Читать книгу Marjorie Too Afraid to Cry - Patricia Skidmore - Страница 7

Many of the British child migrants sent to Canada between 1833 and 1948 are known as “Home Children” or “British Home Children.” Marjorie was one of the 329 children sent to the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School, near Cowichan Station on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, between 1935 and 1948. This group — the only British child migrants sent directly to British Columbia, Canada — most often refer to themselves as “Child Migrants” or “Former Fairbridgians.” Children sent to the Fairbridge farm schools in Australia and former Rhodesia have been called Child Migrants or Former Fairbridgians, but most frequently “Old Fairbridgians.” The narratives have changed over the centuries, from ridding Britain of its “idle young people” (see chapter 13, note 1), to child rescue and Empire settlement. Stories of the kidnapping of children run throughout most of the history of child migration. Today, even though many migrants were happy to be sent to the colonies, there are numerous stories that centre on loss: loss of county, loss of records, loss of family and roots. Regardless of what the stories are or what these children are referred to as, they were all part of the British child migration movement, which went on for over 350 years — from 1618 to the mid 1970s.