125,000 British children migrated to Canada

[Lori.o]

Approximately 125,000 children were sent to Canada from England, under the Child Immigration scheme from 1833-1939. These boys and girls ranged in age from toddlers to adolescents and were all unaccompanied by their parents even though only one-third of them were orphans. Most emigrant children came from respectable, if poor, families bound by strong ties of affection and support. Most of these children were brought to institutions such as the Dr. Barnardo Homes as a last resort, when a crisis, or repeated crises – desertion or death of a parent, illness, unemployment – prevented a family and its network of kin from coping. Although some families regarded admission as a temporary expedient, the rescue homes carefully controlled or even discouraged further contact between all children and their relatives for fear that the children would be tempted to return to homes. Once in care, most of these families never saw these children again. Siblings in care in Britain were often separated from their families and each other. Siblings were often separated from each other when they were sent to Canada. Most never saw each other again. Many spent their lives trying to identify their parents and find their siblings and most were unsuccessful.

There is a new web site dedicated to these children who were brought to Canada. Information can be found at http://
canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/index.html

If you have a child in your family tree whom you cannot find out any information on, please consider that they may have been sent to Canada as part of this migration scheme. Many children were also sent to Australia and that continued until upwards of 1970. In Britain, the Australian migration of children is better known then the scheme which sent children to Canada. Immigration of these children to Canada slowed down considerably around 1930 and afterwards just a trickle of children came. It is estimated 15% of our Canadian population are descendants of these children. In my family tree alone I have discovered 13 British Home Children.

[terrysfamily]

Many children were also sent to Australia and that continued until upwards of 1970.

Reminds me of the mini series The Leaving of Liverpool (TV 1992).

http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leaving_of_Liverpool

You can get it on dvd. Very good series as I remember.

[Lori.o]

Reminds me of the mini series The Leaving of Liverpool (TV 1992).

http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leaving_of_Liverpool

You can get it on dvd. Very good series as I remember.

Thanks for posting that, I've not heard of that before. Just checked out the link and its exactly what I'm talking about. These children were also sent to Canada. Now I'm interested in finding a copy of this. Thanks!