Home children
Encyclopedia
Home Children is a common term used to refer to the child migration
scheme founded by Annie MacPherson
in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from the United Kingdom.
Australia has recently apologized for its involvement in the scheme, and UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
made a formal apology to the affected families in February 2010. Conversely, on 16 November 2009, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney issued a statement that Canada will not be apologizing to child migrants.
businessmen and magistrates for their involvement in the trade.
The Children's Friend Society was founded in London in 1830, as "The Society for the Suppression of Juvenile Vagrancy through the reformation and emigration of children". The first group of children was sent to the Cape Colony
in South Africa and the Swan River Colony
in Australia in 1832 and in August 1833, 230 children were shipped to Toronto
and New Brunswick, Canada.
The main pioneers of child migration in the nineteenth century were the Scottish Evangelical Christian, Annie MacPherson
, her sister Louisa Birt, and Londoner, Maria Rye. Whilst working with poor children in London in the late 1860s MacPherson was appalled by the child slavery
of the matchbox industry and resolved to devote her life to these children. In 1870 she bought a large workshop and turned it into the "Home of Industry", where poor children could work and be fed and educated. She later became convinced that the real solution for these children lay in emigration to a country of opportunity and started an emigration fund. In the first year of the fund's operation, 500 children, trained in the London homes, were shipped to Canada. McPherson opened distribution homes in Canada in the towns of Belleville
and Galt in Ontario
and persuaded her sister, Louisa, to open a third home in the village of Knowlton, seventy miles from Montreal
. This was the beginning of a massive operation which sought to find homes and careers for 14,000 of Britain's needy children.
Maria Rye also worked amongst the poor in London and had arrived in Ontario with 68 children (50 of whom were from Liverpool
) some months earlier than McPherson, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury
and The Times
newspaper. Rye, who had been placing women emigrants in Canada since 1867, opened her home at Niagara-on-the-Lake
in 1869, and by the turn of the century had settled some 5,000 children, mostly girls, in Ontario.
The emigration schemes were not without their critics and there were many rumours of ill-treatment of the children by their employers and of profiteering by the organisers of the schemes, particularly Maria Rye. In 1874 The London Board of Governors decided to send a representative, named Andrew Doyle, to Canada to visit the homes and the children to see how they were faring. Doyle's report praised the women and their staff, especially MacPherson, saying that they were inspired by the highest motives, but condemned almost everything else about the enterprise. He said that the attitude of the women in grouping together children from the workhouses, who he said were mostly of good reputation, with street children, who he considered mostly thieves, was naive and had caused nothing but trouble in Canada. He was also critical of the checks made on the children after they were placed with settlers, which in Rye's case were mostly non-existent, and said that:
The Canadian House of Commons
subsequently set up a select committee to examine Doyle's findings and there was much controversy generated by his report in Britain, but the schemes continued with some changes and were copied in other countries of the British Empire.
In 1909, South African born Kingsley Fairbridge
founded the "Society for the Furtherance of Child Emigration to the Colonies" which was later incorporated as the Child Emigration Society. The purpose of the society, which later became the Fairbridge Foundation, was to educate orphaned and neglected children and train them in farming practices at farm schools located throughout the British Empire
. Fairbridge emigrated to Australia in 1912, where his ideas received support and encouragement. According to the British House of Commons
Child Migrant's Trust Report, "it is estimated that some 150,000 children were dispatched over a period of 350 years—the earliest recorded child migrants left Britain for the Virginia Colony in 1618, and the process did not finally end until the late 1960s." It was widely believed by contemporaries that all of these children were orphans, but it is now known that most had living parents some of whom had no idea of the fate of their children after they were left in care homes, and some led to believe that their children had been adopted somewhere in Britain.
Child emigration was suspended for economic reasons during the Great Depression
of the 1930s but was not completely terminated until the 1970s.
