BRITISH HOME CHILDREN IN CANADA
  • Home Page
  • This site is maintained by Home Children Canada
  • Home Children Canada website
  • The Sending Organizations
    • Barnardo's >
      • Dr. Thomas Barnardo >
        • Dr. Barnardo bio
        • Articles of Association Barnardo
        • DR. Barnardo's Funeral
        • Barnardo's medical credentials
        • Various articles
        • Home for the Homeless 1888
        • Broughall Legacy Letters
        • THE DOCTOR'S CHILDREN 1995
        • The Barnardo Publications >
          • The History of the Publication
          • Our Darlings - Barnardo's >
            • Barnardo's "Our Darlings"
            • Winter in Canada
            • Coloured Plates
            • Monotints
            • Articles of interest
          • Barnardo's "Night and Day"
          • Barnardo Boy's Mag
          • Taken out of the Gutter
      • Barnardo Homes in Britain >
        • Promotional material
        • Boys Garden Village - Barnardo
        • Babies Castle - Barnardo's
        • Watts Naval Training School
        • William Baker School - Barnardo
        • Barkingside
        • Stepney Causeway
        • St. Christopher's Babies Home
        • Teighmore, Channel Islands
        • Other British Homes
        • Vintage post cards
      • Barnardo shipping lists
      • Immigration Parties
      • Russell Manitoba - Barnardo's
      • Toronto Barnardo Homes
      • Hazelbrae Barnardo Home
      • Winnipeg Receiving Home
      • Barnardo's Musical Boys
      • E A Struthers Day Book 1905
      • Crime or Misdemeanors list
      • Promotional post cards
      • Toronto Maternity Home
      • Indenture Contracts
      • Various Barnardo Doc's
      • Barnardo Government Reports
      • Alfred B Owen
      • Excursion's to England
      • Good Conduct Medals
    • Application Fees for children
    • Agreements and indentures
    • Hotel Dieu, Kingston, Ontario
    • Catholic Emigration - 10,000 emigrated >
      • Catholic Emigration Records
      • St. Georges Home - Ottawa
      • Monsignor James Nugent
      • Father Hudson
      • Father Seddon
      • St. Vincent Rescue Home
    • Annie Macpherson - 8,000 emigrated
    • Ellen Bilbrough and Robert Wallace
    • William Quarrier- Brockville Ont 7,200 immigrated
    • Quarriers - Scotland
    • Louisa Birt - 6,000 emigrated >
      • Louisa Birt files (some)
    • John T Middlemore - 5,000 emigrated >
      • Middlemore Placement Lists
      • Guthrie House, London, Ont
      • Fairview Nova Scotia
      • Middlemore Letters
      • Who was John Middlemore
    • Maria Rye - 4,200 emigrated >
      • Maria Rye-Niagara on the Lake
      • Maria Rye Children's Letters
      • Inspections of Rye Children
    • National Children's Home 3,600 emigrated
    • Janet Wallis - Hurst Home
    • Fegan's >
      • Fegan's Home in England
    • Mr. Gold, Melbourne, Quebec
    • Shaftsbury Homes
    • various British organizations
    • Selling Insurance to BHC
    • Visitor Reports
    • John Joseph Kelso
    • 1911 Census of Canada
    • Elinor Close-New Brunswick
    • Vimy Ridge Training Farm
    • Fairbrige Farm Vancouver
    • Inspection of children 1893 to 1894
    • Emma Stirling of Hillfoot Farm >
      • Hillfoot Farm - Emma Stirling
      • The du Pont Inscription
      • Grace M Fagan - A Stirling Girl
      • Florida Humane Association
      • Emma & Bailey’s Bluff
      • The Wm Bingham Estate
    • Bristol Emigration Society
    • Grosse Isle
    • MRS. MARGARET BLAIKIE'S
    • Dakeyne Boy's Farm
    • Salford Catholic Protection Society
    • Ellen Smyly
    • St. Patrick's Home in Ottawa
    • Stanley Boys Home
    • W. J. Paddy
    • Charlotte Alexander
    • Chase Farm School
    • Bristol Union Children 1905
    • Manchester & Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges
    • Church of England, Waifs & Strays 4,468
    • Miss Brennans Home - Montreal
    • House of Providence, Kingston Ontario
    • The Salvation Army
    • G.C. Cossar
    • Mr T. E. Sedgwick
    • Overseas Settlement Committee
    • The Children's Friends Society
    • Church Army
  • Requesting Children's Records
    • BHC's records
    • Barnardo Home Records
    • The Children's Society Records
  • Beacons of Light BHC Tribute
  • BHC Registry, over 82,000 children registered!
  • Ups and Down's Magazine
    • Ups and Downs 1895 - 1896
    • Ups and Down 1897 - 1898
    • Ups and Downs 1899 - 1900
    • Ups and Downs 1901 - 1902
    • Ups and Downs 1903
    • Ups and Downs 1904
    • Ups and Downs 1905
    • Ups and Downs 1906
    • Ups and Downs 1907 June
    • May 1910, 1913 & May & Aug 1912
    • Dec 1915 Ups and Downs
    • July 1939, Dec 1940, Dec 1942, Dec 1946
    • Our Old Friends Directory
    • December 1945 Ups and Downs
    • some articles
    • Names of child in the Ups and Downs
    • Pictures of Children 1903
    • Alfred Jolly
  • How to Research Your BHC
  • BHC Fact Page
  • First World War Casualty Index
  • BHC Burial Index
  • The Park Lawn Cemetery Monument
  • Children's Trunks & Bibles
  • Receiving Homes in Pictures
  • Ships the BHC Came On
  • History of the BHC - Film
  • 2016 BHC Memory Quilt
  • The 2010 Memory Quilts
    • BHC Memory Quilt (Ont)
    • BHC Memorial Quilt (Ab)
  • Service in the Wars
    • First World War Causalities
    • Second World War Service
    • Served in Both Wars
    • Lives Shortened
    • First World War service
    • Lists of boys who served
    • Individual Service Stories >
