From 1869, child migrants known as ‘Home Children’ were sent via migrant organisations from Britain to its imperial dominions of Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. More than 150,000 orphaned or poverty-stricken children were sent to the settler colonies. Around 7,000 children were sent to Australia from Britain as part of the ‘Home Children’ emigration policy that lasted until 1967. The largest number of migrants – over 100,000 – was sent to Canada between 1869 and the early 1930s. This article explores how family historians can find out more about these child migrants, from their origins in the UK to their new lives in Canada.

One of the best resources to use when beginning research into child migrants is the database of around 20,000 British Home Children sent to Canada from 1869-1930 that can be explored at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC)’s website. This features a searchable index of immigration records, linking to images of passenger lists.

Also on this webpage is an index of Board of Guardians records. These need to be checked at the library itself, but online transcriptions give details of the sending agency, the name of the Board of Guardians that took the child into care and the year of arrival. These relate to Boards of Guardians in Britain, and more information may be found in archives in the UK (try the Access to Archives database ).

Once you have established when your home child arrived in Canada, check the next census on which they should appear. Fortunately, the Canadian census is free to search at the LAC website .

Later census records may indicate when your relative married. Follow this up in marriage records. A good source of marriage and death records is the Canadian Genealogy Center. Death and burial records should also be checked to confirm dates of birth, residences and names of next of kin. Check with local churches and cemeteries. Regional libraries may hold death notices for your relative or those named in military wills and other documents.

Many British Home Children volunteered to support their home country when Britain went to war against Germany in August 1914. Enlistment papers for soldiers, nurses and chaplains can be viewed for free and searched via the index on the LAC website. Those who lost their lives in the war should be recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website, although this remains incomplete.

Canadian records can tell you more about the institution or family to which your ancestor was sent. Most were sent to a ‘receiving home’. In some cases, child migrants moved several times, and you may need to investigate more than one source in order to obtain the full picture. Receiving home organisations and agencies whose records are stored in Canada include the Children’s Farm Home Association of London, England/ Elinore Home Farm of Nawigewauk, New Brunswick, Canada (c1903 to 1913) at Kings County Historical Society, Hampton, New Brunswick. St Catharine’s Public Library, Ontario holds special collections on Home Children, including information on the Maria Rye Home at Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Family history societies also have useful resources. For example, the British Family History Society of Greater Ottawa’s website features an index for the Middlemore Homes. Pier 21 link Museum in Nova Scotia has a dedicated section on Home Children .

Records held in Britain can be used to establish the origins of Victorian and Edwardian children who were sent to Canada as part of this policy. These records can reveal details on the children’s early homes and provide information on the families they left behind. In some cases, siblings were sent to Canada, either together or on separate journeys.

There are also confidential records, which may be retained by institutional archives in Britain or Canada. Often these are protected by privacy laws, which means they can only be accessed by close relatives of the child concerned. The largest of the sending agencies was the Barnardo Home for Boys whose records are held in England. Several smaller homes have given their case files to Barnardo’s. An initial search of the archives for those whose relatives went to Canada or Australia is free of charge, but a fee will be required later to gain access to the full history. Full details are available at www.barnardos.org.uk

Another significant organisation was the Waif and Strays’ Society. Its records can be obtained from its present incarnation, The Children’s Society. A digital archive of children in care, produced in conjunction with The Children’s Society is online at www.hiddenlives.org.uk. This includes addresses and occupations of family members.

You may find more details of your ancestor and those he or she travelled with in outward passenger lists available online.

Using the details on these and on the Canada census returns, you should be able to find him or her on the Scottish, English and Welsh censuses. However, it is important to bear in mind that many Home Children lived for a period in institutions such as industrial schools or reformatories before they were sent to Canada. Thus they may be recorded on the census away from their family.

Where you are able to find the name of an institution where your ancestor lived in the UK, check the Access to Archives database to discover where surviving records, such as admission and discharge registers, are held. These should give useful genealogical details as well as address and personal facts.

Other resources to consult include local newspapers and magistrates reports, which may mention the parents or siblings of the Home Child in the context of crime, poverty or neglect.