As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were deceived into believing their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them. Many children were welcomed into loving homes, but others were exploited as cheap agricultural labour, or denied proper shelter and education and not allowed to socialise with native children. It was common for Home Children to run away, sometimes finding a caring family or better working conditions.
carried out an investigation leading to the exposure of the child migration scheme and the establishment of the Child Migrants Trust, with the aim of reuniting parents and children. Full details of the scheme only emerged as late as 1998 during a parliamentary inquiry in Britain, which found that many migrant children were subjected to systematic abuse in religious schools in Australia, New Zealand and other countries. In 1994 Humphreys published a book concerning her research entitled Empty Cradles.
". "Forgotten Australians" is a term the Australian Senate has used to describe the estimated 500,000 children who were brought up in orphanages, children's homes, institutions or foster care in Australia up until the early 1990's. "Child Migrants" refers specifically to the 7000 children who migrated to Australia under assisted child migration schemes. Child migrants were adopted or brought up in children's homes, institutions, orphanages or foster care. Many of these children experienced neglect and abuse while in institutional care.
At the urging of the "Care Leavers Australia Network", in August 2001, the Senate Community Affairs References Committee published "Lost Innocents: Righting the Record – Report on child migration," and followed this in August 2004 with the "Forgotten Australians" report. Both reports concluded with a number of recommendations, one of which was a call for a national apology. Prime Minister of Australia
, Kevin Rudd
apologised on behalf of the government of Australia on 16 November 2009. As of 2009, there were an estimated 7,000 "Child Migrants" currently residing in Australia. The Australian government had contacted about 400 British child migrants for advice on how the apology should be delivered. Australia's Roman Catholic Church had publicly apologised in 2001 to British and Maltese child migrants who suffered abuse including rape, whippings and slave labour in religious institutions. A £1 million travel fund was set up by the British Government for former child migrants to visit their families in the UK. The Australian Government later supplemented this fund.
, said
Canada did proclaim 2010 the "Year of the British Home Child" and on 1 September 2010, Canada Post released a commemorative stamp to honour those who were sent to Canada.
, Gordon Brown
issued an official apology for the "shameful" child resettlement programme and announced a £6 million fund designed to compensate the families affected by the "misguided" programme.
Child migration
Child migration is the migration of children, without their parents, to another country or region. In many cases this has involved the forced migration of children in care, to be used as child labour.- Australia :...
scheme founded by Annie MacPherson
Annie Macpherson
Annie MacPherson was born in Campsie by Milton, Stirlingshire, in Scotland and educated at the Home and Colonial Training College in Gray's Inn Road, London. She is a philanthropist who is accepted as the pioneer of child emigration to Canada....
in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from the United Kingdom.
Australia has recently apologized for its involvement in the scheme, and UK Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
made a formal apology to the affected families in February 2010. Conversely, on 16 November 2009, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney issued a statement that Canada will not be apologizing to child migrants.
History
The practice of sending poor or orphaned children to British settler colonies, to help alleviate the shortage of labour, began in 1618, with the rounding-up and transportation of 100 vagrant children to the Virginia Colony. Labour shortages in the British colonies also encouraged the kidnapping of children for work in the Americas, and large numbers of children were forcibly emigrated, mostly from Scotland. This practice continued until it was exposed in 1757, following a civil action against AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
businessmen and magistrates for their involvement in the trade.
The Children's Friend Society was founded in London in 1830, as "The Society for the Suppression of Juvenile Vagrancy through the reformation and emigration of children". The first group of children was sent to the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
in South Africa and the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...
in Australia in 1832 and in August 1833, 230 children were shipped to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and New Brunswick, Canada.
The main pioneers of child migration in the nineteenth century were the Scottish Evangelical Christian, Annie MacPherson
Annie Macpherson
Annie MacPherson was born in Campsie by Milton, Stirlingshire, in Scotland and educated at the Home and Colonial Training College in Gray's Inn Road, London. She is a philanthropist who is accepted as the pioneer of child emigration to Canada....
