The Home Children, an important piece of Canadian history
This site is dedicated to raising awareness of the British Home Child Movement and to recognizing the contributions these little immigrants made to Canada. Their stories inspire others who face loneliness and exile from their people.
Ernest Dixon 1891-1986
Ernest Dixon, second from right seated. William Edwin Hunt, standing back left
Sharon Moore of Ireland dropped in to Promises of Home to say that one of the boys in this photo that appeared with William Edwin Hunt’s story is her great grand uncle, Ernest Dixon. Ernest is believed to be the one second from right. Sharon’s family recently discovered that Ernest was a British Home Child. Sharon has found relatives in Canada, descendants of Ernest’s sister, Ellen.
Sharon writes, “I truly believe that history and ancestors have a way of taking us places in order to find them, My sister emigrated to Canada in 1988 and lives in the Halton Hills, not too far from where Ernest was sent and lived as a young man.”
Thanks to Sharon for sharing the information used to write his story.
Like many child immigrants, the event that led to Ernest’s coming to Canada was the death of a parent. He was born on May 25, 1891, into a hardworking, successful Irish family, the youngest of six children. When Ernest was ten, his mother died. By this time, all the Dixon children, except for Ernest and one sister had grown up and left home.
Ernest’s father struggled after the death of his wife and ended up living at a home for destitute men.
Ernest was sent to Smyly’s Homes for Children.
Ernest Dixon
Fifteen year-old Ernest Dixon arrived in Canada on May 3, 1906 on the S.S. Tunisian. He was employed as an apprentice by Clarke & Demill, a manufacturer of woodworking machinery in Hespeler. They reported that Ernest was “a quiet, good lad doing well and learning his trade as a lathe turner.”
After he reached the legal age of eighteen, he officially left the care of Smyly’s. Ernest continued to work for Clarke & Demill. He boarded with his employer but spent most evenings at the place he considered his Canadian home, The Coombe, owned by Smyly’s and a home to many Irish boys who came to Canada. There, he played and socialized with other boys from his homeland.
At age twenty, Ernest enrolled in a drafting course at Galt Business College where he joined the football and lacrosse teams. An inspector from Smyly’s described him as “quiet and steady, careful of his earnings” and noted that he was thinking of buying his own home.”
Smyly’s continued to monitor Ernest’s progress long after his eighteenth birthday. In 1916, he married Ethel Hodgeson and settled in Hespeler where he lived until 1924 when he moved to Detroit to work as a machinist in an auto plant.
Ernest’s niece, Bertha, immigrated to Canada in the 1940s and visited him in Michigan often. He was fondly known to her and her children as Uncle Ernie. Ernest and Ethel had no children. He died on June 15, 1986 in Grosse Point Farms, Michigan.
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Note: Smyly’s introduced children to Canadian life more gently than most other organizations. Some stayed at the transition home in Hespeler, The Coombe, for months to allow them to integrate into the community gradually. Smyly’s usually placed child immigrants in homes and farms within easy monitoring distance.
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Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children by Rose McCormick Brandon is available here.
Kindle edition available at Amazon.
I have really enjoyed this book. I think it’s wonderful how many positive stories there are in it about the Home Children and their experiences. Ivy Sucee, Founder and President, Hazelbrae Barnardo Home Memorial Group
David Nunn – In His Own Words
David Nunn, WWI
Very few of Canada’s British Home Children wrote about their lives. Of those who did, few accounts survived which makes this short auto-biography by David Nunn precious. His great-granddaughter, Debbie Nunn Woytta, says, “My father says he (David) never talked about when he was a child and how he came to Canada. He was a quiet man and never revealed his past. My father never knew about this letter and was amazed when he read it, especially to learn he had fourteen aunts and uncles.”
Thank you to Debbie Nunn Woytta for sharing David Nunn’s story and photo. Through stories like this, Canadians learn to appreciate the extreme difficulties home children faced, and yet, they contributed so much to our nation. David, like nearly all home boys of eligible age (and some that weren’t), enlisted in the Canadian army during WWI.
West Ham Union Workhouse (2000)
June 2, 1925. I, David Nunn, was born in 1895 in London, England, came to Canada in 1904. When taken away from Mother and Father, I was two years old and put in the West Ham Union Home, London, in the year 1898.
In 1900, my brother Bill kept me for about two years. And then I was in Dr. Barnardo’s Homes, London, England, in 1903.
From there, I came to Canada in 1904. The first place I came to was Toronto and then sent to . . . . . I was there from 1904 till 1906 and from there back to Toronto.
And from there, I was sent to a farm in Port Hope, east of Toronto for seven years. The farmer’s name was W.G.N. I was knocked from pillar to post many a day during the seven years I was there.
All the school I had was three winters in Canada and I started to work when I was nine years old. I got $100.25 for six years work. But, the seventh, I worked for $100 a year.
I had never heard of my mother and father and brothers till I was fourteen years old until I heard of my brother, Tom, who was around Stratford, from 1902 till I met him in 1911.
I never did know my proper age.
After I met my brother, Tom (he arrived in 1903), we worked for farmers around Stratford, Mitchell, Monton and all around the district till the war broke out in 1914 and I joined the army in 1915 on Sept. 30. Stationed in London, Canada and when the winter came on, I came to Galt and I left Galt for overseas on March 28, 1916. I went to England, France and Germany.
I came back to Canada in 1919, 28 of May. I came back to Galt and settled down.
I never got to see my mother and father after all. Mother died when I was twenty and Father died when I was twenty-two years. Some of my brothers I seen and some I didn’t. I never seen my sisters at all. There were fourteen of us altogether. All I knew was:
John Nunn, the oldest, died 1917.
William Nunn, second, died 1924.
Ben Nunn, third
Tom Nunn, fourth
Dave Nunn, fifth
All five brothers was in the Great War. There was nine boys and five sisters.
Note: The Workhouse was the worst possible place for a child. No wonder David’s older brother rescued him from the West Ham Workhouse. And when he could no longer look after him, he took David to Barnardo’s Home for Children, a much better option for a destitute child than the workhouse. David states that his brother, Tom, arrived in Canada in 1902. It was actually 1903. – Rose McCormick Brandon
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If you liked this personal account, read this by William Conabree. To order Rose 
McCormick Brandon’s book, Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children, visit her website.
British Home Child Day – September 28, 2023
Few Canadians know that in the years between 1869 and 1939 approximately 100,000 children immigrated to Canada from England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. It’s estimated that ten percent of the Canadian population traces their roots to one, or more, of these young immigrants known as the British Home Children.
