This month on the 19th will see me telling the story of British Home Children to our history group which I wrote about in November http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/chorlton-history-group.html
The group has grown from a handful and now regularly attracts upwards of 30 people and we have moved from the Horse & Jockey to the Edge and now meet in Chorlton Library.
I came to British Home Children through the story of my great uncle who was born in 1898 in Birmingham. His given name was Roger James Hall which he changed to James Rogers in 1915 when he ran way to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Now, telling the story to an audience is a challenge. Of course you present the facts which simply put involved various individuals and organisations collecting children and between 1870 and 1939 sending them to Canada. In all 100,000 might have gone, sent because they were orphans, or survived on the streets or lived in great poverty with few life chances ahead of them. So this was about giving children a fresh start. Some made it others fell by the wayside and plenty had an unhappy time cut off from their family and enduring harsh conditions amongst communities who were not always sympathetic.
And so there comes the real challenge. How far does the historian just tell a story in as an objective way as possible putting the good and bad points or does he/she enter into the moral debate?
What right did mainly middle class and Christian individuals have to transport so many children across the Atlantic to a different life?
What were the motives of those who supported the schemes? Did some see it as a way of emptying the cities and towns of problem children who in time might cause even greater demands on the State? And was this not a golden opportunity to populate what was still a vast country with British people? The Romans as well as the Americans understood the value of settling your own people on land you want to incorporate into your country.
And did the success stories of which there were many outweigh the terrible home sickness and loneliness which was the fate of some children? Or for that matter the awful lack of knowledge of who many of them really were and the families that they had come from matter when taken against the dangers and privations they had left? There is no doubt that some would have drifted into crime, been exploited and died young on the streets.
It is possible to criticise a system which allowed a few great wealth and privileges condemning the many to a life time of toil, under nourished poorly clothed only to finish their days in the workhouse. Ah says the objective historian but these were the values of the time and one must always remember this before casting criticism, which might be helpful if were not for the fact that many from the well meaning upper and middle of society to the working class thinkers and organisations were already pointing out the weakness of the system.
But I could go on, I guess you will just have to ask me how it went and perhaps if you are one of the 3 and half thousand or so who have been following the blog since I started it in November who live in Chorlton do try and come along to the meeting on January 19th at 13,30 in Chorlton Library.
Picture; from The ragged and filthy East London children of just 100 years ago living a life of grime, Daily Mail, July 21st 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017054/Britains-Slumdogs-The ragged Filthy-East London-children-just-100 years ago-living-life-grime.html#izz1froCDU4Thttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017054/Britains
No comments:
Post a Comment