, her sister Louisa Birt, and Londoner, Maria Rye. Whilst working with poor children in London in the late 1860s MacPherson was appalled by the child slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
of the matchbox industry and resolved to devote her life to these children. In 1870 she bought a large workshop and turned it into the "Home of Industry", where poor children could work and be fed and educated. She later became convinced that the real solution for these children lay in emigration to a country of opportunity and started an emigration fund. In the first year of the fund's operation, 500 children, trained in the London homes, were shipped to Canada. McPherson opened distribution homes in Canada in the towns of Belleville
Belleville, Ontario
Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...
and Galt in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and persuaded her sister, Louisa, to open a third home in the village of Knowlton, seventy miles from Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. This was the beginning of a massive operation which sought to find homes and careers for 14,000 of Britain's needy children.
Maria Rye also worked amongst the poor in London and had arrived in Ontario with 68 children (50 of whom were from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
) some months earlier than McPherson, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper. Rye, who had been placing women emigrants in Canada since 1867, opened her home at Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara river from Youngstown, New York, USA...
in 1869, and by the turn of the century had settled some 5,000 children, mostly girls, in Ontario.
The emigration schemes were not without their critics and there were many rumours of ill-treatment of the children by their employers and of profiteering by the organisers of the schemes, particularly Maria Rye. In 1874 The London Board of Governors decided to send a representative, named Andrew Doyle, to Canada to visit the homes and the children to see how they were faring. Doyle's report praised the women and their staff, especially MacPherson, saying that they were inspired by the highest motives, but condemned almost everything else about the enterprise. He said that the attitude of the women in grouping together children from the workhouses, who he said were mostly of good reputation, with street children, who he considered mostly thieves, was naive and had caused nothing but trouble in Canada. He was also critical of the checks made on the children after they were placed with settlers, which in Rye's case were mostly non-existent, and said that:
Because of Miss Rye's carelessness and Miss MacPherson's limited resources, thousands of British children, already in painful circumstances, were cast adrift to be overworked or mistreated by the settlers of early Canada who were generally honest but often hard taskmasters.
The Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
subsequently set up a select committee to examine Doyle's findings and there was much controversy generated by his report in Britain, but the schemes continued with some changes and were copied in other countries of the British Empire.
In 1909, South African born Kingsley Fairbridge
Kingsley Fairbridge
Kingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge was the founder of a child emigration scheme to British colonies and the Fairbridge Schools...
founded the "Society for the Furtherance of Child Emigration to the Colonies" which was later incorporated as the Child Emigration Society. The purpose of the society, which later became the Fairbridge Foundation, was to educate orphaned and neglected children and train them in farming practices at farm schools located throughout the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. Fairbridge emigrated to Australia in 1912, where his ideas received support and encouragement. According to the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
Child Migrant's Trust Report, "it is estimated that some 150,000 children were dispatched over a period of 350 years—the earliest recorded child migrants left Britain for the Virginia Colony in 1618, and the process did not finally end until the late 1960s." It was widely believed by contemporaries that all of these children were orphans, but it is now known that most had living parents some of whom had no idea of the fate of their children after they were left in care homes, and some led to believe that their children had been adopted somewhere in Britain.
Child emigration was suspended for economic reasons during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s but was not completely terminated until the 1970s.
As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were deceived into believing their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them. Many children were welcomed into loving homes, but others were exploited as cheap agricultural labour, or denied proper shelter and education and not allowed to socialise with native children. It was common for Home Children to run away, sometimes finding a caring family or better working conditions.
Exposure and apologies
In 1987 British social worker Margaret HumphreysMargaret Humphreys
Margaret Humphreys CBE OAM is a social worker, author and whistleblower from Nottingham, England. In 1987, she investigated and brought to public attention the British government programme of Home Children...
carried out an investigation leading to the exposure of the child migration scheme and the establishment of the Child Migrants Trust, with the aim of reuniting parents and children. Full details of the scheme only emerged as late as 1998 during a parliamentary inquiry in Britain, which found that many migrant children were subjected to systematic abuse in religious schools in Australia, New Zealand and other countries. In 1994 Humphreys published a book concerning her research entitled Empty Cradles.
Australia
In Australia, such "Child Migrant" children are part of a larger group known as the "Forgotten AustraliansForgotten Australians
Forgotten Australians is a term applied to the more than 500,000 non-indigenous, child migrants and indigenous children who experienced care in institutions or outside a home setting during the 20th century. Many of these children were abused physically, emotionally, or sexually while in care...
