The Little Immigrants: the Orphans who came to Canada by Kenneth Bagnell (review)

REVIEWS 89 Themost annoying featureofthebookisitsconfusing juxtaposition ofpast andmorerecentpast.Forexample, in x8•6 ThomasMacKay wasrowedtoa pointJusteastof the Prime Minister'sresidence' (56). In x83• therewasa cholera shed 'neartheRoyal Canadian Mint'(84).Thestrongest featureofthe bookisitssense of humour.Samuelde Champlain isidentified'asthefirst Canadian graduate ofalanguage immersion course' (5).Andthenthere's the lumberbaron,'familiarlyknownasj.g.' (x3•). The tourof Ottawa's seweris welltold (x54). Theseand otherredeeming featuresof the storyteller are well-appreciated. Thisbookisimpervious tothesocial andeconomic issues that havebeenpursued by historians for thepastfifteenyears. Butthesaddest realization: beinganon-academic isnoguarantee of readability. •.LWOOr) H.JONES TrentUniversity TheLittleImmigrants: theOrphans whocameto Canada.KENNETH BAGNELL. Toronto,Macmillan, •98o.Pp.•56, illus.$•6.95. Long-distance migrationisof centralimportance bothto thesocieties which gainor losebythemovement of population andtotheindividuals involved. Althoughrecentstudies suggest that the decision to movewasfrequently tentativeand the process reversible,nevertheless, for millionsthe passage across theAtlanticin thecenturybeforeWorldWar • wasa finalone.Bytheir coming theybuiltnewcommunities andneweconomies aswellasnewlives. In thepasttenyearsCanadianhistorians havelearntagooddealmoreaboutthe timingof the peaksand troughsof populationmovement and the general impactof imperial and domesticgovernmentpolicies,economiccycles, manpower requirements, andentrepreneurial interests inshaping thegreat waveof immigrationin the late nineteenthand earlytwentiethcenturies. Aboutthe experience of beingan immigrant,however, we knowrelatively little.It isironicthata minorandhithertolargelyforgottenelementof that exercise in nation-building - the wholesale importationof childrenfrom Britain- should havereceived such attention inthelastcouple ofyears. Atleast fivepublications, includingtwoscholarly monographs (tosaynothingof c•c features),have restoredthe epithets'Barnardoboy'and 'Home child' to something of their earlier currency. In thefivedecades between Confederation andthemid•9•osapproximately 8o,ooo BritishboysandgirlsweresenttoCanada undertheauspices of a varietyof philanthropicorganizations. The initiativefor thesevariousresettlement schemes was entirelyBritish.Bythe•87osthesalvaging ofchildren hadbecome abigbusiness. Mostenergetic werenon-denominational Evangelicalchild rescuemissions,the creation of dedicatedworkers of whom Thomas JohnBarnardo was butthemost flamboyant andenterprising. Theexperience of moral rescuework in London'sEastEnd madeorganizedemigration 90 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW increasingly attractive asasolution tothecrisis of destitution anddependency among Britain's labouring poor.Itsappeal wasbothideological andpractical. The promise of abetterfutureseemed mostplausible in thecase ofchildren. More immediately,the needto makespacefor the hordesof uncaredfor childrenrequiredthattherebeabackexitif thefrontdoorwastobealways open.Basically twosorts of youngsters wereinvolved: inmates of workhouse andindustrial schools whothroughloss of parents or familybreakdown were dependent on publicsupport;andtheneglected StreetArabsof theurban slums. They cameto Canadaat all ages.Some- the veryyoungandmost fortunate - wereadopted; themajority worked,asfarmlabourers anddomestichelpers , in rural Canadian households for thedurationof theirindenture andthensomehow madetheirwayintoCanadiansociety. At thetimeneither theirpastnortheirfuturewasof muchinterest toanyone butthemselves. Now,in TheLittleImmigrants, KennethBagnell hassetouttotelltheirstory, dedicating hisbookto 'the men andwomenwhowereoncethe children.' Intriguedasaboybythemystery surrounding people whosimply came 'from away,'Bagnelltalkedto andcorresponded withseveral hundredCanadians whose memories andlife experiences providetheemotional framework for whatcanbest bedescribed asahighlyreadable melodrama. Thecharacters are memorable and the plotlinecompelling: the BritishEvangelists andtheir mission work;theirCanadian supporters andcritics; thechildren, withtheir courage andprivateambitions; thecrises of confidence whichdottedthefifty years ofchildemigration; thecollusion ofinterests whichsustained, ifitdidnot encourage, theexploitation of vulnerable adolescents. However,toooftenthe point issmothered bytheartifice offiction. Thesetpieces, theinterior dialogue and verbatimconversations are especially disconcerting because Bagnellis obviously striving foradifferenteffect.Histextof•54 pages has fivefootnotes, allgratuitous givenwhatisnotdocumented, butwhich whencombined witha substantial bibliography (complete with a section on ArchivesCollections) suggest a work of original scholarship. Curiously,two recentdoctoral dissertations onthesubject whichhavesince beenpublished receive themost perfunctory acknowledgement. Bagnell's debtto GillianWagner's Barnardo (London, •979) appearsparticularlystrikingin his two chapterson the vicissitudes ofDr Barnardo's London career. OntheCanadian side, JoyParr's meticulous study,Labouring Children: British Immigrant Apprentices toCanada, x869-x9:•4 (London and Montreal •98o), skilfullyanalyses late Victorian attitudes towards childrenandthetreatment of these immigrant children in particular.There are echoes of thesethemesin TheLittleImmigrants but lacking thesubtlety andbalance of Parr's discussion. (A listof thesweeping generalizations couldstartwiththesubtitle: onlyone-third ofBritish emigrant childrenwereorphans.) Bagnell, ajournalist,hasaneyefor a goodstory.The trustof themenand womenwho contributedso much to this book has not beenmisplaced. REVIEWS 91 Unfortunately, for allitspoignancy, TheLittleImmigrants sensationalizes, and thusminimizes, a memorablesubject. svs,• •ovs•'os YorkUniversity A Darkened House:Cholera in Nineteenth-Century Canada.GEOFFREY BILSON. Toronto,University of TorontoPress,•98o. Pp. •,22.$•5.oo cloth,$5.95 paper. ADarkened House isanimportantcontribution toCanadian social history. In the shortcompass of some twohundredpages GeoffreyBilson charts thespread of cholerathroughoutBritishNorth America,describes theattemptstocombat itsincidence, andassesses some ofitsimpacts onpolitics, medicine, andsociety. Cholera originated andwas endemic inBengal formanyyears, butby•83• it had reachedthe BritishIsles.With emigrationabroadon the rise,it was inevitable thatcholerashouldreachNorth America.It did soin •83•,, and remainedin the public'sattentionuntil after Confederation. Between•83•, and •87•, the focusof thisstudy,cholerakilledat least•,o,ooo people.As Bilsonclearlyrelates,Canadians wereill-preparedfor itsarrival.Its causes were misunderstood. Towns lacked laws,funds, and health facilities to arrest itscourse. Solutions werenotimmediately...