• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Child Migrants from Birmingham

I have just finished reading The Forgotten Children,Fairbridge Farm School and its betrayal of Britain,s child migrants to Australia.If any one would like my copy drop me a pm with your address and I,ll post it to you.regards Polly
 
My Grandmother Charlotte Sheasby age 10 years with her brother James age 5/6 years where sent to to Canada on the 12th June 1879, they left from Liverpool with the Middlemore Homes on the ship MORAVIAN arriving in Quebec, Canada 22nd June 1879. My Grandmother arrive back in England 1888/1889, how she managed to get back home to Birmingham we never found out, she married my Grand dad 3rd November 1898. Her brother James eventually made his way to Louisiana USA married and had a family. On arriving in Canada they where split up and each one worked with a different family every year
 
nudging up as we have now hit 10, 000 in our BHC database on

www.britishhomechildren.org

If you have not yet added your child migrant then please consider doing it today, as the more children that get added/claimed by researchers the more the chance of connections being made between people who may have an interest in that child but are not aware of each other.

George
 
If anyone has tried to use the britishhomechildren.org site and experienced problems or error messages, can you let me know

Thanks

George
 
If anyone has problems logging into www.britishhomechildren.org or gets an error message on the site then can you email [email protected] as the support team on the site can then assist you with the problem

We have now reached 13,000 entries in the database so if you have a relative sent to Canada, Australia, New Zealand or elsewhere as a child migrant please check our site and if they are missing please consider adding them to the site.

George
 
I recently discovered my Great Grandmother had three brothers all sent to Nova Scotia in 1904 from Middlemore Home- I finally tracked them through shipping records and the following site: https://www.bifhsgo.ca/cstm_homeChildren.php

Yesterday I went to Birmingham central library to view the original Middlemore Home records- it was both exciting and sad to discover more about the lives of these small boys. If you have a ancestor who was placed in a Middlemore Home, the trip to Birmingham Library is certainly worth it. It is advisable to phone beforehand. The staff I encountered there were very straight faced and serious, but were wonderfully helpful :)

They have:

Application records- (which includes who is presenting the child/ addresses/ personal circumstances/ age- sometimes other family members/ income/ description of child) :my ancestors were placed in the home after their father had deserted the family 7 years previously, and their mother became ill and couldn't support her family.

Entry records- a brief summary of the application after they've been accepted into the home.

Settlement Records- Where your ancestors were placed- name/ address/ religion/ occupation of family/ person they were placed with and yearly inspection reports (on housing/ behaviour etc. My ancestor was "a very nice boy, but very untruthful"!!

The best part about the story for me is discovering that these boys, despite their difficult childhoods, went on to have wonderful families, and I've now made contact with one of their grandaughters, who I am able to share all my family history with. :smug:
 
Hello George- I did register on the site, but can't see how to 'add' a child from that link. It maybe just me having a slow day?!
 
I have two British Home children - my grandfather Charles Henry Jones' younger brothers - who arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1910 with the Middlemore party. I have registered/claimed them with the various websites, and have been able to track them down in records, although it hasn't been easy. George Jones I knew personally, but his younger brother Frederick Howard Jones was a surprise to me. I have great stories to tell of my findings, but sadly my dear Dad is no longer living to hear them. It pays to dive into the research. Both boys married and seemed to have happy and productive lives. Uncle George finally made contact with his siblings, proven by a picture taken while in Birmingham in the 1950's or early '60's. And I now have loads of newly-found Brummie cousins!

Cheryl
 
Thats great news Cheryl, Stories and photos are always welcome on the Forum.
Jim
 
If any of you are interested there is now several Facebook groups dedicated to British Home Children so if you search up British Home Children it will bring up the 3 main ones

George
 
From British-Genealogy.com:

"Original archives relating to the Middlemore Homes are at Birmingham Archives but there are microfilm copies at the Library and Archives Canada. The British Isles FHS of Greater Ottawa has been indexing these: see

https://www.
bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=15

On that page it says 'if you have found a child of interest, contact BIFHSGO. Our volunteers will provide the specific references to the child in the Middlemore documents. They will also provide advice on how to obtain photocopies from Library and Archives Canada.'"

Hope that this helps, Clarkie! I sent for the records for my grandfather's two younger brothers, and now (about a year later) have not only found out about them, but have connected with a family member who provided photos.

Good luck,
Cheryl
 
I am trying to track down family of Eric Wheeler born 25th September 1919 in Birmingham, mother FRANCES WHEELER. Eric was brought out to Fairbridge Farm School in Western Australia when he was 10 years old. I know he came out on the ship SS Balranald in 1930. I would love to track down details of his Mother and I believe he also had a sister. Can anyone help please.
 
I have found 2 entries for Frances Wheeler on the 1911 census. They are the only 2 women living in Birmingham at that time that are old enough to have a son in 1919.
Frances Annie Wheeler born 1886. Age 25 living in Birmingham.
Frances Wheeler born 1881. Aged 30 living in Aston Birmingham.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for the reply - I have just checked out the 1911 census and only found Frances Annie Wheeler who is probably the only one of near correct age as if it was her that was Eric's mum she would have been 33 when Eric was born. I then checked further on Frances Annie and she married in 1912 so that makes me think it could not be her as Eric was born in 1919 to a Frances Wheeler not a Frances Marton. This has been most difficult. If only there was access to Eric's details from wherever he came as a Child Migrant - maybe Middlemore but no real idea.
 
