Talk by Professor Mary Jane Edwards, Distinguished Research Professor Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Wednesday 16 October at 7–8pm
Prof Edwards shares her research on the remarkable history of her great uncles Ernest and Alex, the youngest of 12 children. Their twice-widowed mother who struggled to make a living as a charwoman placed them in the care of Barnardo’s. Both boys emigrated to Canada, returning to the UK in WWI.
The 19th century was a time of mass migration, millions fled poverty and oppression to seek opportunities abroad. For philanthropists, emigration was a way of for children escape poverty. More than 24,000 children and young people left Barnardo’s homes to travel abroad, the them t to Canada.
“It is commonly known that some of the children were abused, and many were poorly treated by today’s standards. Many of those stories are heart-breaking to read.
What is less known is that most experienced a better life in Canada than if they had remained in the urban slums of Britain, trapped in poverty and held back by a rigid class system.
In Canada, many home children went on to own farms themselves. Others became teachers, carpenters, doctors, nurses, merchants, secretaries, clergy, tradespeople, politicians and a wide variety of other occupations.”