Orphanage?

I know I've read it somewhere but I can't remember. Orphanages in the 1800s, how old was an orphan when he/she was old enough to leave? I mean not adopted, just leave. Thanks in advance!

~Yope

Yope, great question, but there is probably no hard and fast answer. It would likely depend on the time and place, social thinking at the particular time, etc. If not apprenticed in adolescence, I would guess that boys of 16 or so might have been sent packing. If apprenticed, they probably lived with their employers, or if local, perhaps continued to sleep at the orphanage. Arrangements likely varied as to the individual and job. From what I've read, the aim of orphanages was to mold their charges into productive members of society, so learning a trade accomplished that aim.

For fan fic purposes, many writers have used the apprenticeship as the reason the boys left the home in the first place, given it would have separated them. Anything that sounds realistic and plausible will probably work.

All that said, a search yielded several interesting articles, the links to which are below. I only skimmed them, but they seem to cover the subject nicely. Indeed, it said one boy stayed at an orphanage until he was 19, but in the latter years was a staff member. This would coincide with being expected to work at 16. The second is one article from The Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, which might be worth perusing in its own right. Hope these help.

http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/496web/orphange.html

http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Me-Pa/Orphanages.html

Thanks a bunch, Remuda! I'll read these in the morning when my mind is clear.

I finally had the chance to read them! Thanks so much. The article from the John Hopkins Magazine was very helpful.: thankyou: