My great uncle was just one of the 100,000 who was sent to Canada. For most of them the journey began when one of the charitable organisations or the Guardians of the Workhouse deemed that they were suitable candidates to shipped across the Atlanitc. Most were orphans, some living on the streets or in such dire poverty that their life chances if they stayed were grim.
My great uncle Roger had spent most of life along with his siblings in care. And by the age of 13 was judged to be in need of correction on one of the training ships which were little more than naval boot camps.
Unlike my grandfather he declined and so the Guardians of the Derby Workhouse, passed him in to the care of the Middlemore organisation who was one of the agencies who placed British Home Children.
Great Uncle Roger left Liverpool aboard the SS Carthaginian in May of 1914. It was home to 175 people who shared the crossing with nearly 3,000 tons of assorted freight.
Journey times varied but the usual was about twelve days which must have seemed endless for some of the children who suffered from sea sickness or were already missing home and family. But by all accounts conditions on board ship were good. Most children slept in bunks, eight to a cabin with a straw mattress and grey blanket, although often the older boys were given hammocks which were an advantage in stormy weather.
There was a deliberate policy of mixing the ages, and sharing with Roger in his cabin were boys ranging from 13 down to eight and in other cabins as young as six.
The food on Allen ships was good and regular and according to some accounts seemed a cut above what had been on offer in the intuitions they had come from. There were regular games organised on deck along with the novelty of taking a bath made of canvas and filled with ocean water which was pumped at them through a hose.
Many remembered the journeys as an adventure which is more than can be said for what some experienced on their arrival. Most ended up on farms often exploited and over worked The weather in Nova Scotia may be more temperate than in other parts of Canada, but the winters could still prove to be much harsher than anything the children had known in England. And few would have had anything but a short acquaintance with the demands of a farming life.
Picture; passenger list from the SS Carthaginian
My great uncle Roger had spent most of life along with his siblings in care. And by the age of 13 was judged to be in need of correction on one of the training ships which were little more than naval boot camps.
Unlike my grandfather he declined and so the Guardians of the Derby Workhouse, passed him in to the care of the Middlemore organisation who was one of the agencies who placed British Home Children.
Great Uncle Roger left Liverpool aboard the SS Carthaginian in May of 1914. It was home to 175 people who shared the crossing with nearly 3,000 tons of assorted freight.
Journey times varied but the usual was about twelve days which must have seemed endless for some of the children who suffered from sea sickness or were already missing home and family. But by all accounts conditions on board ship were good. Most children slept in bunks, eight to a cabin with a straw mattress and grey blanket, although often the older boys were given hammocks which were an advantage in stormy weather.
There was a deliberate policy of mixing the ages, and sharing with Roger in his cabin were boys ranging from 13 down to eight and in other cabins as young as six.
The food on Allen ships was good and regular and according to some accounts seemed a cut above what had been on offer in the intuitions they had come from. There were regular games organised on deck along with the novelty of taking a bath made of canvas and filled with ocean water which was pumped at them through a hose.
Many remembered the journeys as an adventure which is more than can be said for what some experienced on their arrival. Most ended up on farms often exploited and over worked The weather in Nova Scotia may be more temperate than in other parts of Canada, but the winters could still prove to be much harsher than anything the children had known in England. And few would have had anything but a short acquaintance with the demands of a farming life.
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