Summary

Completed form and brochure titled 'ACCESS TO INFORMATION' requesting access to personal information held by the UK National Children's Home (NCH), completed in relation to Shelagh (formerly Sheila) Philpott of 135 Bayswater Road, South Croydon, Victoria, Australia and her time in care at NCH from 1941 - 1950 at Bramhope, England. No request date is given on the form but the brochure text refers to NCH protocols implemented from 1 April 1987.

Part of a collection of documents, photographs and an oral history inteview relating to Shelagh (formerly Sheila) Philpott (nee Bannister), an unaccompanied British child migrant. The material documents her time in care in the National Children's Home and Orphanage in England at Bramhope, near Leeds; her migration to Australia in 1950 and her efforts to trace her family later in life. The research file includes photocopied material.

Physical Description

A single sheet of buff-coloured paper, folded once, printed on both sides with text in black ink and on one side a logo of stylised human figures and letters in red ink. Handrwritten text in blue ink is added to the printed proforma.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection documents the experience of an unaccompanied British child migrant who was relocated to Australia under the UK child migration programmes of the post War period, and to whom an apology was formally made in 2010 and reparations made under the UK Child Migrants Fund in 2019.

The documents are enriched by an oral history interview of the former child migrant, now in her eighties. The material covers the period before her migration as well as the lengthy period in Australia when she suffered from the ongoing impact of that migration programme. It documents her later return as an adult to England to find her family and her mental struggle with her identity. The material includes items showing the part played by local Australian social welfare organisations and their relationship to the after-care efforts of the UK National Children's Home.

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