Life in Grenfell, Saskatchewan

As regular followers of this blog will know the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes emigrated some of the children under its care to the Marchmont Receiving Home in Belleville, Ontario.

 

 Norman Lee, Refuge Agent in Grenfell

In the early days of the emigration scheme however this was not the only area that the children were emigrated to. Many of the boys in the 1880s were sent across to an area called Grenfell in Saskatchewan in the North West Territories. Here they worked on the large farms for a wage; milking cows, ploughing the land and chopping wood, under the watchful eye of Mr. Norman Lee, the Refuge's agent in Grenfell. 

Group of boys in Grenfell

Many of the boys had been emigrated to Grenfell to escape the Manchester city slums. Some were orphans, others were deemed to be in too dangerous circumstances to remain in Manchester. All would sign a Certificate of Consent before local Justices of the Peace prior to emigration, to state they were happy to be taken to Canada. 

Emigration Certificate of Consent

Of course it was not just the conditions at home that initiated emigration. During the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries the Canadian farmers needed casual labour. Many local Canadians (especially young men and women) were leaving the provinces to move to the cities or south to America. Migrant children were needed to replace these workers. Some remained as employees but others were treated as one of the family, some even being adopted and taking new surnames.