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.

 

[bestcover]

Reasons as to why children were sent away varied. Some were genuinly orphaned whereas others lived in such abject poverty, they were often starving and suffered from malnutrition. My Wyre (also known as Weir) family had 6 children sent to Canada in 1923 with a 7th who was too ill to travel following the following year.
Their father was invalided in the first world war and could not work, causing the poverty. Mum had many children to look after and could not work either. They lost a daughter as an infant in 1921 and by this time, Mum had taken to the bottle. The story goes that the council arrived at the home one night and seized the children and took them to Middlemore and later to Canada. On arrival they were all separated and went to different homes.
In the 1980's, Kenneth Bagnell wrote 'The Little Immigrants' and this tells the poignant story of the Wyre/Weir children. Horace the eldest was as an adult to search for his siblings and found many of them.

Dedicated to all who experienced Child Immigration 1618-1967
Forgotten Children
by Walter Richard Williams​

Can anybody hear me I'm neither brave nor bold, I'm just a child from Birmingham I'm only 9 years old, We're standing on the cold deck Franconia is her name, they say it's high adventure but it doesn't feel the same, Mommy's taken poorly Daddy just can't work, Injured in the Great War fighting in the dirt, We're sailing off across the sea, a better life they say There's seven of us children, but Mommy and Daddy stay. Please don't forget us Mommy, please bring us back some day, Don't leave us in this wilderness, don't hurt us Lord we pray. We're going on holiday, across the ocean blue, but something just don't seem right, shouldn't Mommy and Daddy too, They say we'll all learn farming, Whatever that may mean, We'll love the pigs, hug the sheep, and keep the stable clean, They mention things like "young blood", to help the country grow, Beatrice 3, Louis 10, seven birthdays in a row, I lost them at the station, they said it's for the best, I don't like the look of this they're taking off my vest. Please don't forget us mommy Please bring us back some day, Don't leave us in this wilderness, Don't hurt us Lord we pray.

I'm told I'm fit and healthy they put me on a train, for what seemed like forever I traveled in the rain, A man was there to meet me, He didn't seem to care, That I was cold and hungry in the middle of nowhere, "work hard" he said, and then you'll eat, Co's that's the way things go So wipe them tears from your eyes You're Mommy and Daddy know, "I'll teach you how to farm" he yelled, then beat me with a stick, I've had not food for 3 long days Oh Mommy I feel so sick. Please don't forget us Mommy, Please bring us back some day, Don't leave us in this wilderness Don't hurt us Lord we pray. 60 years we've been here they never told us why, After 30 years I found the rest. I couldn't even cry, Some were lucky, some were not but one thing we all shared, Our families had forgotten us and no-one really cared. We can't go back to England, as no-one knows we're here, Maybe the day will come about Some family will appear. Then we can tell our story, Orphans we are not - Just forgotten children Of this lonely plot.....

The first chapter in the book by Kenneth Bagnell, The Little Immigrants, tells the story of Horace Weir for whom this poem was written.

an online excerpt of this book can be seen at:
"The Little Immigrants"​