". "Forgotten Australians" is a term the Australian Senate has used to describe the estimated 500,000 children who were brought up in orphanages, children's homes, institutions or foster care in Australia up until the early 1990's. "Child Migrants" refers specifically to the 7000 children who migrated to Australia under assisted child migration schemes. Child migrants were adopted or brought up in children's homes, institutions, orphanages or foster care. Many of these children experienced neglect and abuse while in institutional care.
At the urging of the "Care Leavers Australia Network", in August 2001, the Senate Community Affairs References Committee published "Lost Innocents: Righting the Record – Report on child migration," and followed this in August 2004 with the "Forgotten Australians" report. Both reports concluded with a number of recommendations, one of which was a call for a national apology. Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
apologised on behalf of the government of Australia on 16 November 2009. As of 2009, there were an estimated 7,000 "Child Migrants" currently residing in Australia. The Australian government had contacted about 400 British child migrants for advice on how the apology should be delivered. Australia's Roman Catholic Church had publicly apologised in 2001 to British and Maltese child migrants who suffered abuse including rape, whippings and slave labour in religious institutions. A £1 million travel fund was set up by the British Government for former child migrants to visit their families in the UK. The Australian Government later supplemented this fund.
Canada
After the apology by the Australian government, the Canadian Immigration Minister, Jason KenneyJason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
, said
Canada did proclaim 2010 the "Year of the British Home Child" and on 1 September 2010, Canada Post released a commemorative stamp to honour those who were sent to Canada.
United Kingdom
On Wednesday, 23 February 2010, Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
issued an official apology for the "shameful" child resettlement programme and announced a £6 million fund designed to compensate the families affected by the "misguided" programme.
See also
- AbuseAbuseAbuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
- Child abuseChild abuseChild abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
- Child sexual abuseChild sexual abuseChild sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
- Institutional abuseInstitutional abuseInstitutional abuse can typically occur in a care home, nursing home, acute hospital or in-patient setting and can be any of the following:Institutional abuse also refers to child abuse in institutions where children were placed for their education, welfare, rehabilitation, or even protection...
- Orphan trainOrphan TrainThe Orphan Train was a social experiment that transported children from crowded coastal cities of the United States to the country's Midwest for adoption. The orphan trains ran between 1854 and 1929, relocating an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, or homeless children...
- Religious abuse
- Oranges and SunshineOranges and SunshineOranges and Sunshine is a 2010 drama film directed by Jim Loach with screenplay by Rona Munro.-Plot:The film tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the scandal of "home children", a scheme of forcibly relocating poor children from the UK to Australia...
External links
- British Child Emigration Scheme to Canada Database of 57,000 individual British Home Children Records, over 3,000 claimed by their descendants. Hosted by Rootsweb.
- British Home Children Descendants Site dedicated to the one million British Home Children Descendants. The online project is an extension of the British Home Children Mailing List, hosted by Rootsweb.
- Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque and background information
- National Library and Archives of Canada Autobiography of W B Tucker, a home child who became a Methodist minister, and later founded The Montreal City Mission.
- Home Children (1869–1930) Search Database, Library and Archives Canada.
- Adoption & Forgotten Australians
- BBC website with film clip of Prime Minister Rudd's apology
- The Golden Bridge, an online exhibition created by the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social ServicesIRISSMissionIRISS, the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services, is a charitable company with a mission to:-Work Programmes:To realise the vision of a high quality, continually improving social services sector renowned for its effective use of knowledge and research-based innovation,...
that tells the story of child migration to Canada from Scotland.
Films
- Heaven on Earth (1987) Canadian film (based on a true story) regarding 125,000 Welsh Home Children shipped to Canada
- The Leaving of Liverpool (1992) Australian film regarding UK children shipped to Australia following World War 2
- Oranges and Sunshine (2010)" British-Australian co-production based on Margaret HumphreysMargaret HumphreysMargaret Humphreys CBE OAM is a social worker, author and whistleblower from Nottingham, England. In 1987, she investigated and brought to public attention the British government programme of Home Children...
' story.