Preparing for Canada

On 2nd April 1896 a group of 173 boys, under the care of the Reverend Robert Wallace and his wife, journeyed aboard the Scotsman from Liverpool to the Marchmont Receiving Home in Belleville, Canada. Of the 173, approximately 70 boys were from the Manchester and Salford Refuges and Homes. It took eight days for the ship to arrive at the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 14th April, Revd. Wallace reported the following:

From The Children's Haven (CH), May 1896

Safe and well, the boys would have arrived "just as the famers and storekeepers are making their summer arrangements, and looking out for smart steady boys." (CH, February 1897) "After spending two or three days at Marchmont, enjoying the rest and the brightness of the sunny spring days" they then moved on to the homes which had been found for them (ibid.)

Before the departure of the emigration parties, much work was done to prepare for the children's long journey and new lives. Assisting preparations were the girls at the Rosen Hallas Emigration Training Home. April was said to be the busiest month for the 44 girls resident here in Spring 1896, as they prepared for both some of their own, and the boys', emigration by tackling the arduous task of laundry, as well as "the extra housework associated with the spring" (CH, June 1897). The girls' party emigrated one month after the boys in May 1896.

Bernard chopping wood, taken from G.R. Kirlew's photograph album (1894)

In preparation for emigration the charity circulated their 'wants', items they desired to supply all of the children with before their departure; these included woollen comforters "good warm ones – which will last them two or three winters" ("they do love a bright scarf for the winter" [CH, December 1896]) and “inside flannels, shirts and drawers, also much wanted for both boys and girls" (CH, February 1897). Despite it being Spring/Summer upon the boys' arrival, the Refuges sought the most functional items and those which would no doubt be a blessing come winter.

Walter labouring in the fields – no need for thermals here! (ibid.)

Of course, packing and gathering supplies where not the only preparations ahead of a young person's emigration. Tea parties were laid on to allow individuals to give a fond farewell to their friends and relatives.

The Children's Haven, April 1896

As was tradition, the boys' emigration parties then came together to pose for their photograph outside Manchester Town Hall. Unlike the boys, the girls saw far less of a spectacle as their significantly  smaller parties had their farewell photographs taken on the grounds of Rosen Hallas.

Beneath the Prince Albert memorial statue, Albert Square, Manchester

By July 1896 The Children's Haven reported how some of the boys' from the party wrote to the Emigration Training Home for Boys back in Manchester: "they are apparently greatly in love with the country and with their new prospects".