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Child Emigration from Birmingham

Pedrocut

Master Barmmie
There is a thread for Middlemore Homes, but not for Child Emigration in general.

Here is a picture from the book Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys showing children from 1929.

832446BB-8E5D-4133-9A85-FD827ADF77F5.jpeg
 
I think this subject is covered in the threads about the various children's homes. Canada, being a favourite destination for young orphans. Two boys in my family history were sent there towards the end of the 19th. century,
 
Father Hudson’s Holmes migrated 132 children to Australia from 1947-1956. Its child migration was co-ordinated by a subcommittee of the Catholic Child Welfare Council (CCWC), of which FH was a member....Children were selected from FH’s homes, which were mainly in Coleshill (Birmingham), or in homes belonging to religious orders: 39 of the 132 children were selected from Nazareth House.

Of the 132 FH children who were migrated, 80 went to institutions in Western Australia (including 47 to the Christian Brothers institutions at Castledare, Tardun, Clontarf and Bindoon) and 26 went to St Joseph’s, Neerkol (Queensland). The remainder went to either the Sisters of Mercy or Sisters of Nazareth in South Australia, Victoria or NSW, or to the Salesians in Tasmania.
 
This exhibition might be of interest
Saturday 14 – Sunday 22 September: The Lost Children Exhibition
Presented by the Balsall Heath Local History Society at the Birmingham & Midland Institute.
10am – 4pm daily.
Between 1873 - 1948 around 6,000 destitute children were emigrated from the Birmingham Children’s Emigration Homes to Canada. Some went to work on farms in the remote backwoods while others went to The Fairbridge Farm School.
This exhibition will explore this hugely important, yet little known, aspect of Birmingham’s heritage and follows the fascinating life stories of some of these children.
Please see the attached flyer for more details of the exhibition and other free events.
 

Attachments

  • Lost Children leaflet.pdf
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St. George’s Home, formerly New Orpington Lodge in Ottawa.

“By the early 1900s Father Hudson was bringing children from his home in Birmingham (prior to that is was Father Rossell)...”
 
The Montclare is the ship two of my uncles who were in Father Hudson's Coleshill, sailed on in 1922 to Canada. My father was not able to go as he was considered a "cripple" and would therefor have been no use as a worker. Sadly the eldest one, William drowned before he could make use of this "new life". He was quarantined because he had caught Mumps and he and his cabin companions stole a boat and went out on the river, the boat capsized and they all drowned.
 
The Montclare is the ship two of my uncles who were in Father Hudson's Coleshill, sailed on in 1922 to Canada. My father was not able to go as he was considered a "cripple" and would therefor have been no use as a worker. Sadly the eldest one, William drowned before he could make use of this "new life". He was quarantined because he had caught Mumps and he and his cabin companions stole a boat and went out on the river, the boat capsized and they all drowned.

oh how sad jimbo

lyn
 
Father Hudson’s (FH) was established in 1902 as the Birmingham Diocesan Rescue Society for the protection of homeless and friendless Catholic children. FH built a network of children’s homes and hostels in the Birmingham area....Canadian emigration ceased in 1935 and emigration to Australia took place between 1938 - 1939 and 1948 - 1955.

The role of Father Hudsons from after the War can be seen in the The 2018 Independant Inquiry, Child Sexual Abuse, Child Migration Programmes covering migrations.
 
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