The story of British Home Children in just 20 objects nu 9 .......... the migration party 1897

Manchester Town Hall, 1897

A story of British Home Children in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, have been selected purely at random and will reflect one of many different stories.

The year is 1897 and we are on the steps of Manchester Town Hall which is a building I know very well.

The young people staring back at us are about to leave for Canada under the care of the Manchester & Salford Boys’ & Girls’ Refuges.

The scene will have been replicated countless times from the beginning of the practice and the Manchester & Salford Boys’ & Girls’ Refuges continued sending young people till 1914.

The Together Trust holds many similar images and for those of us with a BHC in our family, pictures like this are a powerful link to link to that person.

Now I never knew my great uncle who left Derby with the Middlemore organization in 1914, and I have no pictures of him and few letters and other personal effects, so in a way this is the best I can do.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

Picture, Migration Party, Manchester Town Hall, 1897, courtesy of the Together Trust, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/