In the end, an estimated 10,000 of these young immigrants volunteered to join the military during the First World War. Young men who had come to Canada as home children felt their mother country needed help. When Britain entered the First World War in August 1914, so did Canada, as our country's international relations were still controlled by the United Kingdom. Many of the British Home Children in Canada may have felt painfully cut off from the United Kingdom, but they still nurtured a personal connection to their homeland. Some children even died.īritish Home Children in the First World War Many lived wandering lives, moving from farm to farm, while some ran away from the mistreatment they suffered. In practice, this rarely happened and the children were frequently neglected or abused. The charities were supposed to check in on an ongoing basis to ensure the children were being cared for properly. Regularly moving from one family to the next meant there was little stability in their lives. The organizations that coordinated the British Home Children programs often kept their young people in placements for set periods of time. Many of them, unfortunately, would be treated very poorly. Some of these children were lucky enough to end up with loving families that treated them well and gave them affection. The boys tended to be employed for farm labour while the girls would perform domestic duties in the home, as well as help out in the fields. Most of the British Home Children sent to Canada were hosted by farm families, where they would be put to work. Footnote 1 British Home Children in Canada Many of the families reluctantly felt that their children would have a chance at a better life there than they would in the British Isles.Ī group of girls at the National Children's Home. These groups saw the sending of children overseas to British dominions as an opportunity for a fresh start in a promising new setting. Tragically, these parents often believed they had no choice but to put their children into the care of charitable organizations. Some were orphans but many had families with financial troubles that left them unable to care for their own sons or daughters. More than 100,000 of these young immigrants came to Canada between the 1860s and the 1940s and they would have a lasting impact on their new land.īritish Home Children generally came from disadvantaged backgrounds. They were sent to places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the belief that these children would have more opportunities there. The British Home Children were boys and girls from the United Kingdom who were relocated to British dominions and colonies in other parts of the world.
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