Thoughts on the study of British Home Children

The application for my great uncle, 1914

I first came across the story of British Home Children in 2009 when I uncovered my own close relative who had been migrated to Canada.

There was and still is not that much written in Britain about the history of sending young people to Canada, Australia and other parts of the old empire from the 1870s.

And so much of what I uncovered came from Canada and more recently people who I now can call friends.

Since then I have wandered over the records of various charities which sent children, explored in detail the minutes of the Chorlton Union along with the debates surrounding the migration of children from Manchester and become frustrated at the lack of material on my own relative.

So like others what began as a personal quest became a research project and widened into a much bigger study.

Waiting to leave for Canada, Manchester Town Hall, 1903

In those five years I think it is fair to say that British Home Children has come of age and is now a legitimate area of study drawing in the professional historian, generating a range of books and a growing number of exhibitions.

And with all that come serious debates about the legitimacy of the policy and its impact on those who were migrated.

But above all what pushes it forward are large numbers of people who have a direct connection with the story.

Many are first generation descendants who knew those who were sent or like me were filling in the gaps left by family who have since died.

Nor should we forget that the migration of children to Australia continued into the 1970s and that the experiences of being migrated thousands of miles to a new country on the other side of the world are yet to fade from living memory.

Appeal for funds, circa 1900

All of which makes this both a fascinating and exciting area of study and one that to a great extent is just at its beginning.

Now most who read this will of course be well aware of what went on but for others it will be a revelation.

There are many here in Britain who know something of the Australian story but have no knowledge of what went on in Canada.

And there is still lots to uncover some of which challenge existing interpretations of both the validity of the policy and its benefits.

Now some of these will make uncomfortable reading for both the apologists of the scheme and those who criticise it.

One of the home farms my great uncle worked on, 2010

And that I think is another example of how the study of Home Children has grown up.

In the process of reading through the minutes of the Chorlton Union in the early 20th century it was clear that the socialist Guardians opposed the policy of migration arguing for solutions which addressed the cause of working class poverty.

Now this is an important discovery because it challenges two assertions which are often advanced in support of that policy.

Too often we are told that few were opposed to migration at the time or that we are judging the scheme with the benefit of hindsight.

Manchester Boys

But not so, those socialist Guardians advanced again and again their concerns for the young people in Canada citing both maltreatment and a serious lack of supervision.

On the other hand the detailed correspondence in the archives of the Manchester Boy’s and Girls’ Refuge show that there were real success stories of young people placed in Canada by the charity from 1870-1914.

All of which points to that simple observation that history is a messy thing and that the truth is not all we want it to be.

That may make some people uncomfortable but does mean that the story of British Home Children has come of age and is a serious area of study.

But we should never lose sight that it was and is about people we knew and who we still want to know more about.

Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust and the collection of Andrew Simpson