George Francis Skingle

Born 1 March 1907

Education 1918 – 1923 Leith Industrial School, 57 Lochend Road, Leith, Scotland

Occupation 1923 Joiner

Residence 35 Shorrolds Road, Fulham, London

Emigration 4 Oct 1923 Port of London to Adelaide on the SS Balranald. One of the Barwell Boys

Arrival/Residence 20 Nov 1923 - Minlaton, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Farm hand

Residence 26 Aug 1924 - Rosebank Farm, Port Victoria (aka Wauraltee), Yorke Peninsula, South
Australia.

Disappearance 23 March 1925 - Adelaide, South Australia

In 1918, at the age of 11, George was sent into the care of a Superintendent Mr A S Nelson at Leith
Industrial School (formerly one of the Victorian Ragged Schools Institutions for destitute and poor
children), 57 Lochend Road, Leith, Scotland. At Leith he completed an apprenticeship in joining and
turning and returned to London in 1923 residing at 35 Shorrolds Road, Fulham, London, though his
mother’s residence was at 48a Wardo Avenue, Fulham, London. His occupation in 1923 is given as a
joiner.

35 Shorrolds Road 48a Wardo Avenue

On 29 June 1923 George applied, with the permission of his mother, Mary Skingle, to migrate to
Australia and on 17 July 1923 at Australia House he was given a medical and signed up to engage in
farm work in Australia. He finally signed the South Australia Immigration Amendment Act 1913 on 17
August 1923 at the age of 16 years and 5 months, to become one of the ‘Barwell Boys’.
 (1)

A number of references were provided; one from the Church Army Overseas Settlement Passenger
and Shipping Bureau describes him as ‘a boy of good character’ and another, from an F W Webb, the
Industrial Schools Officer, of the London County Council, who had know the family since 1916, and
which attests to the fact that ‘during the time his father was at the war he truanted and got into bad
company and was sent to a school’ but that ‘given an opportunity he would prove his worth’. A memo
date 9 June 1923 from Leith Industrial School’s Superintendent, Mr A S Nelson, describes him as, ‘a
smart, well behaved boy’, ‘well educated and fairly expert at the trade of wood turning’, ‘and has a
slight knowledge of garden work’.

Leith Industrial School (Lochend Rd., Leith, Scotland - now modern apartments)

George, having been accepted, had his £22 passage and £2 landing fees paid for him by the
Australian Government as a loan, with an additional £11 contributed by the Commonwealth and O.S.O.
George sailed on the 4th October 1923 on P & O’s SS ‘Balranald’ from the Port of London arriving in
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Adelaide on the 20 November 1923.

P & O’s SS Balranald

On arrival George, along with the other ‘Barwell Boys’ who had arrived on the Balranald, was taken to
the Women’s’ Destitute Asylum on Kintore Road, Adelaide, where a group photograph was duly taken.
Shown below are the SS ‘Balranald’ arrivals of 20 Nov 1923 (2). George is back row far left. Richard
Ernest Charles Markall who had travelled out in the same contingent and had been friends with
th
George is shown front row 6 from the far right.

Looking at their faces you have to wonder what was going though their minds; 10,000 miles away from
their families and friends in England, between 15 – 17 years old and facing the unknown. About to be
split up after travelling in cramped conditions for a month to start work in areas like Yorke Peninsula
that were then probably quite isolated. They must have also been fairly gutted to be parting from the
friends they made on the voyage. A list of the boys in this picture is at the end of this document;
though putting faces to names may be impossible.

George was placed with Mr H Ross Martin at a farm at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsular, South
Australia. Though George seemed often to be in need of clothing; his first few letters to the State
Immigration Officer were requests for a suit, two pairs of working trousers, two ‘pairs’ of shirts and one
pair of working boots; his letters indicate that at the time he seemed happy enough, and according to
Mr Martin’s letter of the 9 June 1924 to the State Immigration Officer George seemed ‘to be getting
along pretty well and is a willing worker, we do all we can for him’. Mr Martin’s letter also goes on to
say that George is ‘quite happy with us’ and ‘he plays in the Minlaton Brass Band, also going to play
football this winter, but don’t seem to get many letters from his home’.

