Audrey Cieslakowska- Evans researches adoption in the 19th century.
PhD student Audrey researches adoption in the 19th century to see whether fact or fiction is reflected in classic literature.
Audrey Cieslakowska-Evans at her graduation
Nineteenth century English novels (such as Oliver Twist or Wuthering Heights) are littered with examples of waifs, strays and abandoned children who are taken up and adopted by complete strangers.
Our undergraduate English students were asked to explore if these classics reflected fact or fiction.
One particular PhD student, Audrey Cieslakowska-Evans, used her own money to place adverts in national and regional newspapers to trace people who had been 'adopted' pre-1926 and had great success with this.
Audrey said, "I did not want to send out a questionnaire as I felt it was rather impersonal and hoped to find out more through letters. I received about 100 replies and the correspondence made compelling reading."
Audrey found a mixture of responses and experiences.
Audrey said, "Some people had no idea they had been adopted. They had good experiences and had been placed with a family by the local priest or vicar, or by friends and families of already orphaned children. Many were very happy and had succesful adoptions, going on to achieve warm and loving relationships with their families."
However, Audrey also said, "There were some tragic cases relating to people who were resentful and felt they had always been treated differently to the other children who were the family's actual sons and daughters and this had troubled them in life ever since."
One account suggests that they, "had even been forced out of the house and had to go elsewhere".
Audrey concluded, "My study suggests that classics such as Oliver Twist accuratley reflected how easy it was for people to take orphans off the streets, this shows how necessry adoption laws have become to help safeguard children".
Audrey said, "Some of the graphic accounts were so similar to the feelings of adopted children of the period in terms of reflecting doubt over identity and self- esteem, that it demonstrates how very close to reality the books were".
Audrey at the age of 77 has now graduated with a PhD from The University of Derby after six years of studying. She now hopes to get some of her work published.
Audrey's tutor said, "It was a pleasure to work with Audrey. She was so passionate and enthusiastic about her topic and worked so hard to get her PhD. I hope to see her work published soon and I am very proud of her".
