Johnson Family

A Memory of Newton Abbot.

My grandmother Selina Lucy Tank Hotten fell pregnant at the age of 18 years. Her father, Charles Henry Hotten was a gardener and felt he would lose his job if anyone found out about this. Selina was sent to a workhouse to have her baby, she named her Lucy Hotten, she was born in 1902. I believe that this is the workhouse that she may have been sent to. Selina never told her parents who the father was. Henry Johnson was the father, and when he returned to Newton Abbot from the war he married Selina and the plan was to get their baby back. Selina's mother's sister Mary Spiller, could not have any children and agreed that she would bring up the child with her husband Sidney Court, in Dorset until Selina and her husband had got a place to live and settled down. They never got her back, they tried very hard but Mary and her husband changed Lucy's name to Dinah Court and never gave her back. I am tracing my family history and the one thing I am struggling with is info on the workhouse that she was sent to. I am wondering if this is the one as they lived in Newton Abbot. If anyone has any info that they could share, I would be greatful. Sue Trickett from Poole Dorset.