Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

History

Supervisor

Wardhaugh, Robert A.

2nd Supervisor

Fleming, Keith

Co-Supervisor

Abstract

From 1872 to 1895, the Children’s Emigration Homes, under the care of Birmingham philanthropist Dr. John T. Middlemore, facilitated the emigration of children to a receiving home and sent them to live in Ontario as domestic servants and agricultural labourers. Newspapers played an important role in promoting child emigration as a viable solution to reduce poverty in Great Britain by rehabilitating the public perception of child emigrants from a drain on the taxpayer to a benefit to Canadian communities. Newspaper coverage focused on several key themes: the transformation of a child’s character; the success of the organization’s mission; organizational accountability; and the consequences of leaving these children in Birmingham. This thesis analyzes the CEH’s presence in the public discourse through newspapers, alongside other child emigration advocates, to turn child emigration from a fringe policy into a mainstream practice during the Child Emigration Movement.

Summary for Lay Audience

Between the 1860s and the 1940s, child welfare organizations in Great Britain transported over 100,000 children to Canada as part of the Child Emigration Movement. From 1872 to 1895, the Children’s Emigration Homes (CEH), under the care of Birmingham philanthropist Dr. John T. Middlemore, facilitated the emigration of children to a receiving home, the Guthrie House in London, Ontario, Canada and then in local communities as domestic servants or as agricultural labourers. Newspapers played a significant role in promoting child emigration as a viable solution to reduce poverty in Great Britain by rehabilitating the public perception of child emigrants from being a drain on the taxpayer to a benefit to Canadian communities. This thesis analyzes Middlemore’s efforts to cultivate publicity, alongside other child emigration advocates, to turn child emigration from a fringe policy into a normalized part of the political discourse. Without friendly newspaper coverage the CEH would have failed, like many of its early nineteenth-century predecessors did, for a lack of public support. Newspaper coverage of the CEH focused on several key themes: the transformation of a child’s character; the success of the organization’s mission; organizational accountability; and the consequences of leaving such children in Birmingham. To further the goals of the CEH, the newspaper coverage needed to portray the lives of the lower classes in Birmingham as desperate enough that public opinion supported emigration efforts, but not so desperate that readers would imagine the “gutter children” as beyond hope or rehabilitation.

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