One Saturday in May 1885 nine children were taken from
various parts of Guildford Union Workhouse into the handsome oak-lined
boardroom. There they stood nervously
before the twenty seven grand gentlemen and one lady of the Board of
Guardians. The Board included Miss Augusta
Spottiswoode, one of the first women to be voted on to a Board of
Guardians. Miss Spottiswoode was anxious
to break the spiral of poor or orphaned children following their parents’ path
into pauperism and crime by giving them an industrial education and removing
them from the workhouse by boarding out.
Now she espoused the cause of sending orphans to start a new life in
Canada.
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| Guildford Union Workhouse |
One of the children standing in front of her was Walter
Shires, an 11 year old boy from a tragic family. He can be found age 7, amongst the inmates
listed in Guildford Union Workhouse in 1881 and next to him, the name Mary Ann
Joyce, age 12, who was his step-sister.
Both children had been orphaned two or three years earlier, but only Walter
would be part of the small party of children sent out to Canada to begin a new
life.
Walter’s mother Kate May married William Joyce at St
Nicholas, Guildford in 1866. He was an
Agricultural Labourer and by 1871 they were living in the area of St
Catherine’s with their three children, William John Joyce, age 4, Mary Ann
Joyce, age 2 and newly born Kate Elizabeth.
Sadly, Kate died within a few months and a year later their father, William
Joyce, was buried in St Mary’s churchyard, aged 26.
The young widow, Kate Joyce, married again next year, this
time to labourer Walter Henry Shires.
Their son, also called Walter Henry Shires was born shortly afterwards
but there is no evidence of any other children born to the couple before Kate’s
death in 1878. At the age of 30, her
funeral was held at St Nicholas’s. With
three young children to look after, Walter Shires senior entered Guildford
Union Workhouse where he died a year after his wife, aged 37.
By 1881, the eldest boy William
John Joyce was 14, so he was working as a farm servant in Hambledon. The next time we find Mary Ann Joyce is in
1891 when she is living in Spitalfields with three other girls, all with no
occupation, in the household of a Docker and a Laundress.
Meanwhile, young Walter Henry
Shires was part of an experiment which hoped to give young people an
opportunity of a better life in Canada than was possible, given their
unfortunate start, in England. By 1884
many stories were told by well-meaning ladies such as Miss Maria Rye, Miss
Ellen Belborough and Mrs Burt about the success of taking destitute children
via Liverpool to Canada where they were needed for employment as servants.
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| John T Middlemore and some of the young immigrants |
Miss Spottiswoode was
particularly eager to give some of the children from the Union Workhouse this
opportunity. She believed, ”that if all
unions adopted the means at their disposal for promoting the emigration of
children, it would do much to stamp out pauperism in the country.” She had been told by John T Middlemore of his
receiving home in Ontario where he had begun to send children from his
Children’s Emigration Homes in Birmingham.
He undertook to arrange transport of children from poor Law Unions in
Guildford, Bermondsey and Wolverhampton via Liverpool.
Despite opposition from other
members of the Board, based on the young age of the emigrants, the advantage of
separating the children from mixing with the children of casual paupers, outweighed
the arguments. The nine orphans, aged 3
to 9 years were summoned into the Boardroom where they were asked whether they
were willing to go to Canada. The six
eldest children, including Walter Shires, Alfred Curtis and John and Annie Walker,
agreed, but it was decided by the Board that the youngest three should remain
in Guildford.
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| Guthrie Home |
Just over a week later the
children set sail on “The Lake Winnipeg” en route for the Guthrie Home in
London, Ontario. From there, 12 year old
Walter was sent to live with J D Crane, a farmer in Chatsworth, Ontario. Each child was subject to one inspection to
check that his new home was suitable.
Walter Shires was reported to be both honest and untruthful, stubborn,
sulky and a source of trouble. He was,
however, “showing signs of slight improvement,” in his behaviour, although suffering
from scalp disease.
In later years Walter married and
had 2 children, before his death in 1937. He was one of over 5000 children taken to
Canada by the Middlemore Homes but there were many more children who were
expatriated by Barnardos, the Children’s Friend society and other organisations
adding up to approximately 100 000 emigrants.
It seems fitting to conclude with
a quotation from the journalist of Guildford Jottings in the Surrey Mirror in
1885,
“Although one feels almost guilty of expatriating the poor little ones
by deciding to send them from our shores, it does not follow that it is not in
reality, the very kindest thing it is possible to do for them. They are at a premium in Canada, they are a
discount here. It’s just as well to get
a premium on one’s wares where possible.”
Sources
Surrey Mirror May 1885 via www.findmypast.co.uk
http://www.thisisourtownguildford.co.uk/guildford-workhouse-the-spike-st-lukes-hospital/
www.Ancestry.co.ukYou can read more about children sent from Guildford to Canada here
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