September 28 is the annual British Home Child Day in Ontario as established by a bill passed in the Provincial Legislature one year ago.
Preamble to the Bill states that,
“Between 1869 and the late 1940s, during the child emigration movement, over 100,000 British children were sent to Canada from Great Britain. Motivated by social and economic forces, these orphaned and abandoned children were sent by church and philanthropic organizations. Many settled in Ontario. These boys and girls, ranging in age from six months to 18 years, were the British home children.
The British home children were sent to Canada on the belief that the children would have a better chance to live a healthy and moral life. The organizations that sent these children believed that Canadian families in rural Canada would welcome them as a source of farm labour and domestic help. ”
BARNARDO’S VILLAGE CLOCKTOWER, BARKINGSIDE, ILFORD, ESSEX
Dr. Thomas Barnardo ran one of the largest child emigration schemes in Britain sending thousands of children to Canada. I have had an association with this particular location spanning several decades.
“OUR WESTERN HOME”, OLD COURT HOUSE, NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
One famous emigration scheme was run by Miss Susan Rye, an English Victorian lady of independent means. She ran an establishment in the Old Court House in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario whereby British girls would be instructed in the arts of homecraft and then put out as servants in the local farm communities in the hopes that they would find prospective husbands. In the case of my family it worked a treat, as my great-grandfather actually married one of them to start his second family and they lived happily ever after with several children.
RYE PARK, NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
Sadly the Court House was torn down in the late 19th century and this wooden sign is all that remains to remind the visitor that this was once the portal of immigration for thousands of British girls to Canada. Hundreds of thousands of modern day Ontarians are descended from these women and most would be blissfully unaware of their connection to this very historical piece of Canadian real estate.
RYE PARK HISTORICAL PLAQUE
Niagara-on-the-Lake has a “One” plaque policy per historical site. This is the only historical plaque in Rye Park. No mention is made of the fact of Miss Rye’s immigration scheme ran here for over 30 years. Anyone who might have an idea on how an exception to the one plaque rule might be made or who would wish to assist in rectifying this historical oversight, please feel free to get in touch via the comments section.