Middlemore Children’s Emigration Homes

[Stokkie]

Hi, yes his name was Donald Bingham 08/07/1913 and was on the ship Newfoundland. I believe his mother died not long after child birth so I assume this may be why he was sent there.
Thank you I will have a look through the website!

Thank you Paige. I hope you find him. Do come back to us and let us know how you get on or if we can help you. If you are Canadian the records in Birmingham archives are copied there. I think there are about 88,000 children recorded so far, but many more were emigrated.

 

[MWS]

Hi, yes his name was Donald Bingham 08/07/1913 and was on the ship Newfoundland. I believe his mother died not long after child birth so I assume this may be why he was sent there.
Thank you I will have a look through the website!

Son of Ernest and Ada? Her death appears to have been reg. Dec qtr 1914.

Donald is still with his father and brothers in 1921.

 

[Pedro42]

This Birmingham play about the Middlemore homes is available, via Balsall Heath History Society, on YouTube. It's quite a long play but well worth the watch!!

 

[nutjobdubai]

My grandfather, tow siblings and two cousins were sent in 1909. I spent a few years tracing them and eventually found a whole new extended family, in New Brunswick, I never knew existed. I went over in 2015 and re-traced some of his steps using old maps and also went to the farms where he worked. I have the utmost respect for all those kids. I have still not stopped researching but I'm having a sabbatical because it can easily take over your life. To be continued .....

 

[Pedrocut]

“Between 1885 and 1916, Sir John Middlemore's Children's Emigration Homes resettled more than 3,000 indigent British youth from the streets of Birmingham to Maritime farms. While their transition was anything but easy, these emigrants were more than mere reactionaries to circumstance. Fifty-four per cent of New Brunswick's Middlemore boys volunteered for military service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the onset of the Great War (almost one in six were underage). While motivations for enlistment varied, many Middlemore boys had an overwhelming need to return to the familiarity of home and to reconnect with family members once left behind…”

The Middlemore Boys::Immigration, Settlement, and Great War Volunteerism in New Brunswick. CURT MAINVILLE

 

[Stokkie]

“Between 1885 and 1916, Sir John Middlemore's Children's Emigration Homes resettled more than 3,000 indigent British youth from the streets of Birmingham to Maritime farms. While their transition was anything but easy, these emigrants were more than mere reactionaries to circumstance. Fifty-four per cent of New Brunswick's Middlemore boys volunteered for military service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the onset of the Great War (almost one in six were underage). While motivations for enlistment varied, many Middlemore boys had an overwhelming need to return to the familiarity of home and to reconnect with family members once left behind…”

The Middlemore Boys::Immigration, Settlement, and Great War Volunteerism in New Brunswick. CURT MAINVILLE

Thanks Pedrocut, an interesting recent paper that can be downloaded and read free of charge. Which is a change for academic publications. Derek

 

[nutjobdubai]

My grandad, William Danks and his two elder siblings, John Joseph and Isabella Margaret. Shipped out on the SS Carthaginian in May 1909. Their two cousins james Thomas and Mary Nellie followed them a year later. In 1933 John Joseph's sons were sent out after his death. So sad!

 

[Stokkie]

My grandad, William Danks and his two elder siblings, John Joseph and Isabella Margaret. Shipped out on the SS Carthaginian in May 1909. Their two cousins james Thomas and Mary Nellie followed them a year later. In 1933 John Joseph's sons were sent out after his death. So sad!

Thank you for sharing your photos and family story. It is good that you were able to visit Canada and find that you have family there. There is a lot of research going on in Canada into the contribution British Home Children have made to the growth of the Canadian state in the early 20C. I hope the Danks did well, but as you say it is terribly sad. Derek

 

[Pedrocut]

The News, 29 May 1909. (Clips)

Passed Inistrahull on May 25.
The ship reached St. John’s (NF) on the 3rd June from the Clyde and Liverpool for Philadelphia.
On June 11 reported to have arrived at Halifax on Wednesday.

 

[Pedrocut]

Just out of interest SS Carthaginian was turned round and due to sail again from Glasgow on the 14 July.