Now there is an interesting debate going on in Canada about Britain and British Home Children and in particular the lack of awareness in the “Home Country” of this bit of history.
And for those who are puzzled, by the term, British Home Children, these are the youngsters migrated, first to Canada and later, other parts of the old British Empire from 1870 well into the 20th century.
Depending on your point of view, this was either a policy designed to offer up cheap labour for Canada, while at the same time emptying our institutions of children whose family circumstances had left them in care or worse still were living on the streets, or alternatively migration offered a fresh start in a new country, free from the poverty and neglect in Britain.
Those in the first camp will point to the cases of abuse experienced by migrated Home Children, the cynical way Governments on both sides of the Atlantic used these young people and the lasting impact it had on the children themselves.
Those with a more optimistic interpretation of events will point to the good intentions of many who were instrumental in making the migration happen, and offer stories of success, adding that as ever there was a context to the policy.
And as usual there is no one answer.
History is messy, and there are plenty of grey areas.
In answer to those who say there was no alternative and that the prevailing ideology of laissez and the “night watchman’s state” meant that successive governments and the establishment saw poverty in Britain as the fault of the poor, there were voices arguing for alternative social models and opposing child migration on both a principled and practical position.
On the other hand, there is no doubting that a policy which sent young people abroad was cheaper than maintaining them in the Workhouse and allowed some at least to hide behind that convenient mind wall of “out of sight out of mind”.
Those who discover their own BHC, often start out at one end of the debate, may concede that there were positive aspects of the migration but will always yearn for more information.
They may also rail against the policy of some British Children’s charities to charge for that information.
Now I was lucky the few scant bits of documentation for my BHC who was migrated by Middlemore acting for the Derby Union came with no charge, and the Together Trust which I have become associated with will do a search for free.
But others do charge and that at first seems outrageous, but that charity that migrated the most has a lot of records, and searches as I know take up time. It maybe their duty, given what they did the business of sending children, but the counter argument is that the time, money and staff resources devoted to those searches could be used to help youngsters right now in a whole range of ways.
And then there is that sad lack of awareness of what went on. Less so in Canada, but regrettably the case here in Britain, and when the story does surface from time to time, it is usually in relation to what went on in Australia.
This may puzzle and anger some in Canada, but is understandable. The migrations to Australia continued until the 1970s which means that there are more “living” BHC and these can be interviewed for documentaries and make for more vivid television.
That is not to make a judgement, just an observation.
Finally I notice that the debate has taken another turn recently and focuses on the lack of British groups and social media sites, which I agree is regrettable.
But as someone from Canada pointed out that can be rectified by us over here.
For a decade now, I have been writing about British Home Children; have given talks to history groups from local heritage societies to after dinner gatherings and pretty much any audience that will listen to me.
Should there be a British, British Home Child Facebook site, which promotes local events? The answer is yes, and just needs us to get it going. I would certainly like to see one which was linked to our Canadian ones.
So, to adapt a well known political slogan, “don’t get angry, get even and organise”.
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| How it started, 1914 |
Depending on your point of view, this was either a policy designed to offer up cheap labour for Canada, while at the same time emptying our institutions of children whose family circumstances had left them in care or worse still were living on the streets, or alternatively migration offered a fresh start in a new country, free from the poverty and neglect in Britain.
Those in the first camp will point to the cases of abuse experienced by migrated Home Children, the cynical way Governments on both sides of the Atlantic used these young people and the lasting impact it had on the children themselves.
 |
| Far from home ....St John River, 2008 |
And as usual there is no one answer.
History is messy, and there are plenty of grey areas.
In answer to those who say there was no alternative and that the prevailing ideology of laissez and the “night watchman’s state” meant that successive governments and the establishment saw poverty in Britain as the fault of the poor, there were voices arguing for alternative social models and opposing child migration on both a principled and practical position.
 |
| My great uncle Roger, 1915 |
Those who discover their own BHC, often start out at one end of the debate, may concede that there were positive aspects of the migration but will always yearn for more information.
They may also rail against the policy of some British Children’s charities to charge for that information.
 |
| Signing off, 1914 |
But others do charge and that at first seems outrageous, but that charity that migrated the most has a lot of records, and searches as I know take up time. It maybe their duty, given what they did the business of sending children, but the counter argument is that the time, money and staff resources devoted to those searches could be used to help youngsters right now in a whole range of ways.
 |
| Telling the story, 2008 |
This may puzzle and anger some in Canada, but is understandable. The migrations to Australia continued until the 1970s which means that there are more “living” BHC and these can be interviewed for documentaries and make for more vivid television.
That is not to make a judgement, just an observation.
 |
| Chorlton History Group,2008 |
But as someone from Canada pointed out that can be rectified by us over here.
For a decade now, I have been writing about British Home Children; have given talks to history groups from local heritage societies to after dinner gatherings and pretty much any audience that will listen to me.
Should there be a British, British Home Child Facebook site, which promotes local events? The answer is yes, and just needs us to get it going. I would certainly like to see one which was linked to our Canadian ones.
So, to adapt a well known political slogan, “don’t get angry, get even and organise”.
And since I first wrote this Tricia Leslie and I have set one up.*
Location; Britain & Canada
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
Location; Britain & Canada
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*British Home Children ....... the story from Britain, https://www.facebook.com/groups/bhchildren
Excellent article, once again Andrew. Really interesting, actually have a new prescriptive on a few things and ideas. Lori Oschefski
ReplyDeleteFor those interested in the UK I shall be giving a presentation "Silver Spoon and Short Straw Migrants to Canada" — the latter being Home Children — at the Secret Lives conference https://secretlives.org.uk/ in Leicestershire, 1 September.
ReplyDeleteThank you John I have posted it to a new BHC British fb site I set up yesterday
ReplyDelete