On Their Own: Britain's Child Migrants Exhibition
The Together Trust has been working with the V&A Museum of Childhood over the last few months in conjunction with its new exhibition that opened on Saturday entitled, On Their Own: Britain's Child Migrants. The exhibition tells the true stories of Britain's child migrants who were sent to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Running from the 24th October 2015 to 12 June 2016 it gives visitors an insight into the migration schemes that ran between 1869 and 1970.
The exhibition which was created in 2010, toured Australia before coming over to Liverpool in October last year. The V&A Museum of Childhood has extended the exhibition, incorporating new loan material and adding audio and video content. It has also further extended displays concentrating on the emigration of children to Canada. Unsurprisingly, considering where it started, material was predominately focused on the Australian experience. The V&A however has included much more about the Canadian emigration scheme drawing on letters rather than verbal testimony.
Many of these letters have been taken from the Together Trust archive, which has a substantial collection of letters and reports about children who went to its Canadian home in Belleville, Ontario between 1872-1914. As well as this material being on display, describing the young people’s varying experiences, some have also been digitised and placed on touch screens. An audio reading of the letter accompanies it (although the children have a distinctly southern accent rather than a Manchester one!)
Fascinating although sobering, it is a poignant recognition
of this still under researched and relatively unknown subject area in Britain. If
you are in the area I would thoroughly recommend a visit!
Map showing location of Receiving Homes in Canada
The exhibition which was created in 2010, toured Australia before coming over to Liverpool in October last year. The V&A Museum of Childhood has extended the exhibition, incorporating new loan material and adding audio and video content. It has also further extended displays concentrating on the emigration of children to Canada. Unsurprisingly, considering where it started, material was predominately focused on the Australian experience. The V&A however has included much more about the Canadian emigration scheme drawing on letters rather than verbal testimony.
Many of these letters have been taken from the Together Trust archive, which has a substantial collection of letters and reports about children who went to its Canadian home in Belleville, Ontario between 1872-1914. As well as this material being on display, describing the young people’s varying experiences, some have also been digitised and placed on touch screens. An audio reading of the letter accompanies it (although the children have a distinctly southern accent rather than a Manchester one!)
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Together Trust letter
on display
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I hope it doesn't happen again. Eugenia Renskoff
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