Minlaton Brass Band circa 1899

(3)

Members of the Minlaton band. Standing, left to

right: H. Ferries; W. Peterson; D. Fletcher; J.
Litster; H. Peterson; G. King: T.W. Marlow. Sitting:
F. McKenzie; D. McKenzie; J.S. Blood; Alex Ford
(leader); G. Martin. Sitting on ground: J. Vierk; E.
Mathews; W. Blood for J. Barlow.
As we shall see this last comment, about the lack of communication with his family back in London,
may have influenced George’s emotional development and subsequent relationship with Mr Martin.

In July 1924 a Mr Menelaus Newbold, of ‘Rosebank’ Farm, Wauraltee, near Port Victoria, wrote to the
Immigration Department requesting a ‘British Boy Farm Apprentice, one desirous of agricultural
knowledge. A Protestant boy is preferred but is not essential’. However, Menelaus was told that the
scheme had been discontinued, though there was the possibility that from time to time boys may be
available through transfers, for whatever reason, from their present employers. A Police memo of the
th
17 July 1924 attests to the fact that Menelaus ‘is a very successful farmer and a boy would be well
placed’.

Then, around August 1924 the situation changed alarmingly. Mr Martin wrote to the Immigration
th
Department on the 11 to express his shock that George ‘has refused to obey all orders’ and had
been intent on returning to the Immigration Department in Adelaide for a transfer to a sheep farm and
had only been stopped by the intervention of the Chairman of the District Council and a Policeman,
Constable Millowick, one of whom it turns out had advised George that ‘in view of the continuing dry
season in the Northern Districts the prospects of securing employment there are very remote’ and that
‘Station owners are… …shortening hands rather than taking on fresh ones’.

In the letter Mr Martin describes George as ‘a good boy to work, but has a violent temper and it was in
one of these rages that this came about’. Mr Martin also reveals that George wanted to become a
sheep farmer and did not like mixed farming.

The issue that led to George’s change of heart and violent response was, according to Mr Martin, that
on the day that the main incident occurred he had complained that he had no time to write letters and
wanted to half sole his boots. It happened on a Sunday when George had been asked ‘to put chaff out
to eight horses from an adjoining shed and milk one cow, no more than a quarter of an hours work
‘their’ was one more cow to be milked and separating to be ‘down’ he was told to separate while the
other cow was being milked’.

Most poignant is one of the final comments in Mr Martin’s letter that they had ‘always looked on him as
a boy a long way from home and treated him as one belonging to us’. Further comments made by Mr
Martin in a subsequent letter to the Immigration Department state that ‘Mrs Martin patched and
patched his trousers, we give him a new shirt and a pair of new trousers, and he had several new
things given him from others’.
th
George’s brief letter of the 14 August 1924 to the Immigration Department shows how determined he
was to leave Mr Martin’s employ. Mr Martin’s letter dated the same day says that ‘he has made up his
mind to go from me, so I think he should have a transfer, as I fear trouble again. He wanted to fight
and said he would knock me down but I did not want to make trouble unless I could help it. I let the
boy go hunting on several times all day in the middle of the week to try and make him happy. He has
had a horse to ride every time he wished to go out and he has been asked to go in the motor car with
us almost every time we went out. He has always had meals with us, and had the best of whatever we
had and always done our best to make him happy’.

George’s transfer was granted and Menelaus Newbold

writes in a letter dated 28 August 1924 that he ‘got him
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(George) from Mr Martin last Tuesday evening 26 inst.’