I have just emailed the library for an appointment for next Thursday to go and view the records. Hopefully they will give the news that you require.
I will keep in touch.
 
Hi Maureen,
A slight problem I am afraid. The documents that I am trying to look at are 'closed' and cannot be accessed by the general public until 2030 which is not much help. However, I have put in a request for any information about Eric that they might have and am waiting for a reply. Sorry it is not news you required but I will keep trying.
 
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]Hello Maureen,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]I have today received a reply from the archives in Birmingham library which I have copied below.

"We do have a colleague in Adoption and Fostering Services who undertakes searches of these closed records on our behalf (due to their often sensitive nature). We will forward your e-mail to her and she will be in touch in due course to discuss this further. [/FONT]Please note that these searches are only part of her responsibilities and so it will take time to complete, however there is not currently a charge for this service.[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif]"

I will keep you posted if there are any further developments.

[/FONT]
 
Hi Maureen,
I have had a reply from the fostering service today and they will need Eric's death certificate and some I.d. From me ( not a problem) but maybe it would be better for you to deal with them direct. I have their address here and an email address. If this is difficult for you I can do it but not without the death certificate. Let me know what you think.
 
Hello Maureen,
I have had a letter from the fostering service today (better late than never) telling me they have some information on Eric Wheeler but need information regarding his death. I came across this problem (no information) but assured them that as my relative died abroad I didn't have any. I think that it may be in your best interest to write to them yourself explaining your relationship with Eric and hope they release the information. I will send the name and address of the lady if you still want it.
 
The saddest part of their lives seems to be that they didn't know how old they were, or even their dates of birth. Great-uncle George Jones enlisted for WW I when he was barely 14 (he was very tall for his age). He was gassed and bayoneted in the front line trenches, and suffered with eye ulcers (which he was said to have had earlier in Nova Scotia, but was never treated). In a letter to the Middlemore Home, he apologized for his spelling, saying that he hadn't been to school since he came to Canada (at age 10). I feel outraged for him, his brother Fred, and even my grandfather(the older brother who eventually came to join his brothers in Canada, then moved to the US) who didn't even know his mother's maiden name. The perfunctory yearly "visits" to these children by the Middlemore people did not involve interviewing them, they only wrote that the "adoptive" parents said that they were doing well or registered minor complaints. My relatives seemed to have fared rather better than most, and made good lives. I am thankful for that, but the lack of information that accompanied these children is appalling. "Get them settled, and we'll be done with them" (my thoughts, and not Middlemore's) seems to be the theme. At least they made an attempt to follow up, but they didn't really want to know what the child was thinking or feeling. Let's hope that this will never be repeated.
 
elly said:
I recently discovered my Great Grandmother had three brothers all sent to Nova Scotia in 1904 from Middlemore Home- I finally tracked them through shipping records and the following site: https://www.bifhsgo.ca/cstm_homeChildren.php

Yesterday I went to Birmingham central library to view the original Middlemore Home records- it was both exciting and sad to discover more about the lives of these small boys. If you have a ancestor who was placed in a Middlemore Home, the trip to Birmingham Library is certainly worth it. It is advisable to phone beforehand. The staff I encountered there were very straight faced and serious, but were wonderfully helpful :)

They have:

Application records- (which includes who is presenting the child/ addresses/ personal circumstances/ age- sometimes other family members/ income/ description of child) :my ancestors were placed in the home after their father had deserted the family 7 years previously, and their mother became ill and couldn't support her family.

Entry records- a brief summary of the application after they've been accepted into the home.

Settlement Records- Where your ancestors were placed- name/ address/ religion/ occupation of family/ person they were placed with and yearly inspection reports (on housing/ behaviour etc. My ancestor was "a very nice boy, but very untruthful"!!

The best part about the story for me is discovering that these boys, despite their difficult childhoods, went on to have wonderful families, and I've now made contact with one of their grandaughters, who I am able to share all my family history with. :smug:
Click to expand...
That's amazing info, thanks for this. My mum was adopted and have traced her bio family. Many lived in Nechells/ Aston area 1890's. her brother was sent to Australia via Middlemore homes to Fairbridge infamous farm school. I live in Australia now ( born Manchester).
 
The penultimate post on this sad thread is January 2015, and since that date there have been important developments.

The Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report into child abuse was published in March 2018

Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report

A report of the Inquiry Panel Professor Alexis Jay OBE Professor Sir Malcolm Evans KCMG OBE Ivor Frank Drusilla Sharpling CBE
www.iicsa.org.uk www.iicsa.org.uk

The Payment scheme for former British child migrants, details were published 26th February 2019.
www.gov.uk

Payment scheme for former British child migrants

All former British child migrants will be able to apply for a financial redress scheme set up by the government on the basis that they were exposed to the risk of sexual abuse.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

More posts have been added on the thread Middlemore child emigration homes...

Middlemore Children’s Emigration Homes

October 1949 Paul Cadbury and the breakdown in family life...Children suitable for emigration. Contrast to John Throgmorton Middlemore. Paul Cadbury produced articles for the Eugenics Review.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
The above Investigation report on child migration is very hard to read with such terrible accounts of the childrens lives. I could only read the first one completely.
I don't want to make a judgement on the country for these forced migration doings. It was, I think, supposed to be best for the poor things, but obviously it was a way for getting rid of them, just as the convicts were sent to our colonies ...
I wonder how many of the 'migrant children' put in a claim for financial compensation?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top