Comments on: SGH in the 40’s: John Charles Longworth remembered

By: Peter de Reuck

Peter de Reuck — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:43:36 +0000

Hi Karin, how are you?.. I do remember your father inlaw, If my memory serves me..we were together in simpson house [ Cub house].. between 1949/ 1952. under Mr Harper and Symes. thereafter i was transfered to Beaton house as at that time Simpson only housed boys 9 to 12 years of age. Karin if this be in order please convey my greetings and wishes, hopefully we get in touch……Wow it surely has been a long time ..50+ years. bye for now and God bless.

By: Wendy Thompson/Jones

Wendy Thompson/Jones — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:03:34 +0000

Hi Karin. I am sure John is quite right in his assumptions about record keeping. There is one other source which may ormay not help. If you father in law was placed in the Home via one of the Child Welfare organisations that organisation may also have some records. It is a long shot at best because it is so long ago. It would be worth contact the local Child Welfare organisation depending on where he comes from. If he was placed in the home without the services of another organisation it may be more difficult. If your father in law was adopted then the situation is different as adoption records are required to be kept by law for a period of 75 years – ie the expected natural life of the child. One other source may be to see if any court records exist from the time that your father in law was placed. The kind of records you would be looking for would be Children’s Court records. Because these proceedings involve a minor child they shold be kept separately but, again, because it is so many years ago it is difficult to know what has happened to those records. Children’s Courts are traditionally attached to Magistrates’ Courts and again one would start with the region that he came from. Regards Wendy Jones

By: john rossouw

john rossouw — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:25:16 +0000

Welcome Karin to you and Rudy
The keeping of files was I suspect only introduced in the 60’s by Fr Eric Richardson
I suggest you call 011 616 4015 and ask the COACH receptionist if they have files dating back to that era (I doubt they will)
Otherwise your best bet is to try Dept of Home Affairs as they are generally very good
Best of luck and hope you come right
Ask Rudy if he remebers George Adams who may have been around in those days as a fellow bot at the home
I suspect for memeory that the head of the home at the time was Mr Kerswell

By: D.C. Leslie-Pringle

D.C. Leslie-Pringle — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:46:52 +0000

Hi Karen and Craig,

Welcome to the SGH site. If anyone can help you with your search, I am sure it will be John Rossouw, who has been on a mission for the past couple of years to gather and compile such details of the past.

However, I was in SGH in the middle to late fifties and John has told me that very little data has been recovered from that period and of course, the prior years. So I too have not been able to see my files.

Apparently, when the home closed and became the Bavin School, much of the earlier stuff was dumped before someone realised that it should be saved. Nevertheless, if you keep an eye on this site, you might be rewarded with a visit here from someone from the same period as your respective father and father-in-law,

In any event, the many comments posted here, will give you a pretty good idea of what St. Goggies was like and how it affected different boys in different ways … all of it valid in the human experience.

Dudley Pringle.

By: Karen Hart

Karen Hart — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:03:07 +0000

Hi my father-in-law was in SGH from 1949-1951/2 his name is Rudy Hart (Rudolph Colin). He went there as a young boy and to this day still speaks of SGH with much fondness.

I am tying to found out if by now he can gain acsess to his files when he was there. We are tying to establish his parentige and hope that ther might be some information in his file.

Is there anyone who might be able to assist us in our search?

By: Craig Gordon Longworth

Craig Gordon Longworth — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:07:04 +0000

I am John Charles Longworth’s son.
It’s great to see these pictures and have my father remembered.
I live in Durban, South Africa and have a sister who also lives here.