Written By Sid Prior, Middlesex Centre Archives
Home Children was a child migration scheme founded by Annie McPherson in 1869. Over 100, 000 children were shipped from Britain to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. The programme was largely discontinued by the 1930s, but some children were still sent out as late as 1970.
At first the scheme involved orphan children, but later children from poorer families who were given up to societies including Barnardo’s Homes. It was later discovered that many children had parents who had no idea what happened to their children. Some were told the children had been adopted in England. Some children were told their parents were dead and they would find good new homes in the “colonies”. Many children were sent to rural communities to work as agricultural labourers. Some were exploited and treated adversely, with denial of proper shelter or education. Some found good homes, such as the story of two girls in Delaware.
Investigations later uncovered the abuse of many children. In 2010, the British government apologised for the shameful treatment of these children. Australia did so in 2009. Canada did not. Instead, then Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Jason Kenney, announced that there was no need for the Canadian Crown-in-Council or -in-Parliament, to apologise:
“The issue has not been on the radar screen here, unlike Australia, where there’s been a long-standing interest. The reality is that, here in Canada, we are taking measures to recognise that sad period, but there is, I think, limited public interest in official government apologies for everything that’s ever been unfortunate or [a] tragic event in our history.”
In 1999, the Government of Canada designated “Immigration of Home Children” a National Historic Event with the erection of a plaque in Stratford, Ontario. The Ontario Heritage Trust erected a provincial plaque in Ottawa. The Governor General of Canada proclaimed 2010 the “Year of the British Home Child”, and on 1 September 2010, Canada Post released a commemorative stamp to honour those who were sent to Canada. In Ontario, the British Home Child Day Act, 2011, makes 28 September each year British Home Child Day to “recognize and honour the contributions of the British Home Children who established roots in Ontario.”
After this introduction to Home Children and the possibilities of tragedy, the story we wish to tell now is about one of the happy stories that happened in the Middlesex Centre community.
On March 21, 1901, the ship, “SS Tunisian” set sail from Liverpool, England and arrived in April 1901 in Portland, Maine with a group of British Home Children. On board were eleven-year-old Fanny and her sister, seven-year-old Elsie, daughters of Nelson Cullimore (1856-1906) and Marion Fisher (1862-1896) from Berkshire, England. (The couple had one son, Albert William (1888-1956) who remained in Berkshire, married and had a family there.) The group was being escorted by the Waifs & Strays Society and were going to the Society’s western home at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. From there, they were to be dispersed throughout Southwestern Ontario. The sisters were both sent to Delaware.
Fanny lived with the family of George and Charlotte Daunt in Delaware West, Caradoc Township, just across the river from Delaware Village. George was a farmer and pump maker, and Fanny worked as a domestic on the farm. On March 3, 1915, in Delaware Village, Fanny married 25-year-old Herbert Hayes. Herbert had been born in Lincolnshire, England, the son of Richard Hayes and Elizabeth Green. In 1893, at the age of four, Herbert was brought to Canada as a British Home Child by the Barnardo Homes Group on the ship “Labrador”. In the 1911 Census, Herbert was working on the farm of Albert Montieth in Delaware Township. Herbert’s and Fanny’s son, William Herbert, was born in Delaware on September 11, 1915, and on December 18th, Herbert signed up for the army. He joined the 135th Middlesex Battalion in Strathroy and on November 3, 1917 Herbert was reported to have been killed in action. He was buried at Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium. Fanny remained in Delaware raising her young son until October 1, 1923, when she married Albert James Tiley, son of Thomas and Louisa. Fanny, her son William, and her new husband, Albert moved to Forfar, Leeds County, Ontario, where, in June, 1924, their son, William Ford Tiley, was born. Fanny died in 1959, Albert in 1976 and William in 1999. All are interred in the Halladay Burial Place, Elgin, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario.
Elsie was sent to live with the family of William and Elizabeth Harker in Delaware Village. William was a storekeeper and postmaster who resided on King Street. They were an older couple and their only child, Margaret, had died when she was only 13 years old. They adopted Elsie and enrolled her in the Delaware Village school. On July 9, 1912, Elsie married Walter Kilbourne in Delaware Village. Walter, son of Timothy Kilbourne and Jessie Hay, was born and raised in Kilworth, another small village in Delaware Township. Elsie and Walter raised three children, William, Eleanor, and Marjorie. Elsie died in 1986 and Walter in 1942. Both are interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in London, Ontario.
It is unknown if they ever had contact with their brother’s family in England.
Many of the British Home Children cannot be found but we are blessed with knowing the life and times of these two sisters who seemed to have lived a full life. If you are aware of more Home Children from Middlesex Centre, please send the Middlesex Centre Archives their stories.
