Case 4776

Copy of letter from Miss Savage
The Vicarage
So. Shields
dated Mar. 27/95

Dear Sir,

I have been asked to enquire of you, whether you have homes for children of really respectable parents, in connection with the Society for Waifs & Strays, & to tell you the following. An Engineer on a steamer died of heart disease on board ship, while in a [Sth] Russian port. His wife was so much distressed at his loss that if affected her brain, & she was obliged to be removed to an Asylum where is now dying. The oldest son who is 25 has tried to keep the family together, but the eldest sister is married & has a family of her own in Tynemouth, & the next girl is only 15 & she cannot manage the younger ones. The elder brother is anxious therefore if possible to place the three youngest children in Homes. There is a boy of 4 & two girls of 10 & 6; but he is most anxious that they should not be placed with the lower class of children from whom they might learn things of which they now know nothing. He is, I believe a clerk at a Colliery near here & an organist at one of the Churches in the town, but his salary is only £2 a week & he wants to apprentice a brother of 14 to a trade, so that he has very little to spare. If you have a Home suitable for these children (& I fancy you do somewhat sort the children) it would be a great blessing; but if not, could you advise me when else to apply? Supposing this young man had his salary raised in a few years, might he then take his sisters & brother back to live with him if they were in one of your Homes? I hope you will pardon me for troubling you.

Believe me
Yours faithfully
(Signed) M. Savage