British Home Children

Between 1869 and the early 1930s more than 100,000 children were rounded up from the streets of Britain to be used as labourers in Canadian homes; often little more than slaves. Today there are two million or more descendants of what were derisively known in Canada as 'home children'. Writer and journalist, Sean Arthur Joyce was shocked to learn in middle age that he was one of those descendants.

This book unmasks one of the greatest human interest stories in Canadian history: the emigration of tens of thousands of children from Britain, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, to become home children in Canada. Through first-hand accounts and archived materials, Corbett sensitively and accurately records the pilgrimage of the children who, against great odds, proved that Canada was the promised land.

Her family broken apart and her identity taken away, she had to forget her past in order to face her future. But forgetting isn't forever. Taken from their mother's care and deported from England to the colonies, ten-year-old Marjorie Arnison and her nine-year-old brother, Kenny, were sent to the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School on Vancouver Island in September 1937. Their eight-year-old sister, Audrey, followed the next August. Marjorie's new home was on an isolated farm -- a cottage she shared with at least ten other girls and a "cottage mother" at the head, who had complete control over her "children." Survival required sticking to bare essentials. Marjorie had to accept a loss, which was difficult to forgive. Turning inward, she would find strength to pull her through, but she had to lock away her memories in order to endure her new life. Marjorie was well into her senior years before those memories resurfaced.

This compelling book tells the story of this controversial practice, from the accounts of those involved and the authentic records of the time. It traces the people behind the migrations exploring their beliefs and aspirations for the children in their care. It considers the roles that different organizations (including the Childrens Society, National Childrens Home and the Catholic Nugent Society Care Homes) played as well as the shipping lines that carried the children from Liverpool, Glasgow and other ports and the centers that received them overseas. Most importantly, it describes the experiences of the children themselves.