Even those who landed in good Canadian homes struggled to overcome extreme loneliness and homesickness. Adjusting to Canadian farm life
Walter Goulding, age 8
was especially difficult. Walter Goulding, the oldest living home child in Canada until his death at 106 on August 1, 2014, said, “I was from the big city of London. When I landed on that farm (in Southern Ontario), I looked up and said, ‘Oh Lord, where am I?’”
No agency today would consider sending an eight year-old to a foreign country to work. But, thousands of boys and girls were placed in Canadian homes as indentured servants, contracted out by the sending agency to work until age twenty-one for girls and eighteen for boys.
My grandmother, Grace Griffin Galbraith, and her two siblings were sent to Canada by Annie MacPherson’s Home for Children in 1912.
Grace Griffin Galbraith, aged
Britain was in a poverty crisis. Many social reformers (they were nearly all devout Christians) like Dr. Thomas Barnardo, Annie MacPherson, the Quarriers of Scotland and the Smylys of Ireland, founded homes where children would receive food, housing and an education. Thousands of destitute children found solace in these homes.
Barnardos, an agency that emigrated more than thirty thousand children to Canada, had as their motto, “No Destitute Child is ever Refused Admittance.”
The Child Migrant Scheme, viewed as a practical solution to the problem of bourgeoning numbers of destitute children, was meant to solve Canada’s need for young workers and give the children opportunities they would never find in their home countries.
George Everett Green
Despite the good intentions of the sending agencies, some children became victims of abuse, neglect and over-work. In 1895, One of the worst stories is that of George Everitt Green, a fifteen year-old who was placed with a spinster farmer, Helen Findlay. Seven months later, George died. The coroner reported that his emaciated body was covered with ulcers and bruises, that his skin was dis-coloured, his feet and hands swollen. The conclusion: George’s death was caused by criminal neglect and malnourishment. Helen Findlay was found guilty of assault and sentenced to one year in the Ontario Reformatory for Females in Owen Sound.
Jack Bean
In contrast to George Green, Robert Wright arrived at the home of Sandy and Isadora Thompson of Franconia, a rural settlement near Dunnville, Ontario. Robert became the Thompson’s third placement child. (The other two were Jack Bean and Samuel Ashdown.) Isadora Thompson cherished Robert.
One of the conditions placed on host families was that children would attend school at least three to four months each year. Most of the sending agencies believed education provided a way out of poverty for the children. Hosts were also required to send the children to church and to feed and adequately care for them. When these obligations weren’t met, children were removed by visiting inspectors.
Most child immigrants, like my grandmother and her siblings, were separated. They often lost contact and never reconnected. In some cases, one brother was sent to Canada and another to Australia. (Thirty thousand children went to Australia. Children immigrated there until the 1960s.
As large as these numbers seem they were a small portion of the actual number of destitute children in the U.K.
A large percentage of Home Children buried their roots. They deliberately lost their accents and when they were grown moved to places where no one knew of their immigrant past. They seldom spoke about life before Canada.
Edward Griffin
My grandmother’s story is known, not because she shared it, but because her husband knew her background when they married as did everyone in their small community.
Her brother, Edward Griffin searched for and found her. She was a mother of four by then. He was unashamed of his immigrant past and boldly proclaimed himself an orphan from London’s east end. He once wrote, “I go wherever I jolly well please and I don’t take any dirt from anybody.” He was placed by MacPherson’s with a caring childless couple who loved him like a son and remembered him in their will.
After enduring the trauma of exile, Canada’s child immigrants grew up to become soldiers, factory workers, ministers, railroad workers, telephone operators, secretaries, miners, nurses, community leaders and farmers. They invested their sweat and toil in their new country.
Cecilia Jowett, who arrived in 1901 at age eight, nursed for a time at both The Toronto General and the Hamilton General hospitals. In her autobiography, No Thought for Tomorrow, she wrote, “Oh, I’d never take a child like that into my home, I have heard ladies say. You never know how they will turn out. And there was I, a graduate nurse, in their homes, rendering skilled assistance, perhaps saving, or helping to save, a life. Yet they didn’t dream I was one of those children.”
At the outset of World War I nearly all Home Boys of legal age enlisted in the Canadian army. More than 1,000 lost their lives in battle.
The Home Children entered into the rhythm of Canadian life. They made our country greater. It wasn’t easy. Against the odds, they became proud Canadians and good citizens.
Maggie Abernethy
Maggie Abernethy Wedrick, a Barnardo girl who lived with the Doughty family in the Hagersville area, wrote this to Mr. Hobday, the administrator of the Barnardo Home in Toronto. Her letter shows that she considers her life successful:
“I have been married thirty-one years. My husband is a farmer; he owns one hundred acres of land. I have two children, a son and daughter, both are married. My daughter has two children so you see, I am Grandma. My daughter married a farmer and my son is a farmer also. We are members of the United Church and are striving to live Christian lives.”
My grandmother also considered her life a success. In 1928, she wrote this in a letter to a step-sister back in England:
“I have a good and loving husband and a good home. We have a one hundred acre farm, a large barn and a fairly good house. Jim is very good to help me. He is very fond of children. We have our place paid for now and I must add that we have a 1918 model car but we intend dealing it on a new one next spring.”
She ended the letter with these words:
“I can never regret coming to Canada. I have had to work hard, but I don’t mind that, for I love to work.”
When I wrote, Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children, I tried to tell a variety of stories – tragic, mysterious, funny, heartwarming – all these stories work together to produce a document that gives the reader an overview of the history of Canada’s child immigrants. We learn through stories.
Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of many articles and books. Contact her at rosembrandon@yahoo.ca.
Promises of Home can be ordered from Amazon or from the author at $21.00/copy plus 6.25 shipping.
Edward Griffin – by Rose McCormick Brandon
Edward (Ted) Griffin, born in 1900, stepped aboard the SS Corsican, bound for Canada, on August 5, 1912 at age 11. His younger sisters, Grace and Lily, had boarded the same ship on May 14 of the same year.
Edward, along with his two sisters, was taken to one of The MacPherson Homes in London when he was 5. For many years the family believed they entered an orphanage after the death of their mother. Edward and his sister, Grace, allowed this myth to continue throughout their lives. Through connections with family back in England, the family learned through old letters and other docments that this was not true. They were taken to the MacPherson Home by their step-father, a Mr. Kelly, not long after their father’s death. Their mother didn’t die until 1911, the year before all three immigrated to Canada.
My mother, Mildred (Galbraith) McCormick, niece of Edward, (daughter of Grace), visited England in the 1990s. She and her sister, Evelyn, met with Winnifred, the only child born to Mr. Kelly and Edward’s mother, Esther. Winnifred said then that her father had been a harsh man, even with his own children.
