Britjan
LostCousins Star
I am currently helping some families who have discovered in many cases, and always known in others that their relatives came to Canada under one of Home Children schemes. Some of the families are at the stage where they are ready to remember their relatives at the IWM Lives of the First World War. I thought it was worth refreshing our collective memories about "home children" in general.
The phrase "Home Children" is used in Canadian government records and applies particularly to the children brought to Canada under the auspices of "charitable organisations" such as Barnados, Middlemore children and Fegan Homes. Below is a direct quote from the site
"Between 1869 and the late 1930s, over 100,000 juvenile migrants were sent to Canada from Great Britain during the child emigration movement. Motivated by social and economic forces, churches and philanthropic organizations sent orphaned, abandoned and pauper children to Canada. Many believed that these children would have a better chance for a healthy, moral life in rural Canada, where families welcomed them as a source of cheap farm labour and domestic help.( emphasis is mine)
After arriving by ship, the children were sent to distributing homes, such as Fairknowe in Brockville, and then sent on to farmers in the area. Although many of the children were poorly treated and abused, others experienced a better life here than if they had remained in the urban slums of England. Many served with the Canadian and British Forces during both World Wars."
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has a number of unique and extensive records about British Home Children, such as passenger lists, correspondence files, inspection reports. They are mostly in English and the site is quite easy to navigate.
Certainly many of the people I have chatted to on line paint a less than rosy picture of this British social experiment. There were still children coming to Canada under these schemes well after WWII and the stories continue to range from heart warming to heart breaking.
The phrase "Home Children" is used in Canadian government records and applies particularly to the children brought to Canada under the auspices of "charitable organisations" such as Barnados, Middlemore children and Fegan Homes. Below is a direct quote from the site
"Between 1869 and the late 1930s, over 100,000 juvenile migrants were sent to Canada from Great Britain during the child emigration movement. Motivated by social and economic forces, churches and philanthropic organizations sent orphaned, abandoned and pauper children to Canada. Many believed that these children would have a better chance for a healthy, moral life in rural Canada, where families welcomed them as a source of cheap farm labour and domestic help.( emphasis is mine)
After arriving by ship, the children were sent to distributing homes, such as Fairknowe in Brockville, and then sent on to farmers in the area. Although many of the children were poorly treated and abused, others experienced a better life here than if they had remained in the urban slums of England. Many served with the Canadian and British Forces during both World Wars."
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has a number of unique and extensive records about British Home Children, such as passenger lists, correspondence files, inspection reports. They are mostly in English and the site is quite easy to navigate.
Certainly many of the people I have chatted to on line paint a less than rosy picture of this British social experiment. There were still children coming to Canada under these schemes well after WWII and the stories continue to range from heart warming to heart breaking.
