The Little Immigrants
Between 1880 and 1930, 80 000 to 100 000 children immigrated to Canada. They were brought here by philanthropic agencies hoping to save them from destitution and poverty in the rapidly growing slums of Great Britain. The largest of these agencies was Dr. Barnardo's homes for Destitute children which is responsible for the immigration of 30 000 of these orphaned or abandoned children. Often these children were being taken from one horrible situation to another.
The rapid industrialization during the 19th century in Great Britain created a loss of menial jobs for unskilled workers and high unemployment figures. That and the large scale migration from rural to urban centers caused a population explosion in the poor districts of the major cities of England. Thirty percent of Great Britain was in poverty, one out of four of these paupers was under the age of sixteen. Without a minimum wage men working in the new factories were not being paid nearly enough to support their families. Wives and any children who were old and strong enough also went to work to support their families. Any loss in a family could mean a substantial drop in funds possibly driving the remaining members into destitution. In the 1860s Great Britain suffered an epidemic of cholera, small pox and scarlet fever. The harvests in this decade were particularly bad causing the prices of food to increase dramatically. These were the dire social conditions which fostered the creation of such philanthropic institutions as Dr. Barnardo's Homes for Destitute Children.
In 1850 the Poor Law Act was amended to allow the emigration of destitute and orphaned children despite this few children were actually emigrated to Canada, Australia or New Zealand for another two decades or so. Marie Susan Rye was perhaps the first person to organized the emigration of children. She took about 900 children to Ontario before 1875. Annie Macpherson took about 350. These women were acting as philanthropists who would personally accompany the children to Canada. This soon became impossible when thousands of children were being emigrated. They were criticized extensively for using the emigration as "just a cheap way of getting rid of paupers". Though these women had good intentions without the help of an institution they were not very successful at finding good placements nor adequate supervision for the children once they were in Canada.
Dr. Barnardo was moved by the plight of the destitute children in the slums during the 1860s. So much so that he began his own philanthropic activities in earnest. He was a evangelist who had started one ragged school for boys (there were hundreds at the time). He wrote extensively for evangelistic journals and papers, and was remarkable at getting the middle and upper classes to become aware of plight of the poor. He used what is today considered some very questionable means to accomplish this promotion of his cause.
After a few years he had several homes and schools for children all over the urban centers of England. He quickly ran out of space and people in England willing to adopt the hundreds of children under his care. Emigration to the promising Commonwealth seemed like the answer. He believed that it would be a multifaceted solution to a number of complex problems. Emigration of destitute children would relieve the overcrowded workhouses and industrial schools as well as supply a work force for the farms in Canada, Australia and New Zealand which were struggling to be productive.
Children emigrated from England to Canada came over as third class passengers on ships bound for the ports of Halifax, St. John's, Montreal, Quebec City and Saint John. From there the children would be taken by train to one of the homes located in Knowlton Quebec, Peterborough, Toronto, Hamilton, Brockville, Bellevile, Stratford and Guelph in Ontario or Winnipeg and Russel Manitoba. Most children would stay at one of these home for a few days to a few weeks before they were taken to farms or city homes of people willing to take them in.
Farmers picked out which child they wanted from the arriving shipments of children. Many children were sent over with their sibling and promptly separated from them on arrival. Often they would never see their brothers or sisters for years or sometimes ever again. Unfortunately many of these children were treated no better than slaves by their foster-parents. If a child was ill-behaved they were likely to be sent to another farm. Many were physically, sexually and mentally abused by their foster-parents and were unable to find anyone whom could help them out of their situations.
Though there were a few benefits of the large scale immigration of children to Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries it must be view as predominately a sad and unfortunate period in our history. The miss-treatment of thousands of children, though most have long since grown old and passed away, should not be forgotten nor repeated again.
And other places to read about these boys: Link