It’s clear Edward held resentment toward his stepfather and blamed him for separating him from his mother. In a letter written in 1928 (Edward’s letters) to his step-sister, Edie Kelly, Edward writes:
“I tried to get around and visit everybody I knew in England when I was there last winter. I didn’t want to see your father as I had no use for him. I guess you know that.”
On arrival in Canada, Edward first went to a foster home (as he called it) in Stratford. It was the MacPherson Receiving Home. At 12, he went to the farm of Mr. Willard Scott at Curries Crossing, near Woodstock, Ontario. He stayed there until age 23, five years after his indentured service ended, indicating that he and the Scott family had a good relationship. He spent the next five years moving around, working on farms in the Toronto area and traveling west. Sometime during this five-year period of roaming, Ted searched for and found Grace. At 20, she was already married with children. It was the first time the siblings had seen one another in 14 years. Lily, Edward’s other sister, passed away in 1921.
At age 28, Edward returned to England, looking for a place that felt like home. During his time in England, he may have visited his Griffin grandmother who lived in Upper Holloway. In his letters to Edie he speaks of trying to visit everyone he knew. This seems to imply that even though he’d been in the home since age five and left England at age 11, he wanted to connect with family. He was also looking for a wife. This is evident in one of his letters. After four months in England, unable to find meaningful employment, or a wife, he returned to the Scott farm in Curries Crossing.
One year later, Mr. Scott sold the farm due to ill health and moved to the city. After that, Edward felt at loose ends. The story is that the Scotts, who didn’t have children, treated Ted like family and left their estate to him. In the letters we have written by Ted, he doesn’t mention much about the Scotts even though he spent many years with them.
Four years after finding Grace, on Manitoulin Island, and after leaving the Scott farm, Ted connected with her again. He spent considerable time with Grace and her husband, James Galbraith, sometimes working for the winter months in a nearby logging camp. Ted had great affection for Grace’s five children, all of whom have happy memories of time spent with their Uncle Ted. He spent Christmases and sometimes spent several weeks with Grace and Jim. He dated a girl for a while, but seemed to find it difficult to make permanent connections with people. His nieces remember him going out with several girls but not taking any relationship seriously. Ted had a difficult time settling down – his letters show a young man who seems lost, searching, unable to stay put for any length of time.
Edward Griffin
Ted eventually moved permanently to northern Ontario to be near Grace and her family. In 1938, he found work at Inco nickel mines in Sudbury, Ontario. He settled there but remained unmarried until 1953 when he met Jean Buell, a widow with two grown children. First, he was her boarder. Then, the two fell in love and married.
Ted had a reputation for speaking his mind. His niece, Mildred, tells about a humorous incident that happened on one of his visits to their home. The whole family attended a community gathering. A local man, known to be overly-curious, sidled up to Ted and said, “I don’t think I’ve met you before.” Instead of telling the man who he was and where he came from, Ted, in his usual blunt fashion replied: “I’m damned sure you haven’t.” Ted had a confident air and took pride in his appearance.
When Grace and Jim retired from farming, they moved to Espanola, an hour closer to Sudbury and Ted. Two of their daughters lived on the same street. So when Ted visited his sister, his nieces and great nieces and nephews also visited with him. Many Sunday afternoons Ted and Jean came to visit. Jean’s refined manner rubbed off somewhat on Ted. He developed a softer approach to people. Neither Ted nor Grace were resentful of their immigration to Canada, though they both suffered from it in different ways. Grace never talked about her childhood. Ted did. He admitted to being an orphan but not to the fact that his mother had years previous to her death abandoned them. Neither used the term “home child.” In spite of their early hardships, both Ted and Grace were grateful to be in Canada.
Ted was more fortunate than many home children in that he spent his indentured service with one good family and was not moved from one place to another. But, he never lost his yearning to connect with his real family.
When he retired from Inco, in 1965, a photo and article about him appeared in the Sudbury Star. It began
with these words:
front row: Jean, Edward, Grace, Jim (1965)
back row: Grace’s children: Evelyn, Lorma, Ransford, Mildred, Leona
Born in London, England, in 1900, within earshot of the ancient Bow bells, Edward Griffin is proud of his Cockney heritage. Orphaned by the time he was five (Note: he considered himself an orphan, but his mother didn’t die until he was 11), he was raised in an orphanage home (it was a Children’s Home, not an orphanage) until he was 11. In the interview, Edward recalls that he made the sailing on the S. S. Corsican and that the journey took 14 days.
Edward passed away in Sudbury, Ontario in 1978.
Next post: For a look into Edward’s mindset, read his 1928, 29 letters.
Bert Edwards 1902-1994
Thanks to Patricia Bronson for her diligent research and for this story of Barnardo boy, Bert Edwards. Her story also contains information on Bert’s brothers. Several stories published here have resulted in more information, even family members reuniting. Perhaps some of Bert’s family, still living in England, will read Patricia’s account. Rose McCormick Brandon
Photo taken by Barnardo’s when the brothers were admitted into care.
I remember it well. Sitting at the kitchen table talking to my Uncle Bert Edwards. We’d had many conversations, but this one would be our last. The next day Uncle Bert was moving to a local nursing home. He did not want to go and we hated to send him, but everyone in the family was exhausted from providing him with around-the-clock care for months.
Like everything in life, Uncle Bert accepted his fate with courage and grace. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said. The next day he entered the nursing home. Two weeks later, on October 31, 1994 he died at the age of 92. In spite of his humble and difficult early years, Bert Edwards would be the first to say that he had had a good life.
Bert Horace Edwards was born March 27, 1902 at Leytonstone (Forest Gate), Essex, England to John Arthur Edwards (b.1852 King’s Lynn, Norfolk) and Sarah Jane (Luxton) Edwards (b. 1870 Aller, Somerset). Bert had two sisters Mabel and Tilley and two brothers Arthur and Fred. On July 6, 1908 John Edwards died at the age of 56.
The father was not insured and the mother was left in very destitute circumstances. She has hitherto supported herself and her children by charring but work has now fallen so much through removals that she has now only one day’s work weekly. After gradually disposing of her goods she applied for parish relief, which was granted to the extent of 3/- a week in food. Our officer saw many persons who had known her for two or three years, all of whom, as well as the relieving officer, spoke of her as a very respectable and willing woman. If the three boys are to be taken she proposes to go into service. The children are said to be healthy and intelligent. The mother in very poor circumstances applied for the admission of three of her children – Arthur (8), Bert (6) and Fred (4). (from Barnardo’s file on the Edwards brothers)
Arthur, Bert and Fred were admitted to Barnardo’s and boarded out in England. Arthur went to the home of Miss H. S. Chamberlain as a protégé mate at the Palace, Hampton Court; Bert to Mrs. Marion Archer, Norfolk and Fred to Mrs. Ellen Leaver, Cranbrook, Kent.
