What price a British Home Child? Part two “the price of everything and the value of nothing"

I reckon Oscar Wild’s definition of a cynic as “a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” is as good a starting point for an exploration of who made money from British Home Children. 

There was of course a price paid to send and settle each child but how can you really calculate the value of a child or for that matter the balance between those who did well and those that suffered?

Now this is a theme all of us reflect on from time to time, and it raises that simple question of who made out of these children?

It would be easy to target those individuals and charitable organisations who sent the children.  But I am not so sure.  Maria Rye was one of the first to be involved and took according to Roger Kershaw* about 10,000 across the Atlantic from 1870 to the turn of the century was paid £10 for each child she took out of the workhouse, which he estimated would be the equivalent today of £450.

But she came from a wealthy background and I doubt that making money was her motive.  But for some the financial dimension was important, not so much because of what could be made but rather what could be saved.

In the April of 1910 the secretary of the Manchester Boys and Girls Refuge argued that in pure monetary terms it was cheaper to send children to Canada.

“As to the expense, to maintain a child in the workhouse school or in a charitable institution cost at least £15.  In some Poor Law Unions it had gone up to £30.  Allowing an average stay of four or five years the total expenditure was at least from £60 to £75 for each child.  The cost to emigrate a child was £12, and for this the first and final sum he or she was provided for during life.”  All of which was a fine balance sheet calculation and one which was strengthen by the fact that “only 3% of the number of children whom they had emigrated could be put down to failures.” 

So “on the ground of economy alone this juvenile emigration was a saving to the country.”**

Moreover the London Guardians had observed that after just two years from the start of the scheme the numbers of “pauper children attending workhouse and district schools [was} less than in the previous year [and] has probably been occasioned in a great measure by the extension of the boarding out system and partly also by the emigration of a considerable number of children to Canada.”** 

Now this represented a considerable saving as the cost of teaching the 39,542 children in their care had been £36, 778 in 1871, but during the following year “the number under instruction was 2,032 less than in the previous year.”  I will leave you to do the sums.  The Guardians reported that it cost 18s 7d [86p] per child.

Of course you have to be careful.  It would be easy to reduce this to a crude and simplistic equation which turned merely on the cost of a child and while I have no doubt this was a consideration it is also clear that there was a genuine belief that by lifting the children off the streets and out of the institutions they were being “rescued from degrading and dangerous surroundings.”****

And for a charity mindful of its expenditure and its donations and a government body charged with the sound use of public money any argument which drew on “value for money” was an attractive one and one that organisations might feel duty bound to make.

And we do have to make some sort of distinction between those taken from the streets, those from institutions and the workhouse and those "rescued" from their own homes.

So a lot now turns on that crude calculation.  We know the cost of maintaining a child in the workhouse but need figures for the cost of running the training stations in the UK and receiving stations in Canada, set against the expense of sending them across the Atlantic.

Nor should we miss out in the calculations the benefits to those who took children as farmhands and domestic labour.  True there was a financial commitment on their part to feed, clothe and later pay them, but was this going rate cheaper than what they would have to pay out for non BHC labour?

And if we accept that the motives of many who sent our children across the Atlantic were driven by deep religious convictions and a sense of horror at the blighted lives and poor futures of the young people they encountered, are we saying that the same considerations were not present amongst those who took the children in?

I cannot accept that the three who agreed to take my great uncle in 1914 were entirely hard faced money grabbing individuals.

So, there is a lot more to play for. 

It may of course be that all of this is a niceness which may satisfy a piece of sound historical research but cloud the issues of principle about the moral correctness of sending them in the first place or of their treatment in the farms and homes in Canada.

But I rather think we need the detail even if it is uncomfortable, and challenges sometimes what we think about BHC.

So I would welcome any suggestions of where I can look for material on the average wages for juvenile labour in Canada in the last quarter of the 19^th century into the next, and the economic background to small time farming, especially in those areas where most children were settled.  I shall continue to plug away at what I can find here, amongst the Poor Law records and the archives of the Manchester Boys’ and Girls’ Refuge.

Picture; from a design by Lori Oschefski and Manchester Boys Refuges, Courtesy of the Together Trust and  Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, m68158 & m68185

* Roger Kershaw, Child emigration to Canada, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/emigration-to-canada.htm?mid=57

**Manchester Guardian April 10^th 1910

*** Manchester Guardian June 14 1872

**** Manchester Guardian April 10^th 1910

The History Trail a new exhibition for Chorlton has arrived

The History Trail tells the story of Chorlton from rural community to Manchester suburb in sharp little episodes in venues across the township.
At each you will find a mix of stories of the past written by me and paintings from the present by Peter.   Which means you can take in just one or two at selected venues or follow the whole history trail.

