Now as we enter the first wave of media coverage of the Great War it is easy to forget those who volunteered from what are now the Commonwealth countries and in particular those who had been sent there by a whole range of children’s charities only to enlist at the first opportunity and return to Europe and fight.
Some were orphans while others like my great uncle were the product of broken homes who were offered Canada as a last chance.
In the case of my great uncle who went out in 1914, his unhappy time on three farms ended with his running away from the last, inventing a new identity and enlisting the following year.
The irony is that the base camp here in England was but a few miles from where his father had married and was bringing up a new family.
In Canada as I write this members of the British Home Child movement have been working hard not only to uncover the stories of those who were sent from these shores to start that new life, but also to raise awareness of the contribution these young men made to Canada’s war effort.
And with this in mind the archivist at the Together Trust has posted a story of the 400 men from the Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges who volunteered.
“The charity has managed to identify around 250 men from this list who were called to arms. Many fought in the Canadian forces, their adopted home, to which they had been emigrated to by the charity.
The pull of the ‘Old Country’ persuaded many of them to sign up.
We will be telling the stories of some of these boys both through our regular blog and the Together Trust website over the next few months as a small way of commemorating all those men from the Refuges who fought for King and country.”**
Now never one to steal the work of others I will leave you to follow the link and read the blog story.
Picture, courtesy of the Together Trust,
*https://www.facebook.com/groups/Britishhomechildren/666932293396747/?notif_t=group_activity
**Our ‘boys’ remembered, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/our-boys-remembered.html#more
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| Refugee Volunteers, 1917 |
In the case of my great uncle who went out in 1914, his unhappy time on three farms ended with his running away from the last, inventing a new identity and enlisting the following year.
The irony is that the base camp here in England was but a few miles from where his father had married and was bringing up a new family.
And with this in mind the archivist at the Together Trust has posted a story of the 400 men from the Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges who volunteered.
“The charity has managed to identify around 250 men from this list who were called to arms. Many fought in the Canadian forces, their adopted home, to which they had been emigrated to by the charity.
The pull of the ‘Old Country’ persuaded many of them to sign up.
We will be telling the stories of some of these boys both through our regular blog and the Together Trust website over the next few months as a small way of commemorating all those men from the Refuges who fought for King and country.”**
Now never one to steal the work of others I will leave you to follow the link and read the blog story.
Picture, courtesy of the Together Trust,
*https://www.facebook.com/groups/Britishhomechildren/666932293396747/?notif_t=group_activity
**Our ‘boys’ remembered, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/our-boys-remembered.html#more
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