While the boys remained in England, their mother wrote to Barnardo’s requesting information and visits with. She was granted visits with Arthur and Fred while they were still in London but was denied a visit with Bert as it was against policy for a parent to visit a child once they were boarded out or until they had spent at least three months with their foster family. Sarah Jane Edwards wrote to Barnardo’s from December 1908 until the last of her sons Fred, left England in 1914. Each time she was provided with reports regarding the boys and photos of them.
She was not able to visit with her sons before they were sent to Canada because she couldn’t afford the fare
Sarah Jane (Luxton) Edwards
and there was no provision for this from Barnardo’s. In addition to this barrier, the letters sent to inform her that the boys were being sent to Canada ended up in the Dead Letter Office. Barnardo’s provided her with the boys’ Canadian addresses and she wrote to them until 1916, perhaps longer. It’s not known whether the boys communicated with their mother after arriving in Canada.
Sarah Jane (Luxton) Edwards remarried in 1911 and, sadly, died of cancer in 1918 at age 44. Giving up her sons must have been heartbreaking for Sarah. It was not a case of neglect or desertion; it was the result of intense poverty, common in early 1900’s Britain.
The boys left England at different times – Arthur, age 10, on July 28 1910, Bert, age 9, on September 23, 1911, Frederick, age 9, on March 14, 1914. From Bert’s records, we know that he made attempts to contact his brothers as early as 1925. The brothers did connect with each other and visited over the years. Despite their separation as young children in England and the separation of distance in Canada, brotherly bonds remained.
The boys had different life experiences and, while I know what happened to Bert, I only know a little about Arthur and Fred. Arthur and Fred developed a close relationship because Arthur moved in with Fred after the death of his wife, Maud. Fred and Arthur had another bond – both experienced abusive treatment at their placements in northern Ontario. The harsh treatment he received and the separation from his mother and family at such a young age had a profound effect on Fred. His family of five children said that while they loved him dearly, he was a very quiet and sad man. He was musically gifted and shared this gift with his family. Fred died in 1976 at the age of 72. The family lost touch with Arthur and do not know what happened to him. We know he enlisted in WWI, married, and had a son and a daughter and his last known location was the Oshawa/Toronto area. His son, Ronald, a talented pianist, was visually impaired. Arthur’s last correspondence with Barnardo’s was in 1935 when he was working in the mines in Timmins. Fred’s last contact with Barnardo’s was in 1925 when, he too, was living in Timmins. Their last contact with Bert was in 1929 while he was living in Peterborough.
Bert’s first placement in Canada was with a Mrs. Robert Peters in Forestville, Ontario (near Simcoe). It is here that he met Charlie Beecher (BHC 1909) and perhaps even his brother Robert (BHC 1909). The story of Robert Beecher is well known (The Tragic Life of Robert Henry Beecher – December 30, 2013 Promises Of Home). Robert was accused of killing a Mr. John Simmons. Mr. Simmons had been known for his abusive behaviour towards Robert. At the trial, Beecher was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. The judge gave him a suspended sentence. This is a unique connection with a photo of Charlie William Beecher and Bert Edwards found among Bert’s personal photo collection.
After leaving the Peters farm, Bert was sent to work on farms in Emily Township, Victoria County (Lindsay-Peterborough area). Bert was a good worker and a pleasant lad. Although, he never said that he became a part of any family he lived with, he said he was treated well and did not experience harsh treatment. He knew of other Home Children who did.
Bert maintained contact with Barnardo’s through letters and requests for books from their lending library. He read in the Barnardo newsletter, Ups and Downs, that he could take out books on loan and requested – The Sky Pilot, Highland the Air and Laddie. He received The Treasure of the San Philipo as the others were not available. Books were to be returned after three weeks to: 50 Peter Street, Toronto, Ontario. In his notes to Barnardo’s, Bert always signed off “one of the boys” or “one of the Barnardo Boys.”
Bert & Violet (MacFarland) Edwards
When Bert completed his indentured service typically at age 18), he road the rails west but later returned to Peterborough, where he married Violet McFarland and had four children. The death of his three year old daughter Eleanor in 1945, the result of a car accident, was a very painful chapter in his life. Bert retired from Canadian General Electric in Peterborough, in 1967. Bert and Violet had purchased a farm in Emily Township in 1945 and this farm became the centre of our family life, the gathering place for all family events – joyful, sad and in between. They were a generous, kind couple who opened their home to everyone. They attended Bethel United Church, the same church Bert had attended since moving to the area as a young British Home Boy. They sold the farm in 1985 and moved to Peterborough. Four years later, Violet passed away.
Bert Edwards never complained about his lot in life. He said he was better off coming to Canada. If he’d stayed in England, he thought he might have been forced to steal food to survive. Bert was respectful, intelligent, well-read, and highly regarded by all who knew him. He had a ready laugh and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Bert had his share of sadness and hardship, but he was not bitter about anything that happened in his life. While there were some negatives – he was very short, had turned up toes from wearing boots that were too small, smoked fat cigars and chewed tobacco – he focused on the positive aspects of life.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have asked more questions, but at the time, I only had a vague understanding of what it meant to be a British Home Child. I knew about Barnardo’s because my grandmother was also a Barnardo Home Child. It wasn’t until years later that I researched family history and delved into the British Home Child immigration scheme. However, Bert provided enough information for me to find his mother’s family in England. He gave me the names of his father, mother and siblings. And while I did find some statements in the Barnardo records which conflicted with what he told me, his material provided key information. Barnardo’s helped me connect with Fred’s family. The most significant piece of information that Bert gave me, was that he thought his mother’s maiden name was Dean. It turned out that she had been first married to a Henry Dean who died one year into the marriage. The Dean name resulted in a connection to that family in England. They had been searching for Sarah Jane (Luxton) Dean and knew nothing about her marriage to John Arthur Edwards. There was an “aha” moment on both sides of the Atlantic when they realized we were both searching for the same woman.
I shared with them photos and the story of the three Edwards brothers and they provided me with the picture of Sarah Jane as well as her family history. When I look at her picture and read Sarah’s family history, I am left wondering why she didn’t reach out to her family in Somerset. Likely all branches of the family were suffering from poverty.
