In
my blog post of 10 June 2014 I wrote about John Walker Cooper, my wife’s uncle,
who was a Cossar boy, one of hundreds of children relocated to Canada from
Scotland by Dr. George Carter Cossar. The immigrants sponsored by Dr. Cossar
were part of a larger wave of children, called British Home children, sent to
Canada for a better life.
The
most well-known group were those brought over by Thomas John Barnardo. He
founded a charity in London in 1866 set up to shelter and care for vulnerable
children in London. It was initially established to take care of children left
orphaned by the cholera outbreak in that region. His shelters expanded rapidly
over the years as alternative housing to the Workhouse for destitute children.
Over time it changed from not only housing orphans but also to providing
fostering and adoption services.
The
charity still exists
today – almost 110 years after the death of Barnardo – still providing support,
counselling, fostering, adoption, education, residential and training service
for young people and their families.
Approximately
118,000 children were brought to Canada from the
British Isles between 1863 and 1939, by over 50 child care organizations. They
ranged in age from toddlers to adolescents, all unaccompanied by parents. Of
the total, about 30,000 came from Barnardo homes in England.
One
the Barnardo Boys was the grandfather of my brother-in-law, Henry John Pettitt.
There have been many stories published about the harsh conditions and abuse the
Home children were subject to in Canada. According to a Pettitt family
historian, the experience of Henry was a positive one. He was grateful for the
home life provided and for the education and care that he received as a young
boy.
Henry
was born in Limehouse, Stepney, Middlesex, England on December 10th,
1867, the son of Henry Frederick Pettitt, a carman, and Mary Ann, nee Minto.
Henry Frederick died in 1868 of consumption. In 1870 his mother remarried but
she too died within a couple of years, also of consumption. Henry’s stepfather
was unable or unwilling to look after the child and he went to live with his
maternal grandmother who was by then 60 years old. She did her best but, when
her health failed, and no other relatives stepped forward to care for her
grandson, she was forced to apply to the Barnardo home for assistance. He was
then just nine years old.
 |
1876 – photograph of Henry John Pettitt at the time
of his admission to the Barnardo Home (from the Pettitt family files, courtesy
of Pat Pettitt)
Henry
is shown living in the Barnardo Home in Stepney Causeway, Ratcliffe, in 1881. He
apparently also spent some time at the Youth’s Labour House on Commercial Road
in London, which had been set up in 1882 to provide a home for young men who
were candidates for emigration.
 |
Photograph of the Barnardo Home at Stepney Causeway,
London (image downloaded October 14, 2014 from barnardos.org.uk
website)
Henry
sailed to Canada on board the SS Polynesian on June 14th, 1883, with
82 other boys, arriving in Quebec on June 25th. He was placed at various
homes in Russeldale and St. Mary’s, Ontario. By 1891 he was living at the
Barnardo Home in Russell, Manitoba.
 |
Photograph of the Russell Industrial Farmhouse in Russell,
Manitoba (downloaded October 14, 2014 from British
Home Children website)
Henry
married Agnes Knott in Russell, Manitoba, in 1900. Agnes was an English girl
who had arrived in Canada in 1898. The couple went on to raise a family of four
in Russell, from all reports very happily and successfully.
Wayne
Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program,
handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has
published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past
Editor of Chinook, the quarterly
journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical
consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.
