Just found time to catch up with this and my first thought was…did his mother die in 1897 as I couldn’t work out the link between his father’s death in 1887 but William not going to the orphanage until 10 years later.
Sounds as though the family moved on to better things, lovely to know there were happier times for him later in life.
Great research
@Tortoise
His father, Thomas Duncan Elliott, died at sea on 9 Dec 1887. His will is indexed on ancestry giving his address as 23 Mabel Terrace, in the Hendon area of Bishopwearmouth, and his wife's name, Sarah Ann. His estate was valued at £37 10s.
They married in 1874. There are 4 children on the combined censuses from 1881 to 1911, but in 1911 Sarah Ann's census states there had been 5 children and one had died.
The four known children were -
Edith - Dec 1878
Mary Louisa - Jul 1881
William - Oct 1883
Thomas - Nov 1886
The censuses
1881
Sarah Ann, married, 28 (actual age 32), husband absent, address 7 South Moor St.
Edith, 2.
---
1891
Sarah Ann, widow, 40, (actual age 42), dress maker, address 23 Mabel Terrace.
Edith, 12. scholar.
William, 7. scholar.
Thomas, 4.
They also had a lodger, age 20.
1891
Mary Louisa, 9, inmate at Sailors' Orphan Girls' Home, Hampstead, London.
Sailors' Orphan Girls' Home, Hampstead, London
---
1901
[Edith had married a guy from California in 1899, in Sunderland, and already emigrated by 1901]
Sarah Ann, widow, 48, (actual age 52), address 30 Burlington Road, Sunderland
William, 17, solicitor's clerk
Thomas, 14, telegraph messenger
1901
Mary L Elliott, 19, housemaid/domestic servant, at the residence of a medical practitioner in St Bedes Terr, Sunderland
---
1911
[William had married in America in 1908]
[no idea when Thomas went but he's not in the 1911 UK census and he died in America in 1966]
Sarah Ann, widow, 61, (actual age 62), address 30 Burlington Road
"Louisa" (Mary L), 29, single, cafe waitress
--
Mary Louisa married an Englishman in 1915 and had three children in Sunderland by 1921, and at some point soon thereafter they all naturalised as US citizens.
Sarah Ann is in the Newport, Rhode Island NY 1930 census age 80. (actual age 81)
--
The Moor, Orphan Asylum where William was in 1897 -
Sunderland Orphanage | East End Orphan Asylum | Wearside Online
Took boys between the ages of 8 and 13. Hence why he wouldn't have been there in 1891 at age 7.
Quoted from the link -
Built for 50 boys from the homes of lost seamen, it also took in illegitimate children. In addition, the intention was to train the children to become seamen themselves. Obviously, their education included much nautical guidance. There was also a sailing ship in the grounds to help familiarise the kids with rigging etc. With this in mind, they had to wear uniforms in the style of a sailor suit.
There is a lovely photo of young William in his sailor suit on Ancestry but I won't copy it in case it isn't allowed.
There is also an obituary which states that he had a 42 year career in the Navy.