I am awed that Bert had such great recall of his early life, considering he was so young, only six, when the family broke up. I’m happy that I took notes. Thanks to him, I have been able to piece together a great deal of his family history, including some information about his father’s family. I am still looking for Arthur and his family and the two sisters Mabel and Tilley.
I wish Uncle Bert was here today sitting at his kitchen table. I’d tell him that I found some of his family. However, I can honour him and his brothers, Arthur and Fred, by telling their story. (Bert and Violet Edwards are both buried at Emily Cemetery.) —- Patricia Bronson
Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children, a collection of 31 stories. To contact Rose, email her at : rosembrandon@yahoo.ca.
A Letter From Barnardo Boy, Frederick Gatehouse
Frederick Gatehouse was one of fourteen children born to William David Gatehouse and Elizabeth Ann Oliver Gatehouse (born in Wales). His mother appears to have left her children in the care of their father. Descendants of this family believe she was an entertainer/singer. Members of this family appeared in the first production of Peter Pan. Frederick and twin brother, George, were born August 18, 1904. One week later, George died.
In 1980 Frederick wrote to his nephew, David, giving him the names of family members and including what little he knew of his English history. He writes, “Being one of the youngest of the family and separated from them all until I was about thirteen, it is a wonder I recall so much.”
In a handwritten letter, Frederick wrote the following story. Rose McCormick Brandon
“When my father died, I was put in an orphanage, as were some of the other younger children; others were adopted or went to live with well-established families. When I was three, I was placed with a couple in Norfolk, near Norwich and remained there until I was eight. This was the happiest period of my childhood for I was treated with tender loving care.
“At eight years, I was taken back to the Barnardo Home in London until I reached the age of ten and was sent out to Canada (on the Sicilian in 1914) to work on a farm. The family I was farmed out to was very low, crude and dirty (something I was not used t0) and mistreated me with floggings, hard, heavy work and meals were whatever was left from their table, served out on the back porch, or stoop, as it was called in those days.
“I was there two and half years, when I finally wrote a letter (as if from a friend) to the Authority which had placed me there. In just a short time, less than a week, a gentleman from Toronto came to check into the situation. He found me working out in the stubblefield with bare, bleeding feet, and at once ordered them to pack up my belongings and took me to a very fine couple in Huntsville. I stayed there for about four months, going to school. These people were also kind-hearted and I remember them and my stay in Huntsville with pleasure.
“During this time, the Home contacted my family in Preston, Ontario (some of Frederick’s older siblings had immigrated) and at Christmas I was sent to the family, where I met for the first time, brother Harry and sister, Ivy. In 1916, my mother came to Preston, and that was the first time she had seen me from the time I was three years old. In fact, during those years, no member of the family came to see me, and after going to Preston, I had to meet them one by one.
“I lived with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Martha Gatehouse and went to school in Preston for a time, helping Uncle Dick
clean the school rooms before and after school hours. Then my brother, also Dick, returned from France in 1919 (he was in the army of occupation) bringing sister, Mable, with him – the first time I had met them. Out of the fourteen children, there were five that I never saw.
“I went to work at thirteen – my first steady job. Most kids in those years were at work by that age – supporting themselves. When I look back over the years and remember the various experiences I have had, I am amazed and grateful too, that I have been able to accomplish what I have. The little schooling I was able to absorb during my childhood was very sketchy, but I have done my best to improve upon it by taking night school courses – many times working a full time job and going to school five nights a week. It was rough but well worth it.”
Frederick Gatehouse married Lorraine Bradley. The couple lived in Rochester, N.Y.
Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of Promises of Home – a collection of 31 stories of children who emigrated from the United Kingdom to Canada between 1869 and 1939. More than 100,000 arrived, including Rose’s grandmother, Grace Griffin Galbraith. Many experienced abuse. All struggled to adapt. Shame turned many of these children into silent adults. Rose’s hope is that the reader will empathize with the ‘home children’ and celebrate their coming and the contributions they made to Canada. It’s time for our nation to say to them, “thank you.”
Leonard (Bagley) Fraser: In His Own Words
It’s a tragedy when families are forced apart. Leonard Bagley had a mother in England, but circumstances led to the emigration of he and his four siblings to Canada as British Home Children. They were sent to live in five different homes. So often when family bonds are broken it’s forever, but through their own determination the Bagley children managed to reconnect as adults.
The following transcript was made from a taped interview with British Home Child, Leonard (Bagley) Fraser, born January 27, 1899 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. Leonard died September 27, 1988 in Michigan, U.S. At the time of the taping, Leonard was the last remaining child of Richard Charles & Leah Bagley. This interview was taped at the Bagley Family Reunion held in Sheffield, New Brunswick, Canada in the summer of 1984.
Grace, Leonard’s wife is interviewing.
— R.M.B.
Leonard: I’ll start at the beginning – 81 years ago last June my brothers, my sister and myself landed in St. John, New Brunswick. We were originally from Birmingham, England. My father died sometime before that, I don’t recall how long. It wasn’t too long. And, of course, my mother, was left with no immediate means of support.
Our (British) government, at that time, was big-hearted enough to put us in a home and eventually ship us over to Canada to get rid of us. So, we went to a home called Middlemore Home. I don’t recall a lot at that time. I was only four years old. I don’t recall how long we were in that home.
I remember when father died. We were setting at a table eating breakfast, I sat in the high chair beside him. He went to lift his knife or his fork up to his mouth, and he fell forward on his face and died. They called it apoplexy at the time. Now a days, it would be called a stroke.
Grace (Leonard’s wife): You came over on a ship. Now what was the name of your ship?
The Siberian. It was 1903 . . . fourteen days coming over . . .
After we landed, I guess most of us on the boat were spoken for. We were sent here more or less as indentured servants, anyway. . . but . . . ah. . . everybody was placed, but me. Course, I was of no use to anybody. I was only four years old. I was the tag end (last one) and sent with a companion.
And now, as I go on I’ll say Mother and Father, to mean my adopted mother and father.
There was a Mrs. Richards who had come as a companion (on the ship), what we would call Social Services now, I suppose. She was a friend of Mother’s. She met Mother on the street one day and she said, “Annie, I have one little boy I’d like for you to see.” So, we were down at the old (Liberty) Hotel and Mother came in and looked me over. Mrs. Richards said, “Would you like to have him?”
Mother said, “Oh, I don’t know. I’d have to ask Wes.”
Note: All five Bagley children arrived on the same ship. Charles 13, Walter 11, Annie Dorothy 9, William 7 and Leonard 4.