One wonders what was going through George’s mind at

the time. That he was deeply unhappy is obvious from
the letters and the various incidents. It may have been a
combination of things; feelings of isolation, separation
and lack of communication from the family in England.
The change of employer seems to have done the trick
and George wrote to the Immigration Department on the
st
21 December 1924 to say that he ‘was getting on very
well’ and that ‘Mr Newbold has kindly given me a weeks
holiday’ and asking for £5 to pay for his holiday expenses.
The Immigration Department wrote back to highlight the
state of George’s funds (£4 in credit with £2 10 shillings
to come after the repayment of the £24 passage loan)
and that should he take £5 he would be almost with any
Victor Herbert Ryan (1874 - 1956), by Australian
money for any emergencies. National Travel Association, courtesy of State
Library of South Australia. SLSA: B11188 .
 rd
Then, on the 23 March 1925 George went on holiday to Adelaide for two to three weeks. It would
th
seem from Menelaus subsequent letter to the Immigration Department dated 29 April 1925 informing
them of George’s date of departure that he may have put his holiday on hold from December of the
previous year in order to save enough funds for a longer holiday. The same letter states that as of the
date of the letter George had not returned and Menelaus had no idea if he would return.
th
A memo was then issued on 8 May 1925 by Victor H Ryan, the supervisor and Director of the Barwell
Boys scheme addressed to the Commissioner of Police in Adelaide requesting assistance in tracing
George.

The Police report states that George had left whilst Menelaus was absent and had taken all his things
with him. George had also been telling other residents in Wauraltee that he wanted to join the South
Australian Railways. He left no forwarding address and the only lead that they had was another
Barwell Boy in Minlaton who was employed by Alex Lister, a Richard Ernest Charles Markall (originally
of 12 Holtham Road, St. John’s Wood, NW London) with whom George had been friends. Richard
confirmed that he had travelled out with George on the SS ‘Balranald’ but that he had not heard from
him for some time, did not know where he had gone, but that he would inform the authorities if George
got in touch.
st
On the 31 December 1925 a record states that the Church Army had been in touch with Mary Skingle,
George’s mother, but that she had not heard from him for some time and was not aware of his
whereabouts. The record also requests immediate notification should he be traced ‘in order that the
anxiety of the mother may be relieved’

Menelaus Newbold and his wife, Mary Edith Hannah, are buried side by side in Port Victoria Cemetery.
Menelaus Newbold’s descendants are still living and the Martin’s are still farming in the Yorke
Peninsula. Richard Ernest Charles Markall, George’s friend who travelled out with him on the SS
Balranald, and his wife Doris Flora, and Richard’s first employer, Alexander Lister and his wife, Flora
Godwin, are all buried in Minlaton Cemetery.

rd
Nothing was ever heard of, or from, George, and to date attempts to trace his movements after 23
March 1925 have been fruitless.

Postscript: A George Francis Singleton living in Batman in Northern Melbourne, a banker, left Australia
and sailed to England from where he then sailed to the USA travelling by train from NYC to Vancouver
from where he then flew back to Australia settling in Northcote. My Uncle Peter confirmed that his
uncle George Francis Skingle turned up at the family home on a motorbike in the later 1940s. His
younger brother Albert subsequently emigrated to Australia in September 1950 with his wife Dorothy
and their only child. They also settled in Northcote.

