Imagine being 7 again, and imagine that grownups have decided that your future lies on the other side of the world far from Ancoats, Greengate or Woolwich.
You may or not being going with your siblings but you will certainly be leaving your parents to start a new life in a farming community or in the home of some well off couple.
And that in a nut shell is the story of British Home Children, migrated in their thousands from 1870 to Canada, Australia and other bits of the old Empire.
It is still a story which for many is an unknown piece of history and so anything that brings it out of the shadows is to be welcomed.
I first came across British Home Children a decade ago when in the course of some family research I found our own who left Britain in 1914 for Canada.
He was my great uncle and he had been in care along with his brothers and sister for most of his young life.
That was a revelation more so because none of us knew anything about him but during the last ten years I discovered more and in the process met other people who were set on the same path of discovery as me.
Many of us subscribe to BHC sites dedicated to helping others find out more and in this age of social networking there are a shedload of facebook groups and pages.
And that brings me to the newsletters and in particular this one.
It isn’t the only one and I shall be featuring others during the month, but the October edition of British Home Children is out today.*
And yes I write for it but given that the other newsletters and groups will feature later I have no problem in featuring this one.
BHC is a subject very close to our family, which links us back to Derby where great grandmother came from,crosses the Atlantic to where great uncle Roger was settled and more of our family.
But it also brings me back to where I grew up in London and to Manchester where the Manchester & Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges migrated young people from the twin cities to Canada between 1870 and 1914.
Pretty much got the lot then.
Location; Britain and Canada
Picture; cover of British Home Children October 2016
* British Home Children October 2016, http://media.wix.com/ugd/186d15_6a66a3f45da4484d8d139e60be2bb587.pdf
And that in a nut shell is the story of British Home Children, migrated in their thousands from 1870 to Canada, Australia and other bits of the old Empire.
It is still a story which for many is an unknown piece of history and so anything that brings it out of the shadows is to be welcomed.
I first came across British Home Children a decade ago when in the course of some family research I found our own who left Britain in 1914 for Canada.
He was my great uncle and he had been in care along with his brothers and sister for most of his young life.
That was a revelation more so because none of us knew anything about him but during the last ten years I discovered more and in the process met other people who were set on the same path of discovery as me.
Many of us subscribe to BHC sites dedicated to helping others find out more and in this age of social networking there are a shedload of facebook groups and pages.
It isn’t the only one and I shall be featuring others during the month, but the October edition of British Home Children is out today.*
And yes I write for it but given that the other newsletters and groups will feature later I have no problem in featuring this one.
BHC is a subject very close to our family, which links us back to Derby where great grandmother came from,crosses the Atlantic to where great uncle Roger was settled and more of our family.
But it also brings me back to where I grew up in London and to Manchester where the Manchester & Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges migrated young people from the twin cities to Canada between 1870 and 1914.
Pretty much got the lot then.
Location; Britain and Canada
Picture; cover of British Home Children October 2016
* British Home Children October 2016, http://media.wix.com/ugd/186d15_6a66a3f45da4484d8d139e60be2bb587.pdf
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