A story coming out of the shadows ........... Looking at the story of the British Home Child from the other side of the Atlantic

Leaving for Canada, on the steps of Manchester Town Hall, 1897

I count myself as one of the new boys on the block when it comes to British Home Children.

These were those children who from the 1870s through into the 20th century were migrated first to Canada and then later to Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the former British Empire.

It is still a subject not well known about in Britain and even less well understood and just getting information about a relative who made that journey can be difficult.

Now as many of these young people were settled in Canada it is there that much of the work has been done, after all one estimate suggests that perhaps 10% of Canadians are descended from a British Home Child.

And it is a subject which I have become very interested in since I discovered my great uncle made the journey in the May of 1914.

His story and much more has been the subject of a large number of posts on the blog over the years.*

Now there were a large number of charities along with some individuals involved in the migration of young people.

My own uncle was sent by the Derby Guardians in the care of the Middlemore Charity and sadly  the official paperwork has all but been lost.

In Canada, 1907

Happily the archives of the Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges which began sending young people across the Atlantic in 1870 but stopped at the start of the Great War are intact.**

Today the charity is known as the Together Trust.

It has an archivist who is very helpful and a blog which is a fascinating insight into the care of those in its charge.***

Until 2007 I knew nothing of the programme to send children from Britain to Canada, and the story of the British Home Children  has moved from what was essentially a quest by individuals trying to make sense of their own family history into a serious area of study.

It began with a few lone pioneers inspired by their own experiences, moved up a notch with the formation of self help groups who shared their skills and knowledge, and took a huge leap forward with the use of social media.

At the Post Office, Beaver Rapids, 1907

Today that growing interest is reflected in a host of events across the country, and regular stories in the media.

At the heart of all this are those self help groups many of which are on facebook and others with a dedicated site.  What they have in common is a desire to bring the story out of the shadows.

And as more research is done some of the earlier interpretations are being challenged which can be quite uncomfortable but this now marks BHC out as a serious area of study.

All of which is not bad for a story which until comparatively recently sat in the shadows.

Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust

*British Home Children, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/British%20Home%20Children

** Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20and%20Salford%20Boys%20and%20Girls%20Refuges

***Getting down and dusty, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/