References: South Australia Immigration Department File 1113 George Francis Skingle, State
Archives of South Australia
(1) Australia Emigration for British Boys poster c 1920
(2) Accession No.: GN03227
Title: Farm Lads – Barwell Boys
Source: SAA GRG 35 (Lands Dept) 342 Box Glass Neg
Date Year: 1923
Date Month: 20 November
The record also refers to the Balranald.
List of boys details below
(3) http://www.harrogate.co.uk/harrogate-band/vbbp-oz.htm
Note Under Australian law, all photographs taken in Australia before 1955 are in the public domain.
Images used in this document are in the public domain under both Australian copyright law and US
copyright law. State Library of South Australia. SLSA
 rd
(2) Barwell Boys who travelled out on the SS Balranald, 3 class, departing the Port of London 4 Oct 1923, arriving Adelaide 20 Nov 1923. Actual DoBs are from the official UK
records
Family Name First Name Last Address Trade Age Given Actual Age Actual DoB Country
1 Shire Albert Charles M 16 Holtham Rd., Abbey Rd., Hampstead, London, NW Builders Asst 17 19 June 1904 England
2 Gibling William c/o H G Burden, Tendring, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex 15 Dec 1908 England
3 Markall Richard Ernest C 12 Holtham Rd., St. John’s Wood, London, NW Clerk 16 June 1907 England
4 Skingle George Francis 35 Thornold Rd, (should be Shorrolds Rd.) London, SW Joiner 16 1 March 1907 England
5 Brazell Bertie 26 Oakbury Rd. Wandsworth Common, London, SW Hotel porter 15 13 June 1910 England
6 Kelly Martin 1 Woghill St., Sutton-in-Craven, Yorkshire 19 June 1904 England
7 Taylor William 17 Hampden Road, Sunderland, Durham Grocer 16 June 1907 England
8 Bradshaw Cyril Martin 36 Mearsbrook Rd., Sheffield, Yorkshire Butcher 17 Sept 1905 England
9 Brocklesby Frederick Cecil 49 Ruthin Rd., Westcombe Park, Blackheath, Surrey Farming 17 10 Sept 1906 England
10 Tearle Reginald Jeffry 10 Harefield Rd., Brockley, London, SW Scholar 14 15 Dec 1908 England
11 Gant Lewis Henry 15 Blakenham Rd., Tooting, London, SW Farming 16 Jun 1907 England
12 Wittering Jabez Aubrey 24 Earl St., Sheffield, Yorkshire Labourer 16 Jun 1907 England
13 Puddick Robert George 27 Fourth St., Kingston, Portsmouth, Hampshire Butcher 16 Sept 1907 England
14 Cramp Joseph William 8 Constance Rd., Leicester, Leicestershire Butcher’s asst 16 17 Dec 1906 England
15 Upton Thomas 959 Ninth St., Trafford Park, Manchester, Lancashire Labourer 16 18 Jun 1905 England
16 Belford Sydney John 6 Wilkie Buildings, Millbank Estate, Westminster, London Messenger 16 Sept 1907 England
17 Anderson James Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 17 Scotland
18 Clark James Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 16 Scotland
19 Bryant William McKeen Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 16 Scotland
20 White Robert Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 17 Scotland
21 Herdman William Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 17 Scotland
22 Davis George Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 15 Scotland
23 Hugh Brown Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 16 Scotland
24 Hammond William Craigielinn Boys Farm, Paisley, Glasgow 16 Scotland
25 Roworth James Albert 50 Brook St., Kennington, London, SW Shop Asst 15 England
26 Stonehouse David 17 Keith St., Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire 16 Sept 1907 England
27 Skillen Bertram Albert 137 Gloucester Rd., Peckham, London, SE Farming 15 16 Dec 1907 England
28 Evans William George 177 Burrels Walk, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 16 Dec 1906 England
29 Ricketts Maurice William 25 Dorothy Rd., Battersea, London, SW 15 June 1908 England
30 Harris William Cary Castle, St. Mary’s Church, Torquay, Devon Gardener 15 16 Sept 1907 England
31 McAvenna Martin Edward 3 James St., Alexandria, Dumbartonshire Stable lad 15 14 Oct 1907 Scotland
32 Wiltshire Arthur 43 Montague Rd., Dalston, London, E Farming 15 18 Dec 1905 England
33 Barrett Philip Fifield 27 Worlsey St., Eastney, Portsmouth, Hampshire 16 17 Dec 1906 England
34 Martin John William Barnes Cottage, Sedbury Park, Chepstow, Garden boy 16 13 Mar 1910 England
Gloucestershire
35 Miles Lionel Edward The Lodge, Neywood House, Rogate. Petersfield, Gardener 16 Dec 1907 England
Hampshire
36 West Albert 4 Moorland Rd., Weston Supermare, Somerset 16 June 1907 England
37 Crunkhorn George Arthur Boston, Lincolnshire 16 17 Mar 1906 England
 38 MacDonald Stanley Goodwin 2 Blagg St., Hurdersfield, Macclesfield, Cheshire Farming 17 16 Mar 1907 England
39 Goodfellow Frederick 67 Monkton St., Kennington, London, SE Packer 15 16 Dec 1907 England
Matthew
40 Lillico Stewart 77 Paragon St., Walworth, London, SE Seaman 17 England
41 Greves William 41 Roxburgh St., Greenock, Renfrewshire Messenger 15 Scotland
42 Lindquist Ernest Victor 62 Victoria Rd., Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire Painter 16 Prob
Sweden
43 Attree Leonard Evalyn, Chantry Rd., Tarring, Worthing, Sussex Greengrocer’s 15 Sept 1907 England
asst
44 Newman Herbert Charles 8 Warrant Officer’s Quarters, Blackdown Camp. Frimley, Labourer 16 England
Camberley, Surrey
45 Snelling Thomas Arthur 10 Riddell St., Peckham, London, SE 16 Mar 1907 England
46 Clithero Charles 115a Eade Rd., Finsbury Park, London. N4 Milkman 16 Mar 1907 England
47 Vinton Herbert 105 Harewood Rd., Fulham, London, SW Farming 17 Jun 1906 England
48 Hayden Leonard John Market St., North Walsham, Norfolk Cabinet 21 Jun 1902 England
Maker
Note: Though there are 50 people in the photograph one, the man centre row centre of the picture with the wing collar, is a local official posing with the group; he appears in
other photographs of Barwell Boys. There may be one other official in the picture, though who is hard to say.