Each stage of the journey has been chosen because it has something to say about our history and  we have added  a little story unique to each  venue.

You can start on the green at the Horse & Jockey, move on to Franny and Filer at 70 Beech Road and conclude your tour of old Chorlton at the Lead Station.

And then there are the three venues in new Chorlton at Chorlton Eatery on Barlow Moor Road, and Copperfield and the Bar on Wilbraham Road.  They tell the story of the housing boom which took us from small farming community to a large and vibrant society in a matter of thirty years.

Peter’s work is on display around Chorlton and can also be seen at https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures 

While my book, Chorlton-cum-Hardy A Community Transformed will be published in September http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

And if all that was not enough we will be back in the Horse and Jockey on Sunday May 20th with more paintings and stories to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the building which is now the pub.

And part of the exhibition on the story of Beech Road and the village green from GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON   will be at Chorlton Library from May 10th.   What a cornucopia of tales and paintings.

Picture; poster by Peter, Part Two of the story in Franny and Filer, and the green from the Lloyd collection

Stories from a Conservative Club and thoughts on yesterday’s election

Yesterday I was reflecting on the sale of the Conservative Club, and as you would expect the comments have begun to flood in.  ;

My favourite so far comes from Lawrence, who remembered there “was a Job Club in the place in the late 1980’s during the Thatcher era,” and "that the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Socialist Society had a public meeting there around 1904.”

And for those of you who remember Brian Relph you will smile as I did at Lawrence’s tale of how Brian had been “sent a letter saying he was banned from drinking in the Club because he had been spotted helping Labour in an election. He kept it for years and laughed that it took them years to realise he was a Labour man.”

All of which is in direct contrast to their popularity here in Chorlton just over a century after the Club was opened in 1892.

As late as 1987 the Conservatives could still poll over 2, 000 votes in a local election, but last night they managed just 180, trailing far behind the Greens, Lib Dems and the Trade Unionists Against Cuts.

Bu it was Labour’s night with Shelia Newman getting 2,433 votes and giving her 56% of the vote.

And for me one of the abiding memories of yesterday was walking down to vote with four of our grown up children around me.  Tina had ready voted but the rest of us went down together. Quite something.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

So it's farewell to the Conservative Club on Wilbraham Road

I wonder just what the full story is behind the sale of the old Conservative Club.  It was opened in 1892, just nine years after the Conservative Association of Chorlton met at the Lloyds Hotel and took the decision to ask the Egerton estate for some land to build a club.*

During a large part of the 20th century Chorlton returned Tory MPs and councillors. From 1918 to ‘23 and again from 1931 to ‘87 we had a Tory MP.

But from the mid 1980s this dominance seemed less secure, and in the May of 1986 the first Labour councillor was elected in Chorlton and a year later Keith Bradley became the first Labour MP for the Withington Constituency.

So the sale of the building marks perhaps the final chapter in the Conservative presence in south Manchester.  And on this election day I have to record that no Tory literature has been delivered and I have yet to be see one of their canvassers.  Come to think of it the Lib Dem presence has also been low key and our only contact with a political party has been from Labour.

Now I have mixed feelings about the sale of the old Con Club.  Setting aside my own political views and reflecting just on the building it marks the passing of a place that has been a venue for many cultural activities since it opened.  Almost from 1892 it was known as the Public Hall and in its time has had a skittle alley, rifle range and bike park and at least one amateur dramatic group performed there.

Not that I have ever crossed its doors and I have to confess I don’t think any of my friends have either, and more recently other venues seem to be more popular for hosting events.  All of which raises the question of what will be the future of the place?

It is a big building and could I suppose be converted into flats. There are plenty of big properties around Chorlton which have gone this way, and just this month the old school house on the green has undergone its transformation into four houses.

But I guess it is more likely that it will if sold be demolished and replaced by that sort of development which went up on the car park by the Lloyds.
And so with it will go a landmark and a bit of history, not perhaps one that I am entirely comfortable with but still a bit of history.

So I shall close with this photograph of the building which dates from I think sometime in the 1920s.  There are plenty of pictures of the place in the collection, and all could have a claim on being shown.  There is the earliest, which may date to 1895, a few hand painted postcards and some from the 1950s.

But this one has a story and the clue is there on the notice board.  Amongst the announcements for a mass meeting with the MP is an advert for an event with Thomas Scalan who was an Irish barrister, nationalist politician and  the MP for North Sligo from 1909 to 1918 before returning to the Bar in the 1920s.  He was also the barrister who represented the Seamen’s and Firemen’s Union at the inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

I would love to know why he was here, but so far there are no press references to him appearing in Chorlton.  Of course he may have been speaking on his role in the Titanic inquiry or on his view on alternative voting systems but that lies in the realm of speculation.  So I won’t go there.

