Legislation which governed the migration of children from England


Prevention of Cruelty of Children Act 1889

Section 5 provided for the committal of a child into the care of a fit person or relative where his parent had been committed for trial or convicted of one of specified offences, or bound over to keep the peace. Whilst the order was in force the fit person had the powers of a parent over the child: these would have extended to emigration. No approval had to be sought by either the parents of the child or the Secretary of the State.  This act also, did not clarify "fit" person.   This act allowed for a steady of stream of children to the organizations such as Barnardo's who greatly exercised his right to emigration of the children. Children's consent to emigration was not settled until the 1933 Children's and Young Person's Act. 

The Act was repealed by the 1894 Act (below) which only then mandated that the Secretary of the States permission must be sought when considering emigration of a child. The 1894 act also put the age that children would remain in the custody of the Guardians to 16 for both boys and girls. 



The Poor Law Act 1889

The important clause here reads"1.- (1.) - Where a child is maintained by the guardians of any union and was deserted by its parent, the guardians may at any time resolve that such child shall be under the control of the guardians until it reaches the age, if a boy, of sixteen, and if a girl of eighteen years, and thereupon until the child reaches that age all the powers and rights of such parent in respect of that child shall, subject as in this Act mentioned, vest in the guardians"

This is the clause allowed local authorities to assume parental rights and duties in respect to the children in their care. The did not have to apply to the courts when they wanted to do this, they just did. This law held until the 1989 Children Act. This law also did not relieve the parents the responsibility of contributing towards their child's maintenance even if taken. This law gave the guardians the right to make arrangement's to emigrate children without interference from their parents.    (reference Roy Parker - Uprooted page 258)

News paper reports of the cases against Dr. Barnardo

The Law times reports: containing all the cases argued and ..., Volume 62 

The case of Harry Gossage



The Catholic Weekly Review Toronto Canada - 1890



The Custody of Children Act 1891
dubbed "The Barnardo Relief Bill"

In large, because of the cases against Dr. Barnardo (Harry Gossage and Mary Ann Tyne) in which their parents had applied for writes of Habias Corpus, the Custody of Children Act was mandated.  The purpose of this law was to limit the right of parents to apply to the courts for an order to produce the child by an organization in whose care they had been placed. It gave the  courts the power to refuse to grant an order made by a parent if they deemed the parent unfit or if the deemed the parent to have abandoned or deserted their child (which had a very broad definition in these years). Also, if they did grant the order then the parent could be made to repay the organization who had custody of the child part or all of the costs involved in caring for these children.  Also, the parent did not have to be cruel or physically neglectful in order to be deemed unfit. This left the parents in the position of having to prove their fitness against claims against them by organizations such as Barnardo's. (source: Uprooted by Roy Parker.





Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act 1891 (54 and 55 Victoria Ch 23) 

By Section 1, the managers of a certified reformatory or industrial school were enabled, with the consent of a youthful offender or child detained or out on licence, to apprentice him or to dispose of him into trade or by emigration, such apprenticing or disposition to be as valid as if the managers were his parents. Any emigration required the consent of the Secretary of State as well as of the child.  

I am still searching for a copy of this act. 


Picture
The Huddersfield Daily Chronicle October 17 1893




Emigration Statutes and General Handbook 1892

A booklet written to supply intending emigrants useful and trustworthy information. In the back of this booklet there is a list of the British Emigration Societies. This clause is included in this handbook.


1895 Report in the House of Commons
Mr. Owen's of Barnardo's denies their children are "street arabs" but rather are rescued from honest parents, who have "succumbed in the struggle of life"

1897 Juvenile Immigration Act of Canada

Publicity surrounding the inquest and the trial of George Everett Green  influenced both federal and provincial policy on child immigration. The labour movement became involved not only because it was interested in the well-being of the young labourers but also because it was concerned about their effect, as part of an increasing stream of immigration, on Canadian wage rates. In 1897, responding to labour’s requests, the new Liberal government of Wilfrid Laurier* appointed a representative of the labour movement, Alfred F. Jury*, as Canadian immigration agent at Liverpool, with special responsibility to scrutinize the actions of the British child emigration homes. In Ontario, John Joseph Kelso*, the provincial superintendent of neglected and dependent children, and his supporters in the child-saving movement argued that no youngsters should be as casually placed as Green had been. Their pressure for reform led in 1897 to passage of the Juvenile Immigration Act, which required more careful record-keeping and screening of child immigrants and annual inspections of them in their Canadian situations. This act was subsequently replicated in Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, the other provinces in which substantial numbers of British children were placed.  (From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online) 

William Quarrier's organization was praised by the Ontario authorities, however he regarded this law as a personal insult and unwarranted interference in the good work being done which the province did not support financially. He refused to send any more children to Canada and it was only after his death that his family began sending children there again. (from the book Adventurers & Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus)

Dr. Barnardo's response to this new law
please not these are not the full artilces but rather excerpts which talk about the legislation
please contact me if you want the full report with the date of issue it appears 





Annual report of the Superintendent of Immigration 1903



Blog entry by Lori Oschefski
Damned if you do and Damned if you don’t – The Child Care Legislation

Sources

The 1911 Classic Encyclopedia 
Tom, Jim & Harry.....and the Law
Legislation.gov.uk 

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1899/jun/29/poor-law-acts-amendment-bill-lords#column_952 

Cases against Dr. Barnardo

John James Roddy

http://books.google.ca/books?id=zkwyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA80&dq=Dr.+Barnardo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DLjrT9GiMsaY6AH-7fTLBQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Barnardo&f=false

 http://books.google.ca/books?id=zkwyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA80&dq=Dr.+Barnardo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DLjrT9GiMsaY6AH-7fTLBQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Barnardo&f=false

http://books.google.ca/books?id=zkwyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA80&dq=Dr.+Barnardo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DLjrT9GiMsaY6AH-7fTLBQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Barnardo&f=false

http://books.google.ca/books?id=SyEyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA349&dq=Dr.+Barnardo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DLjrT9GiMsaY6AH-7fTLBQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Barnardo&f=false

http://books.google.ca/books?id=9Tw4AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA609&dq=Dr.+Barnardo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CLzrT-vNELGe6QHriNXWBQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwATgU#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Barnardo&f=false 

http://books.google.ca/books?id=5MkhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1330&dq=Dr.+Barnardo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CLzrT-vNELGe6QHriNXWBQ&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBTgU#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Barnardo&f=false