9 Frederick Cecil Brocklesby returned to England, though it is not known when, and died in Jul 1984 in Lewes, Sussex.

17-24 Craigielinn Boys Farm was opened on 22nd September 1923 and was situated on the Gleniffer Braes, about two miles south of Paisley. The purpose was to train boys
for work on farms in what was then “the Dominions” The training scheme itself had began in 1910, initiated by a Dr. George C. Cossar. Initial training was at a farm in Kilwinning,
before further training in Canada. The Craigielinn Boy’s Farm seems to have been an extension of this scheme. The Centre closed in 1937 due to a lack of employment
opportunities in farming work. (ref. Local Studies Library, Central Library, 68 High Street, Paisley, Renfrewshire, PA2 8EE) Further information about Craigielinn Farm can be
found in Golden Bridge: Young Immigrants to Canada 1833-1939, by Marjorie Kohli, Natural Heritage Books (15 Oct 2003), Australia, Britain and Migration, 1915-1940: A Study
of Desperate Hopes by Michael Roe, Cambridge University Press (6 Jun 2002), Emigration from Scotland between the Wars by Marjory Harper, Manchester University Press
(10 Dec 1998) and Report of the annual meeting, 1932, 102nd year, York, August 31-September 7. British Association for the Advancement of Science. Meeting

27 Bert Skillen resided at the Air Force Care Village, Bull Creek, Perth. In 1999 he published a dairy of his experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany between 1940 – 1945,
and another of his experiences as a Barwell Boy. Both are archived with the National Library of Australia. Respective library id numbers 749264 and 2310635

31 Teacher - Black Forest School. Enlisted for active Service (110/41) (Discharged 13 Jan 1946). Born 5b Main St., Alexandria, Dumbartonshire. Died 07 May 1959

37 Dad killed in 1st WW, mother moved to Australia after he completed apprenticeship

42 Member of the SA Masons, Lower Murray Chapter, No 499, Masonic Temple, Murray Bridge, SA warrant 26 APR 1956

43 Died 17 June 1976, buried Barmera, SA with wife Ada d 21 May 1995

48 Leonard Hayden, though 21 years old is listed amongst the Barwell Boys.
Trevor Skingle
12 June 2008