He came down here to a farm owned by a family named Barker. He lived here with them. The way I understand it he had a pretty rough road. He wasn’t abused. But, he was expected to do a man’s work there on the farm. Anyhow, when the war broke out. . . the First World War broke out the 4th of August 1913. He joined the medical corps as a stretcher bearer. He went all through the war . . . was shot up a couple of times. Wound up being gassed and in hospital several times. The gas in the trenches burned his lungs. While recuperating in French hospital he was taught bead weaving as therapy. We have a blue glass seed-bead necklace with a gold seed-bead fleur de lis that Will made while in hospital. By the time Will and the boys came home from France they really should have gotten a full disability pension. Charles told him at the time, “Don’t take off the uniform ‘til you get a pension.”They (Will and wife Florence) fought (for the pension) for years. And when they finally got it it was $16.00 a month. And that’s what they lived on, that and chickens and fishing salmon. Will married Florence Moore from Sheffield. They had Dick, Ken, Jean, Irene, Donna and several years later, Darryl came along. This is the original house they used to live in. (The site of the Family Reunion, then owned by Kenneth Bagley, had been the home of Florence’s parents William & Martha Moore.) Will lived just down the road here.
Wait a minute! By gosh, I do remember one more thing! On our way over somebody sighted a whale! There was a lot of excitement to get the kids up on the deck to see that whale. I remember him coming right along side where I was.
It was 1903….81 years ago. And, that’s the story of my life.
Grace Griffin Galbraith – by Rose McCormick Brandon
Grace Griffin Galbraith, aged 15
On May 14, 1912 Grace Griffin, age 8, boarded the SS Corsican in Liverpool. The ship brought her to Canada along with her 10 year-old sister Lillian. Their older brother, Edward, sailed on the same ship in August of the same year.
Grace is the youngest of 3 children born to Emily Elizabeth Rayner and Edward James Griffin. Her father died at age 28, a few months before Grace’s birth. Grace’s mother then married William Charles Kelly, a nieghbour widower 11 years older, a father of 3.
For many years our family believed that Grace and her siblings ended up at one of The MacPherson Homes when their mother died. That’s what they wanted people to believe. But information shows that they were placed in The Home around 1905 and their mother didn’t die until 1911. William Kelly put his 3 children and Emily’s 3 in the Home. They stayed there for several years. Kelly then took his children back home and left the Griffin children there. When the Kelly children got back home they discovered another child, Winnifred, had been born to Emily and William. Grace didn’t know about this child until Edith Kelly wrote to her in 1928.
Emily Elizabeth died in 1911 at age 33 of tuberculosis. A year after their mother’s death, the three Griffin children became part of the British Child Immigration movement.
Grace first went to a family in Thamesville, then to a home in Perivale, Manitoulin Island. A local minister, Rev. Munro, became aware that Grace was mistreated. He removed her from the Knight home and placed her with the George Gilpin family of Brittainville, also on Manitoulin Island. She stayed with this fine family until age 14 when the Gilpin’s daughter Mable married a William MacDonal. They took Grace to live with them on a farm in Providence Bay. Her association with the Gilpin/MacDonald family was a happy one. Many members of this family remained life-long friends to Grace and some still remain friends with Grace’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Grace lived with the MacDonalds until she married James Galbraith at age 16 on February 28, 1920. The wedding took place at the United Church in Gore Bay, followed by a wedding supper at the MacDonald home. Attendants were Nelson Galbraith, brother of the groom, and Mae King, friend of Grace. Jim, 29, was a loving husband and good provider.
Jim and Grace Galbraith and their 3 oldest children: Evelyn, Lorma & baby Mildred
The two lived on a farm near Providence Bay until their retirement in 1952.They moved to Espanola, a paper town 70 miles from the island. They had five children: Evelyn Legge Pattison (Manitoulin Island), Lorma Middaugh (Evansville, Manitoulin Island – now deceased), Mildred McCormick (Espanola), Leona Sloss (Espanola) and Ransford Galbraith (Mindemoya, Manitoulin Island).
About a year after Grace’s marriage, her sister Lillian died of TB. We know the two had contact by letter until Lillian’s death. In a 1928 letter to relatives back in England, Grace wrote: “It was lonesome for me when Lily died. I missed her sisterly letters.”
Edward (Ted), searched for Grace and found her a few years after her marriage. A bachelor until his fifties, Ted moved near Grace and maintained a close ties with her. As one of Grace’s grandchildren, I remember many of his visits.
My mother, Mildred, is Grace and Jim’s middle child. When they retired from farming, my grandparents built a house two doors from ours. For most of my childhood, I saw my them every day. My grandmother, like many adult home children, didn’t talk about her childhood. If it had been left to her, none of us would know much about her past. But because the community of Providence Bay is small, everyone knew where she’d come from and some of the troubles she’d had. And Uncle Ted was more open about their English past.
Years later, Grace’s son, Ransford Galbraith, was contacted by relatives of her half-sister, Winnie, in England. Grace was well into her eighties by then and had lived alone for a number of years. Ted had passed away a few years earlier.
From the family in England, we discovered Grace had written letters to a step-sister, Edith Kelly, in England. She had never mentioned this woman to her children. Now, every member of our family has copies of these letters written in Grandma’s own hand. In one of the letters, dated July 1928, she wrote, “I can’t ever regret coming to Canada for I have always had a good time. I have had to work hard but I don’t mind that, for I love to work.”
Grace’s letters were written by a young woman pleased with life. She mentions her children and husband with pride. And writes of farm life in words that show she feels blessed and successful. Perhaps the reason Grandma wasn’t as excited as we hoped about re-connecting with English relatives appears in one of her letters. She writes: “I was young when I left there (England) and what little I know of things there I forgot about it . . . I can never recollect of ever seeing my mother and I have no picture of her.” In the same letter she expressed, “a longing to see some of my own folks.”
Grace and brother Edward (Ted) in center. Jim to Grace’s left, her five children behind
We received a photo of Grace’s mother, along with other documents, from our reconnected relatives in England.
Grace Griffin Galbraith passed away at age 99. She spent the last years of her life at the nursing home in Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island. At her funeral, the minister (someone who had known her for decades) said that God often makes up for difficult childhood years by putting kind, gentle people into the person’s adult life. This was true for Grandma. Her husband and all five of her children and her 22 children loved and cherished her.
Grace was a loving grandmother, gentle and generous. After a childhood filled with loss – her parents, sister, home, family connections, country – Grace’s longings for family and home came to pass in Canada.
Grace’s eldest daugher, Evelyn, writes: “I feel sad for the unfortunate beginning my mother had but am most thankful for the better life she was offered in Canada.”
Grace died in February, 2003. She would’ve been 100 in November of that year.