Either way if the sale goes ahead and the developers take over it will mark one more step in the passing of conservatism here in Chorlton.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the Lloyd collection

A more gentle age of electioneering, the Moss Side By election July 1978

Now I said some time ago that the political history of Chorlton has yet to be written.  True some of the stories of what went on here in the early 19^th century will appear in my book* and over the years Lawrence Beedle has published articles on the public meetings held on the green in the 20^th century while a few more can be found on the blog at http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Alternative%20histories

So over the next few months I will run an occasional series about who could vote in the early 19^th century, some of the radical politicians who lived in Chorlton and the politics and people of the early part of the last century.

During the 1970s we were part of the Moss Side Consitiuency and in the May of 1978 the sitting MP died.  Frank Hatton was just 56 and his death triggered a by-election.  It was perhaps one of the last times that such an election would be run more or less by the people who lived in the area.  The era of the spin doctor, the image conscious campaign and the carefully vetted list of hopeful candidates was still in the future.

And it made for an enjoyable campaign.  The Labour Party selected George Morton who had been both a city and county councillor.  His agent was an official from the Regional Party but after that much of the work and the decisions about the campaign were made on the ground.

It led to some delightful adventures where myself and close friend Tom who were both on holiday were casually asked if we would accompany George, Neil Kinnock and Peter Archer who was then the Solicitor General around the shopping precinct one Monday morning.

I doubt today whether a leading member of the Government, a rising MP and the candidate in a by- election would be left to wander an inner city area accompanied only by two young party workers.  But that was what happened, and in the process we lost all three as they disappeared into a shop and remained inside for over 20 minutes.

Canvassing was also a more gentle affair and from memory most of it occureed without the glare of the media or of photo shots organised from London.

And despite a low turnout and the presence of Vanessa Redgrave and a National Front candidate George won with a majority of 1,558.

Pictures; from the Lloyd collection

*Chorlton-cum-Hardy A Society Transformed due out in September http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

Manchester's Black Pre-History 1750-1926

Well I knew it would be a good talk.  After all Bill Williams is a superb historian who speaks from a depth of knowledge and has that relaxed skill of presentation that makes you think you are having a conversation with him.

Opposite; the Jubilee Singers in 1873 who regualry performed in Manchester and can be heard on a 1915 recording

In just over an hour he took us through his latest research on Manchester’s Black Pre-History from 1750 to 1926.  I rather think it was one of the highlights of this year’s History Group meetings and gently nudges us away from local history into the bigger world.

Now I was well aware of the contribution the men and women of Africa and the West Indies made in two world wars and of the Windrush generation but had not really been aware of the presence of a black community before 1900.

From the 18th century onwards Bill pointed to the small group who lived in Manchester, campaigned for Britain’s active support for the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War and settled in the Ordsall and Greengate areas of Salford at the beginning of the last century.

And like these things are, members came along with their own memories as well as photographs.  All of which reinforced that simple truth that the study of history should never just be left to the professional.

So a good day.

Opposite; Greengate, Salford

Pictures; from the collection of Bill Williams, and photograph of Bill by Andrew Simpson

The Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Guild.

Well today there is another milestone in the blog, with the publication of this story on the Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Guild.  It was researched and written by Lawrence Beedle who has agreed to post a series of stories over the next few months on the blog.  His own excellent site on local co-operative history can be reached from the link below.

A photograph of the Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-Operative store on Beech Road has yet to be discovered. Considering it was there from 1915 until 1967 at the corner with Stockton Road it was surely captured by a camera at least once.

Anyway this is an interior shot of the meeting rooms over the shop. It features the Chorlton and Manley Park Women's Guild holding their 25th Annual Party on Thursday 4th December 4th. "Freedom of the Branch" was presented to Mrs. Lomas the Secretary and Mrs. Scott for being associated with the Guild for all this time.

The cake was presented by Mrs. Mayo who received a cake stand for her services. Presumably all these ladies are surrounding the three tier cake which wasn't bad considering post-war rationing.

That fine banner which is blue is now held by the People's History Museum in thir banner archive. It has stitching on a royal blue background. Probably last seen in an exhibition of banners in Rochdale. That was way back in 1994 a part of the Rochdale Pioneers celebration of 150 years.

By modern fashion standards the people look and dress to appear older than their years? Also notice the chain of office around the lady in the centre. The Manley Park in the title of this organisation is at the north east end of Chorlton. There was once a co-op store in that area on Clarendon Road at it was here that the Guild met before WWII.

Picture; from the collection of Lawrence Beedle

Credits : Manchester & Salford Herald Co-Opertive Herald January 1948 page 21.

For more about local co-operative history visit www.hardylane.blogspot.com