Description:Submitted by Pete Millington.
[The following is a description of Pete Millington’s meeting with Ralph Edwards, descendant of Arthur Edwards, who as a young who was deported to Canada from Birmingham as part of the Middlemore Homes Scheme, which had its headquarters in the city)
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On the 3rd October 1904, Mary Emma’s son, Arthur Edwards was placed in the Middlemore Home in Birmingham. Arthur’s son Ralph Edwards, who lives in Winnipeg, Canada told me about his father’s story:
“From the Middlemore records that I have been able to view, it appears that William and Emma and their children had fallen on "hard times" and were having trouble providing for their children and themselves. When my father went into the Middlemore Home on 3rd/4th October 1904, this is what was on the application:
[Name and address of Parent: William Edwards 3 House 10 Court Lower Tower Street.
Members of family: Mother and father and five children eldest 10 years the youngest 8 months.]
It goes on to say that the father (William) has been out of regular employment for fourteen months but has done odd jobs for his nephew who is a shoe finisher. Then it states that my father was "sleeping out' and also has been in trouble at the markets for apparently stealing things. It also states that when Pem was interviewed she said her husband had spent time in jail for assaulting people and being drunk. She also told the interviewer that they moved often to avoid paying rent so that they would have money for food. It also said that one of the children had spent time in the Shustoke Industrial School.
“The report on admittance does not give names of any of my fathers siblings and only uses his name (Arthur) and the father's name (William). Nor does it give any name of the mother. She is referred to as "mother". I know that life was hard in Birmingham in the late 1800's and early 1900's. My father's family was much better off than a lot of the family admittance reports that I have seen in the Middlemore records. There were a lot of "horror stories" in that era.”
“In June of 1906 my father was immigrated to Canada with many other children from the Middlemore Home. He came to Canada on a ship called The Siberian in 1906”.
“I don't know if you are aware of the child care agencies that were operating in England in the late 1800's and up until about 1930 but there were quite a number bringing children to Canada to work on farms. Dr Barnadoes organization was probably the largest. He worked primarily in London, saving destitute children. Middlemore Homes of Birmingham brought approximately 5000 children to Canada. Many of the children after they were placed on farms here were mistreated and treated like slaves. In fairness there were many who were placed in good homes and treated as their own children.”
“My father was placed on a farm here in the province of New Brunswick, with a farmer who did not treat him very well. In 1915 he left the farm and joined the Canadian Army which was known as the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He went back to England and served in France during World War 1.”
(Cont)