Experiences of British Home Children in Canada

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In the mid-19th century, Britain was facing problems of over populated cities. Life for the poor class was incredibly difficult. To survive, children as young as _____ had to find work to bring in money for food and shelter. In such families young children were seen as a burden and older ones as a source of income. Oftentimes unexpected circumstances such as sickness would leave families unable to support themselves. Orphaned children took to the streets or were put in parishes by closest kin which were not much better than the streets. Slowly people started to take notice of their plight. Both newly formed and pre-established philanthropic agencies began bringing in children and apprenticing them. Homes like Barnardo, Rye, and Macpherson Homes were set up all over Britain to accommodate them. Hundreds of families would admit their own children to the Homes when they could no longer provide for them. With this overwhelming response, the child savers soon had more children than they could handle; they began searching for a place to send them. Canada was not the only place considered for child emigration, but in the end it appeared to be the most favourable. Not only did the passage to Canada cost less than the passage to Australia, another place where child emigrants had been sent, (Parr, 1994) but it also “promised a supply of temperate moral and pious rural homes”. (Parr, 1994) The child savers literally believed themselves to be “child savers” that offered the children salvation from the evil ways to which they were exposed in the city. Canada also needed young workers and hoped that by accepting young children form Britain and exposing them to farming, it would bring them up to be a new generation of farmers as adults. ... ... middle of paper ... ... education proved challenging for Home children during adulthood. The many difficulties the young immigrants endured not only isolated them form Canadians around them but it also discouraged most Home children from staying in rural communities. Works Cited Corbett, G. H. (1981). Barnardo children in Canada. (pp. 11-65). Peterborough, ON: Woodland Publishing. Parr, J. (1994). Labouring children: British immigrant apprentices to Canada, 1869-1924. (pp. 11-141). Toronto, PQ: University of Toronto Press. Bagnall, K. (2001). The little immigrants : The orphans who came to Canada. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press. Corbett, G. H. (1981). Barnardo children in Canada. (pp. 79-118). Peterborough, ON: Woodland Publishing. British home children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.pier21.ca/research/collections/the-story-collection/online-story-collection/british-home-children

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