Sorryy about the long and confusing title, the more key words I put in the more likely someone would read it.

I am looking to get some information on my Great Grandmother who went from Scotland to Canada in the 1920's on the Assisted Immigrant scheme as a Domestic servant.
I would really like to know - if her ship sailed from Glasgow to Montreal - how did she get to Montreal to Ontario? By train? I am fairly sure she went with the help of the Salvation Army and I was wondering if anyone knew if they kept records back then.
I know she returned in 1925 (she was deported) and went back to Scotland and stayed in a hostel with the Salvation Army.
I don't know if they kept any records of who they were assisting but if would be really helpful to me as I would like to write a history on her.

Hi,
Was her name Nellie Gentles? Someone of this name, aged 22, was deported from Canada with a baby aged 7 months in 1925. Her destination was 102 Hope St, Glasgow - and I know for a fact that the Grand Central Hotel stands at the corner of Gordon Street and Hope St. She was being sent into the care of Staff Captain Spicer. She was a Domestic servant.

It isn't her, is it?

Brian, Glasgow.

Yep, that's her.
Shameful I know.
I'm writing a book about her life - and trying to do the research so I can get the important bits right.
I'm trying to work out where she went in Ontario - what kind of home was she work in? A farm or a city home. And then when she returned to Scotland, why was she being sent into the care of a Captain? Was she still using the Salvation Army for help? I'm also taking the liberty of assuming that she immigrated with the Salvation Army on the Domestic Servant scheme which would be why she would return to them and assuming that 102 Hope Street was a women's hostel/shelter of some kind.
The history is, she married an older man once she returned to Scotland, poor guy, had 2 more children with him, another child although we don't believe it was his and then was neglecting her children so they were taken away from her and put into a home so we don't know a lot about her early history because my grandmother grew up in a home - so the only way I can find out these facts is by trying to research them myself and I grew up in England so don't know a lot about the history of the time or the area of Glasgow.
If you have any tidbits you can throw my way I would really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for replying.

all the best
Rachel

Hi,
Nellie Gentles arrived Glasgow on the METAGAMA on 22nd July 1925. She had come from Quebec, and her age is down as 22. With her was an infant named Gwendoline, aged 7 months. The address they were going to was:
Staff Captain Spicer, 102 Hope St, Glasgow. The page is headed DEPORTS.
..........................................................
She had left Glasgow for Montreal on 5th Oct 1923.
The ship was the "MARLOCH" and her last known address in Scotland is given as Sykeshead Place, Bellshill [which is
in Lanarkshire, east of Glasgow]. She was said to be 18, and a Domestic.
...........................................................
....I noticed the marriage of a Nellie Goodwin Gentles to an Adam Scott at Perth in 1926 ... I don't suppose it is her though, because Perth is a long way north of Glasgow.
............................................................
The Salvation Army was very active in Scotland at the time, and I had a relative who went missing around 1900 - and I discovered that she had joined the Salvation Army and was at their training headquarters in London on the 1901 census.

I wrote to them about her, and they had first class records of her. I suggest that you try emailing or writing to them, asking about this Captain Spicer, who he was and giving the information about Nellie being sent to
Canada etc.

Brian
P.S. I assumed that the hotel at 102 Hope St was the Central hotel, right next to Central Station, but can't be certain where number 102 is in Hope St. The hotel is still there, recently refurbished. Try a google for it if you want to get an idea of it. It is right in the centre of Glasgow - but keep in mind that there may have been some other hotel in Hope Street in the twenties that I don't know about.

I was also researching a relative who came from Scotland in the same time period, and found this

http://www.salvationarmy.ca/contact/

if you email them, they can help you, there may be a fee to have an archives search

the travel at that time was usually by train from Montreal
good luck

Thank you so much Brian,
Yes, that is my great grandfather Adam Scott.
I don't know how she would have got to Perth, from my understanding she continued housekeeping to earn money.
Adam was a sheep dealer and therefore used to travel/roam - I can only assume she met him at a market or something like that - again I really don't know anything about a sheep dealers life, only that he was away for long periods of time and I believe the Scotts were shepherds.
I did contact the Salvation Army in Canada and you have to pay a fee to do a search - so perhaps I will do that in the New Year, it would be nice to see if they have any records of her placements. And then again in Scotland, where she went to when she returned home - I know she didn't return to her family in Bellshill.
Do you know any good information sources for Scottish households so I can get an idea of what a humble home would be like. I need to portray my grandmother as a small child living at home, no food, no heat and being left on her own with her siblings for long periods of time.
I grew up in England in a typical counsel house - kitchen, dining room, lounge, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
I wonder what the typical house would be for someone on a relatively low income. Would it be a 2up 2down?
I'll probably visit my grandmother in Fort William in the Autumn next year and do some research when I'm there.
Thank you so much for all your help.
Rachel

Thank you so much Brian,
Yes, that is my great grandfather Adam Scott.
I don't know how she would have got to Perth, from my understanding she continued housekeeping to earn money.
Adam was a sheep dealer and therefore used to travel/roam - I can only assume she met him at a market or something like that - again I really don't know anything about a sheep dealers life, only that he was away for long periods of time and I believe the Scotts were shepherds.
I did contact the Salvation Army in Canada and you have to pay a fee to do a search - so perhaps I will do that in the New Year, it would be nice to see if they have any records of her placements. And then again in Scotland, where she went to when she returned home - I know she didn't return to her family in Bellshill.
Do you know any good information sources for Scottish households so I can get an idea of what a humble home would be like. I need to portray my grandmother as a small child living at home, no food, no heat and being left on her own with her siblings for long periods of time.
I grew up in England in a typical counsel house - kitchen, dining room, lounge, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
I wonder what the typical house would be for someone on a relatively low income. Would it be a 2up 2down?
I'll probably visit my grandmother in Fort William in the Autumn next year and do some research when I'm there.
Thank you so much for all your help.
Rachel

Thank you - I did contact them but haven't got round to sending off my fee.

If they travelled from Montreal, did they arrive in Toronto?
At the moment I've got her in a SA hostel in Ontario, but I am assuming that is in the city and then they got sent out to their placements.

All the best
Rachel

Rachel,
If someone was living in poverty in Glasgow in the 1920's, they would most likely be living in a tenement.
....I am not so sure about whether or not it would be a tenement in Bellshill though, and I can see that this would make a big difference to your story.

Try a google for "Old Photos of Bellshill, 1920's" and see if anything comes up.

There is a census for 1911, and a Nellie Gentles aged 5 is living at Bothwell district, which would take in Bellshill. .......John Gentles, her father is a Blacksmith at a Colliery, and his wife is Maggie. There are EIGHT children in the house, including Nellie. And it says that John Gentles & Maggie have been married 25 years, have had eleven children, of which 10 are still living.
Perhaps there were others put into care...? The address Nellie appears to be living at in 1911 is Ashley Gr....? [difficult to read it].

Brian
P.S. There is a site which is local to the area called The Lanarkshire Family History Society.
P.P.S. The address of the Salvation Army Headquarters in London is: The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre, House 14 William Booth College, Champion Park, London SE5 8BQ. ...If you are trying to contact them by email, then the google to use to explore their site is: House 14 William Booth College, London.