Now there is always a big element of chance in history and if I hadn’t discovered that one of my great uncles had been shipped off to Canada as a British Home Child I doubt I would ever have developed an interest in the subject or have been reunited with the Canadian side of my family.
But there you are I did make that chance discovery and as a by product we are now linked up to more cousins that I could ever have imagined.
The process of discovery is little different to most who find out that one of “theirs” for any one of a variety of reasons crossed the Atlantic in the care of children’s charity.
And in the decade since I uncovered the story of our great uncle Roger I have seen BHC become an area of historical study which is mature enough to support differing interpretations and a developing body of information backed up by books, societies and interest groups.
Along the way I have done some talks, written regularly about it on the blog and have contributed to the newsletter produced by Lori Oschefski for British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association.*
All of which is a roundabout way of saying the special Canada 150 magazine arrived from Canada today containing a mix of articles on 150 years of Canadian history and the story of British Home Children.
My one contribution focuses on what might have been one of our first families to leave for the New World. Strictly speaking we are not directly related but my great aunt who followed Roger over in 1925 married a descendant of that family who incidentliy left from Salfrod just a few miles away from where we live today.
It all get complicated as family history does so I shall just recommend the magazine which is available from the BHC site.*
Leaving me just to add that I have also met lots of new Canadian friends along with Patricia from Sheffield.
Picture; cover of Canada 150
*British Home Children in Canada; http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/
**British Home Children in Canada
http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
The process of discovery is little different to most who find out that one of “theirs” for any one of a variety of reasons crossed the Atlantic in the care of children’s charity.
And in the decade since I uncovered the story of our great uncle Roger I have seen BHC become an area of historical study which is mature enough to support differing interpretations and a developing body of information backed up by books, societies and interest groups.
All of which is a roundabout way of saying the special Canada 150 magazine arrived from Canada today containing a mix of articles on 150 years of Canadian history and the story of British Home Children.
My one contribution focuses on what might have been one of our first families to leave for the New World. Strictly speaking we are not directly related but my great aunt who followed Roger over in 1925 married a descendant of that family who incidentliy left from Salfrod just a few miles away from where we live today.
It all get complicated as family history does so I shall just recommend the magazine which is available from the BHC site.*
Leaving me just to add that I have also met lots of new Canadian friends along with Patricia from Sheffield.
Picture; cover of Canada 150
*British Home Children in Canada; http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/
**British Home Children in Canada
http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
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