine and other literature. There were 123 boys in the Boys Brigade home over the year 1892 according to that year’s Annual Report. There were classes provided in the home which these boys could attend voluntarily, such as a bible class and a recreation room for their use. The boys could also use their earning to pay the fare for a week at the Charity’s summer camp and were issued cheap tickets for the baths. The Charity’s magazine of 1892 records an annual picnic for the Messenger Brigade who travelled in omnibuses from Manchester to Poynton for tea and games.

The admission book notes Arthur absconded in September 1892. There are frustratingly no details about where he went or how he returned to the home. References to residents absconding are fairly frequent and some residents never returned. It seems likely that for some children the greater control and authority of adults was not something they were used to, having previously had so much freedom on the streets of Manchester.

On admission Arthur’s father had signed an agreement for his care which included his possible emigration. Unlike other residents who would be emigrated to Canada, Arthur’s story was unique as he was selected by the Charity to be ‘adopted’ by a woman whose husband worked as a Solicitor in South Africa and Arthur would be taken back to their home in South Africa shortly after the adoption agreement was signed. The Charity's magazine made clear that Arthur was the only black resident under the Charity's care at this time and as Arthur's circumstances were largely the same as the other residents it appears likely his skin colour was the reason Charity administrators selected him for Africa over the many other residents whose guardians had also signed emigration forms.

This was not however an adoption as we would recognise it today, being decades before official adoption legislation existed. Unusually the adoption agreement is held in the Together Trust archive and states that the family would care for Arthur for eight years. At the end of the term if he desired the family would pay his fare back to England.  Along with agreeing to, ‘feed, clothe and educate’ Arthur, the adoption agreement also stipulated that should Arthur’s father desire his return within the eight year term, they would pay his fare home.

Arthur was taken by a committee member to London for the purpose of this adoption just days before sailing and there was no time to get to know the new family before they set off for South Africa on 6 February 1893. Arthur’s father however would not be able to request his return home, his death in June 1894 is recorded in Arthur’s admission entry.

The adoptive couple had married in South Africa in May 1890 and the purpose of Arthur joining the family becomes more apparent from references in the Charity’s magazine where an update on ‘Artie’ in February 1894 refers to him as acting ‘as attendant’ to the couple’s young son. The children emigrated to Canada were put to work in domestic service or on farms, whereas Arthur is described in an update published in the magazine of July 1894 as playing with the couple’s young son, cleaning and weeding in the garden. The adopter states Arthur had gained strength since the move through, ‘good food and out of door exercise.’ The update includes reference to the education that was promised in the adoption agreement, with the adopter stating, ‘I have not begun to teach him yet, but as soon as my little boy begins the two shall work together.’

The children emigrated by the Charity who worked in Canada did not have any similar adoption agreement but were visited by a representative of the Charity once a year until the age of 18 to check on their pay and conditions. Arthur’s case file provides further detail on the arrangements made for Arthur, with the original letter from the potential adopter detailing her requirements for a boy or a girl to act as page-boy, groom or nurse, offering a good home, a good wage and a kind Master and Mistress:

M189/2/5577/308 Case papers

As for checks carried out on the ‘adopted’ family the case file shows written references were obtained but it seems unlikely Arthur was visited in South Africa as the children in Canada would have been.

There’s no evidence of Arthur’s own feelings on the emigration but considering he wouldn’t have been able to speak the language of his new surroundings it’s easy to imagine his loneliness being so far away from the familiarity of his home in Manchester and from other children his own age. The closing lines of the update from South Africa in July 1894 provides some reassurance that Arthur was not completely friendless with the adopter stating, ‘My little boy is very fond of Artie.’ It also seems he had good memories of his time in the Charity’s care, ‘He always beams when I mention you, or the Home.’

In August 1894 a letter in Arthur’s case file shows enquiries had been made with a contact in Cape Town on his whereabouts. Although the context isn’t clear the letter seems to indicate Arthur had absconded as we know he had done from the Boys Brigade home in Manchester two years previously. It’s incredible to imagine Arthur, just 18 months after arriving in the country, being alone in South Africa at 14 years old. Did he return to his ‘adopters’ or try to make his way back to Manchester?  With no further records found the outcome of Arthur’s story remains a mystery. We only have this small glimpse into Arthur’s life, at what turned out to be a pivotal time, when the smiling child from the photo was left an orphan and taken from poverty in Manchester to an unknown future over 8000 miles away.

To read more about the Together Trust's history, Andrew Simpson's book 'The Ever Open Door' can be purchased through our enquiry page.