Remembering the Service of British Home Children in WWI
It’s estimated that as many as 10,000 men who arrived in Canada as child immigrants (British Home Children) from Britain enlisted in WWI. That means almost all those of eligible age, and probably some who weren’t, joined the army.
On this 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, let’s remember a handful of these young immigrants who did more than their share to make Canada the great country it is today.
Note: It wasn’t until I finished putting this post together that I noticed that every single person has William either as a first or second name. Just goes to show how popular this name was at the time.– Rose McCormick Brandon
William Francis Mason
Born April 1894 in England. Following the death of his mother, William and several brothers and sisters were placed at the National Children’s Home in London. On March 21 1908, William Francis Mason arrived in Canada with a party of 62 boys. Dr. Stephenson, founder of the National Children’s Home led this group to his transition home on Main St. E. in Hamilton, Ontario. From there, William was placed on a farm in West Flamborough. At age 21, William enlisted and was assigned to the 86th Machine Gun Battalion. He saw action at Ypres, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele where he suffered a major wound that led to amputation. After rehabilitation, William returned to Millgrove in West Flamborough township where he married Ellen Mitchell in 1926. William passed away on November 17, 1977 at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington at age 83. He is buried in the Millgrove Cemetery.
William Maybury
William Maybury, a Barnardo boy, was wounded on October 28, 1917. He never recovered from his wounds and died on Dec 1, 1917. He was 25. William is buried at No. 2 Stationary Cemetery in Abbeyville, France.
“It is hard for anyone today to imagine the horrors of the 25th year of his short life. He commanded a small group of men who fired mortars from the heart of battle. In the spring of 1917, he helped take Vimy Ridge. In summer, he fought in the Battle of Hill 70. In the fall it was Passchendaele. By then he would have known his luck was running thin, if not altogether out.” Roy MacGregor (read the rest of MacGregor’s story about Maybury here.
Jack Bean
John (Jack) William Bean
Jack Bean was born January 1895. Nothing is known about his life before he
entered Barnardo’s. He arrived in Canada at age seven on May 25, 1902. He went to live with Sandy & Isadora Thompson in Franconia (near Dunnville, Ontario). Jack enlisted at age twenty in 1915. He sent this photo of himself in uniform to Mrs. Thompson with this inscription on the back: For dear mother from your loving boy, Jack. At the time of his enlistment, Jack’s birth mother – Mrs. E. J. McCallum – was still alive and living in Oberland Cottage in Guernsey. Jack must have corresponded with her because he named her as his next of kin. After the war, Jack returned to Canada and moved out west.
William Frances Conabree
William Frances Conabree arrived in Canada in 1904 at age fourteen. He was sent by the Catholic Emigration Association and accompanied by Mr. Tupper. William enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and fought in WWI. He was a horn player and stretcher bearer for the 49th Loyal Edmonton Regiment. He lived through gas attacks and was a prisoner of war in the same camp as Con Smythe, the famed owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Read William’s stirring account of his early life in Canada here.
William Edwin Hunt
William Edwin Hunt
An Irish boy who immigrated through Smyly Homes for Children, William Edwin Hunt suffered wounds that resulted in the amputation of a leg. Undaunted, he pursued a career in government office, wrote poetry and made music. He spent his early years in Canada in the Hespeler/Guelph area and his adult years after the war in Sault Ste. Marie. (Smyly boys went to the Hespeler receiving home called The Coombes.) William wrote the poem, The Little V.A.D. (Volunteer Aid Nurse). Recently, a reader of my book, Promises of Home, contacted me to say that he found a copy of this poem, hand-written by William, in the archives at Trent University. The nurse the poem was written for left her letters and memoirs to the university. Read more about William Edwin Hunt here and here.
William Blay
William’s father died when he was a baby and his mother, who had sold all her furniture to pay the rent, could no longer afford to keep him. In September of 1903, she placed him in London, England’s Barnardo Home.
Upon arrival in Canada, he was put to work immediately on a farm where the culture shock was intense: city-bred William, who had never seen a cow before, was whipped because he did not milk fast enough. He ended up running away. Such was the case for many home boys who worked as farm hands in a country that had a high demand for labour but a low population. Read William’s story, written by his great-niece, Linda Jonasson, here.
Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children by Rose McCormick Brandon is a collection of 31 stories, including a few more about WWI veterans. To purchase a copy, visit Amazon.
William Francis Conabree
William Frances Conabree arrived in Canada in 1904 at age fourteen. He was sent by the Catholic Emigration Association and accompanied by Mr. Tupper. William enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and fought in WWI. He was a horn player and stretcher bearer for the 49th Loyal Edmonton Regiment. He lived through gas attacks and was a prisoner of war in the same camp as Con Smythe, the famed owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After the war, William lived near Shawinigan, Quebec with his wife Rose, also a Home Child. Later in life, in 1952, William put pen to paper and wrote the following account of his life in Canada. Few Home Children wrote their stories which makes William’s account precious. Special thanks to Gerry Lauzon, great-grandson of William for realizing the importance of William’s writing and for sharing it.
Gerry writes: “This story was found on the original piece of paper it was written on in a drawer in my grandmother’s (William’s daughter) room after she had passed. We knew about his background but never in great detail. It was amazing to find this document and to be able to share with the world through the web. How he would be astonished today at all of this technology used for good.”
To commemorate British Home Child Day, Promise of Home presents William Francis Conabree’s account of his life in Canada exactly as he wrote it.
Rose McCormick Brandon, author of Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children
Believe me my friends, it’s the truth
by William Francis Conabree
I came out to this country from England in July 1904. I was 14 years old at the time, being of the poor class, I came with the Catholic Emigration Society; their headquarters at the time on St. Thomas street in Montreal. I was sent to work on a farm as a hired man at a rate of $1.00 per month, this being sent to the society. I was tagged for a place in Ontario, Bulger by name. If I ever struck it bad in my life, it was there. One could not imagine how people could ill treat another person to such extent.
Well, the boy who I replaced was sent back immediately after my arrival, a walking skeleton. Knowing as I do now, I wonder if he made the trip alive, poor fellow. I knew him very well; he was in the same school as myself in England. If he did make it alive, he must have died a short while afterward, as he was too far gone to last very long.
How is it that they did not immediately call me back once they saw this boy’s condition? I remained there about a year unwillingly of course and if decent people only knew what I went through they would be shocked, but there I was without a soul to turn to for help, no writing paper, no money even to buy a stamp. I was forbidden to go outside the front gate by this farmer, for if I did he said he would horse whip me to death, and meant it. For I often had the home strap lashings, my body was marked and my arms and wrists had blisters marked by this home strap. And that was done by the woman herself, he himself used the whip. This home strap the woman had it hung up in the summer kitchen, as it was handy for her to use it on me, for no reason at all. I can swear to this. Her only invented reason at all: I was a dirty Englishman.
