CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L Archives

From: "Muriel M. Davidson" <>
Subject: Any Ancestors a British Home Child?
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 21:02:29 -0400

I have been asked to post the following message to the lists.
My family had a Home Child so the BHC Society has my interest.
I believe the 1911 census have many listed but not as a Home Child
Muriel M. Davidson -- .
NOTE:- Please reply to Perry Snow - address below.
--------------------------------------------------------------
British Home Children Society

Could one of your ancestors have been a British Home Child? 100,000
children aged 5-15 were sent to Canada to work as indentured farm labourers
and domestic servants as part of the British Child Emigration Scheme to
Canada (1870-1957). Their familial ties were broken once 'in care' and sent
to Canada. Many British Home Children spent their lives trying to find
their parents and siblings. Many of their descendants have inherited their
ancestors' lifelong search for their identities.

Their are an estimated 5 million descendants of the British Home Children in
Canada, and another estimated 1 million in the USA - an unknown number of
children ran away from their farm placements to the USA, married, and had
children.

Over 50 childcare organizations (ie Barnardo, Rye, Waifs & Strays) professed
a motive of providing these orphaned, impoverished, unwanted children with
better lives than what they might have had in England. But, many of these
children suffered from child neglect and abuse, and were often treated only
as unpaid indentured farm labourers and domestic servants.
The primary goal of the British Home Children Society is to create a
comprehensive database of individual British Home Children records called
the British Home Children Registry. This Registry will collect information
about each individual British Home Child to create an ongoing legacy that
will preserve their identities in perpetuity. The Registry currently has
+50,000 individual records, and an abbreviated online version can be
searched on The British Home Children Website


The British Home Children Society was formed to assist the millions of
Canadian, American, British, and Australian descendants of the British Home
Children with re-establishing their familial ties. The sending agencies
have been traditionally reluctant to release records to descendants. The
British Home Children Society is committed to building an international
community of Canadian, American, British, and Australian descendants to
assist each other with their searches.

Best Wishes

Perry Snow BA MA (Hons) Psychologist
President: British Home Children Society
http://members.shaw.ca/persnow/
Listowner: British Home Children Mail List
http://members.shaw.ca/persnow/faq_maillist.htm
Webmaster: The British Home Children
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~britishhomechildren/

This thread:

• Any Ancestors a British Home Child? by "Muriel M. Davidson" <>