The desire to create this website began after seeing the play ‘Homechild’ by Jane MacLeod which was essentially the story of my grandfather (“Papa”).
‘Home Children’ refers to the British child emigration scheme of the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. Labour was in much demand in the colonies, while in London the question of the day was what to do with the growing slums and homeless children. The Child Emigration movement was seen as the solution to both. As a result it is estimated around 100,000 youth were sent to Canada to become farm and house help. Still more were shipped to Australia and New Zealand. Not all were orphans or homeless. Some, like my grandfather, had family whom they never saw again.
You can read a condensed version of Papa’s story and the memoirs of other individuals in the book: ‘The Home Children’ by Phyllis Harrison. It is this story that started a genealogical quest that continues to this day.
For more information on the Home Child movement, much can be found on the internet.
Other links for British Home Child information:
- an overview by the Ontario Heritage Foundation.
- the Descendants of British Home Children website
- Search an online database of immigration records of over 118,000 home children at Library and Archives Canada (choose ‘Home Children’ from the topic list)