I worked from sunset and most of the time in the fields and at night after a hard days work outdoor she would make me wash the dishes having piled them up so there would be plenty. They would go to bed and she would often tell me to wash the floors, bake the bread in the oven, and she would say “pity help you if you let it burn”. I had no bed; I slept on an old sofa in the kitchen with the dog. I had no clothes except the old working clothes that the poor sick boy left. The good clothes I came out with were taken away from me, in fact everything I owned was not much but it was taken away. All letters I was keeping were destroyed, my clothes were distributed amongst their own boys, they had three, two about my age.
After I was there three of four months, a visitor called to see me. He called me outside and asked me how I was getting on. I explained to him that I would like to be taken away from there. He could see for himself the condition I was in. I could hardly talk as the people were in hearsay of what I said. Well after he went I had hope of being taken away, but no. It happened that this visitor’s father was a neighbour of this farmer’s brother about five miles away. That I did not know at the time, in fact I was not allowed to know anybody. The neighbours were very far away.
The only time I saw the neighbours was when they had a “bee”. I was the one sent to work at the bee, and I got instructions before going to work at the bee that I was not to say a word to anyone, for they would hear of it and pity help me if I spoke. They seldom cut my hair. It use to lay on my shoulders like a girl, and I was swarmed in lice. I did not know what clean clothes was, always the same old clothes. I got my both feet froze right in their yard, there was no weather cold enough but that they would make me work outside. The socks I was wearing were full of holes; they were discarded by the farmer too far gone for repairs. They were given to me to wear is reason my both feet froze. They froze “white” all over. Here’s the treatment they made me take for them.
They made me put my feet in ice cold “well” water until my feet got all coated with ice and after that they swole up so big I had to go to work with rags wrapped around my feet. No question of trying to put the buckskin moccasins on, my feet split open in several places and did not heal for months afterward, all of my toenails came off. When my feet got a little better I began to wear the moccasins again. I was sent to a wood sawing “bee” for some neighbour away down the road. As usual the warning that I should not say a word. It happened as we were finishing up that night, it was a way back in the woods, a sleigh drove up and asked for me. It was another visitor to see me, not the same as previous. He bide me to jump in the sleigh with him, and immediately on the way back he told me who he was, and starting questioning me about the treatment I was getting. I told him how I was treated, my feet were still very sore. He had me take off the old buckskin moccasins after my arrival at the farmer, and what he didn’t tell them. He even said he was ashamed of his own nationality after they told him of their own nationality.
I expected to be taken away immediately, but no, he said. He had to make his report first. The next day the farmer and his wife had me write a letter to contradict anything this fellow would say. So there I was again still no hopes. The next Spring, a boy working for his brother came over to give us a hand with the stoning and it was through him that I got an address to go to if I decided to run away. I bide my time to do so, seeing it was my ownly salvation and only cha nce of getting free from this ill treatment. So one day in the spring or early summer, the sewing of crop was through. He was going to Egansville to the races. Before going he had a couple of sandwich of bread and butter only made up for me, and took me back in the woods to cut wood alone. I carried the axe, saw, etc., and small lunch with me. He showed me what he wanted me to do, and then left me alone. I started cutting up the wood and I was getting thirsty, nothing to drink. I was told to come home only when the sun was going down and to bring home the cows for milking. The flies were eating me alive and nothing to quench my thirst. I decided now’s your chance, so I walked through the bush to the road and started away. Every time I saw a horse and rig coming, I hid laying down flat inside the fence. That is the way I got away.
I walked five miles to Mr. B.’s place and I stayed there for a week until the association ordered my return. I went to another farmer after that, of the same nationality. It was a little better, the farmer’s wife hated the English. So you see it was pretty hard going when your nationality is hated where you have to stay. The treatment was much better than the previous place. The farmer had a bad temper. After being there about a year, he was in bad humour one day and knocked me down. I got up and told him it was too bad that I was not a bit older. I would try hard to defend myself. He then gave me an awful punch in the face and knocked me down. And the the brave fellow put the boots to me. I was black and blue from the armpits to the knee on the right side. I had a hard time to walk about, so I kept away from the house, slept in the stable that night and walked 15 miles to Ottawa the next day. What a sight I was in my old farm clothes on the streetcar. A lady gave me 5 cents to pay my car fair in Ottawa.
I then went to work for a French Canadian farmer and stayed there three years. He was an elderly man. I got on fairly well there, a little close on the table, but seeing what I went through, I easily overlooked that.
I then got a job in Montreal with the firm of Frothingham and Workman wholesale hardware. I stayed with them for seven years working my way up from labourer in the yard to express and letter order department, of which I was in charge. I left there to enlist in the Canadian Army for overseas C.E.F. [Canadian Expeditionnary Force] March 1916. When I was in the trenches in 1917, my wife in Montreal had the misfortune of having my home taken away from her by a landlord for a months rent of $18.00 which my wife said was promised her for the cleaning of the flat. It was her first month in that flat and it was the understanding, but she did not have it in writing. So she was put out on the street with her two children, one four years old and the other eighteen months. When I came back, we started up again, got things together, got myself a job.
I started travelling for a firm and moved to Shawinigan Falls. I was doing fairly well by now, but I got roped in on an accident deal in 1920. This was certainly a rotten deal. The party who did this was not right, his wife was against this deal. I was mislead all along and didn’t think it possible such a rotten deal could be let through. I found out so and believe me it has shaken my faith in certain people, for which I can never forget until the day I die. I had so much faith in righteousness that I did not think such a thing possible. Why even the clergy remarked about it as being not just. It is really too bad such things are allowed. It does not do them any good. They all lose out in the end. But it hurts the poor hard working law abiding citizen who works honestly to earn a living and keep his family going. I feel so peeved when I think about that nasty deal, and the ones who were responsible for it. It is understandable that the atomic bomb is now here.
Yours Truthfully,
W.F. Conabree Ex. Pte 841681 C.E.F.
P.S. When I went back to England with the C.E.F., I met some of my relatives. I did not tell them of my ill treatment on the farm, as I did not want them to feel bad about it. I just kept it to myself. My wife was a slave too, came to this country with the same organization at 8 years of age [1893]. She was put on a farm as a working hand. They never sent her to school. She did not know to read and write. She tells me she always worked in the field.
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Promises of Home 