Brian, my thanks to you for taking the time to respond to my query.

May I say though, that when children became orphans, their siblings were not always in a position to take the younger ones (as in the case of my family when the parents both died with 3 months of each other) in their own homes as they themselves probably had several children themselves and could not look after anymore. In this case the four younger children were put into the Douglas Industrial Home by an aunt. The family concerned in this case though were desperately poor and lived in conditions which were not conducive to having more mouths to feed.

I am sure though that, as you say, there were some families who were in a position to take in perhaps nieces and / or nephews, younger brothers and sisters etc...

Once again, thanks you Brian for your comments.