      • Private William Francis Conabree
      • John Mash
      • Sydney James Bevan
      • Alfred Mist
      • Cecil Bennett
      • Links to stories of BHC WW1 service
      • Newspaper clips - BHC service
  • BHCARA Upcoming Events
  • British Home Child Books
    • BHC Books for Children
    • Historical Books
    • True stories of BHC
    • Fiction Stories
    • Vintage Books
    • Downloadable Books
    • Kenneth Bagnell
    • Perry Snow - Neither Waif nor Stray
    • The Bitter Cry of Outcast London
    • Farm Life in Canada
    • PDF's for downloading
    • Films
    • BHC Articles >
      • Silence
      • Better Life or the Empire Fodder
      • EMIGRATION WORK IN CANADA 1905
      • THE EMIGRANT GIRLS HOME IN CANADA 1877
      • Kennington Cove
      • The Barnardo Boy
      • BHC to Nova Scotia
      • Personal Discovery 1935
      • The Land of the Lost Children
      • Rye's Western Home
      • Church Apologies to Child Migrants
      • Life in the Workhouse
      • Woman Miners
      • Victorian Child Labourers
      • Evicted London
      • Historical News Articles
      • Articles in the British Press
  • The Hazelbrae Memorial
  • Stories of British Home Children
    • Collection of various stories >
      • Reunited Families
      • Other mentions of children
      • Gone too soon
      • BHC Obituaries
      • BHC Mug Shots
      • Our Lost Children
      • 1901 census
      • First World War deaths
      • The darker stories
      • Discontented Maids
      • Lost Children
      • Quotes from BHC
      • Links to other BHC stories
      • BHC Posters
      • British Home Children Burial Records
      • Shorter BHC Stories
    • Stories A to M >
      • The Bagley Family
      • John Bolton
      • James Arthur Ball
      • The Bates Family
      • Hilda Blake
      • Charles Bradbury
      • Joseph Barnett
      • The Lost Children
      • Augustus Bridle
      • Percy Brown
      • Rev A. H. Brace
      • John & Benjamin Butterworth
      • The Brocklebank Family
      • William Joseph Carter
      • John Cawsey
      • Two Gun Cohen
      • Fifi the Clown
      • Henry Richard Cooper
      • Violet Elizabeth Chaffee
      • Edith Cherryholme
      • BHC Centenarians
      • Arthur Clarkson & Lily Wood
      • Albert McCarthy
      • Ronald Chamberlain
      • Anthony (Tony) Chambers
      • Cherryholme-Gizzard-Sharpe Family
      • Herbert Clifford
      • James E Cowell
      • George Daintree
      • George Martin Day
      • Esther & Elizabeth Dawson
      • Leslie Henry Baden Fielding
      • Charlie, Ted and Bill Elliott
      • Wallace Ford
      • George Frost
      • Gladys Fudge
      • Annie Garwood Letters
      • John Lydiet George
      • Annie Gevaux
      • Albert Edward Gill
      • Arthur Mcgregor GODSALL
      • Harry Gossage
      • George Everett Green
      • Robert "Robbie" Gray
      • Elsie Hathaway
      • Books and mentioned children
      • Stewart Harris
      • Cyril Hewitt
      • Margaret Healey
      • George Hollingshurst
      • The St. George's Memorial
      • Walter Leigh Lockett/Rayfield
      • Sydney Howarth
      • Bill Holtum
      • Tom Isherwood
      • General information - Heritage
      • Edward Jones
      • Cecelia & Ethel JOWETT
      • Frederick John Kempster
      • George Marlow Leeson
      • George & Annie McMaster
      • Edgar Evan Marselle
      • Will, Elsie & George Maybury
      • The Mintram Family
    • Stories N to Z >
      • Herbert Owens
      • Fred W. Palmer
      • Lizzie Poole
      • Liela Eliza Preston
      • Nellie Page
      • Francis James Preston
      • Edmond Roberts
      • Dr. John R. Seeley
      • Frederick Robert Shaw
      • Ellen, Martha & Rachel Birch
      • Walter Tompkins
      • Gipsy Simon Smith
      • Robert Rankin and George Nelson
      • Kate, Sarah & Jamie Stewart
      • The Stacey Family
      • The Richardson Sisters
      • Albert Stone
      • The Lois Stanford Collection
      • The Taylor's and Usher's
      • Charlie & Matthew Tyler
      • John Vallance
      • Arnold Walsh
      • The Ward and Seymour Family
      • Joe & Bob Waterer
      • Richard Weston
      • Hilda Williams
      • Walter Wilson
      • Children's Placement Lists
  • Documented Immigration Process
  • Making the Canadian Flag
  • Apologies to BHC & Families
    • Australian Apology
    • British Apology
    • Canadian Apology
  • Political Bigotry
    • Apology Petitions - Canada, Britain and Australia
    • Frederick Nicholls
    • Dr. C. K. Clarke
    • House of Commons Reports >
      • Paying Agents in England
      • Traveling Immigration Agent Reports
      • Immigration Stats
      • Bonus's Paid for Children
      • Propaganda in the press
      • MISS EFFIE BENTHAM
      • Diseased Savages Quote
      • Child Saving Conference 1894
    • John D. S. Campbell
    • Canadian recognition >
      • The Canadian Goverment
    • Britain's will never be slaves
  • Migration Legislation
    • Pauper Children Emigration Bill
    • British Legislation
    • Canadian Legislation
  • The Doyle Report 1875
  • Home Child Interviews
  • Collection/Penny Boxes
  • LAC and Heritage Canada
    • Deported Children >
      • Report of inspection of Home children
      • Inspection reports of Workhouse Children >
        • costs of Inspection Reports
  • Order your official BHC Pin
  • Lori Oschefski
  • Contact us
  • GRIMES, Arthur
  • HCC War Service Index Submission Form
  • Hazelbrae Indexing Forms
Picture

