Museum exhibit highlights role of Home Children

Kate Bakos, Cultural Heritage Manager/Curator, is next to some of the artifacts in the exhibit on Home Children. It runs until October. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Almost a century later, those who came to Canada through a program to provide agriculture help is nearly forgotten. The latest exhibit at Annandale National Historical Site, Tillsonburg’s British Home Children, brings their stories to life.

“Tillsonburg, like many agricultural communities, was literally built on the back of home children,” said Kate Bakos, Cultural Heritage Manager/Curator. “Because we are in a rural area, these people came here as indentured servants.”

In many cases, Bakos said, the Home Children didn’t want to share their stories because of individual circumstances. Often, they were orphaned or destitute in Britain.

“The idea behind the program was to give them a better life,” she said. “Some came as young as six. There are stories of some not being treated well and some who were treated like members of the family.”

The stories of the Home Children are both those of hardship and of hope.

“It was traumatizing being ripped from your family, and your country, and the place you know,” Bakos said.

The British Home Children program was started in the 1860s to provide labour on Canadian farms. It continued until the 1940s. More than 100,000 Home Children took part in the program over its duration. Many of these were in Oxford County.

The exhibit provides information about the program and tells the story of 15 Home Children who put down roots in Tillsonburg. Many of these names would be familiar to those who grew up in Tillsonburg. The display also contains some artifacts, such as a trunk Ernest Newman brought from England with all of his belongings when he was a Home Child.