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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Uprooted

The Shipment of Poor Children to Canada, 1867-1917

Some 80,000 British children - many of them under the age of ten - were shipped from Britain to Canada by Poor Law authorities and voluntary bodies during the 50 years following Confederation in 1867. How did this come about? What were the motives and methods of the people involved in both countries? Why did it come to an end? What effects did it have on the children involved and what eventually became of them? These are the questions Roy Parker explores in a meticulously researched work that brings together economic, political, social, medical, legal, administrative and religious aspects of the story in Britain and Canada.


384 pages | © 2008


Table of Contents

Part I: Setting the Scene

one The Background

I Prelude

II The Pressure for Emigration Grows

III The Ups and Downs of Official Policies

IV Maria Rye’s Appearance on the Scene

V The Scene is Set

two Early Initiatives

I London: Rye, Macpherson and Stephenson

II Liverpool: Nugent and Birt

III Quarrier and Glasgow

IV Middlemore in Birmingham

V The Networks

Part II: Setbacks and Anxieties

three Checks and Balances

I Orphans,Waifs, Strays and the Deserted

II Asking the Children

III The Pros and Cons of Emigration

IV Growing Anxieties

V The Doyle Inquiry and the Moratorium

four The Issue of Inspection

I The Canadian Answer to Doyle’s Report

II The Response of the Local Government Board

III A Second Canadian Offer

IV A Particular Case

V Eventually Something is Heard of the Children

Part III: The Field Expands

five The Second Wave of Organised Protestant Child Emigration

I Enter Barnardo

II Shaw and Manchester

III Fegan’s boys

IV The Established Church

six The Catholic response

I The Context

II Liverpool: Preserving the Faith

III Westminster and the French Connection

IV Southwark and Different Policies for Girls and Boys

V Salford Records the Details but Soon Withdraws

VI The Amalgamation and New Policies

VII The Disapproved

VIII The main features

seven The ‘Unorga

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