Smyly Orphan Homes of Dublin, Ireland
Ellen Smyly


Ellen Smyle was a wealthy Protestant activist in Dublin, Ireland who founded homes in Ireland. In her notes, she says that she gave priority to the admission of Catholic and interfaith children. Her biggest foe in Ireland was a Catholic woman by the name of Margaret Aylward. Ellen Smyly believed that the sinful nature of the poor contributed to their poverty and that their salvation would come through religious involvement. Margaret Aylward, on the other hand, believed the opposite, that sin was the result of poverty. Most organizations would limit themselves to helping  those within their own denomination, but both Smyle and Aylward openly confronted conversion thus waging a very public battle. 

Ellen Smyly opened her first Bible School in Dublin in 1850 and by 1870 had established six schools and residential homes for poor and destitute children. By 1883 the number of children said to have been cared for in her homes and schools was 1,578.  By the 1870 Ellen was sending children to Canada through the Marchmount Homes. In 1905 they began sending children to The Coombe in Hespeler, Ontario. The Coombe was a home which was built in 1858.

Ellen Smyly had began her work at the age of nineteen and in 1844 married a medical doctor. They


Picture
would have eleven children, many who would help her in her homes and schools. Ellen Smyle died at the age of 86 in 1901. Her daughters Annie and Ellen would take over management of the homes. In Canada they would set up receiving homes. Placement of a child required filing an application, for which $3 was charged.


​
​​Historical documents on Smyly can be found:​
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c10258/1483?r=0&s=4

​
http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/CanadaSmyly

Paul Langdon's book: http://fliphtml5.com/xbry/hoai/basic
Picture
From the Grace Schmidt Room P000530 WHS - Courtesy of Kitchener Public Library

Picture

full_article_receiving_home_purchased_1905.jpg
File Size: 1612 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

Picture
postition_of_the_home.jpg
File Size: 59 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

Picture
Picture
1905 Contract Smyly
File Size: 995 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

contract_smyly_2.jpg
File Size: 105 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

Picture
smyly_terms_of_placement_1905.jpg
File Size: 2199 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

Picture

Application for c1914 showing Smyly was also charging a $3 application Fee. Barnardo's also charged this along with other various organizations. 

Picture

1905 information booklet

​http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c10258/1500?r=0&s=4
hespler_booklet_smyly_1905.pdf
File Size: 3215 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Picture
1909 Arrival Party
1909_arrival_party.jpg
File Size: 74 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

Picture
Aug 1906 party of boys
August 1906 party of boys
File Size: 97 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

Picture
c1907 Smyly boys working at Hespler
c1907_boys_at_hespler_working.jpg
File Size: 54 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File


Picture

1914 children gathering at Hespeler 

Picture
Arrival 12/05/1906 TUNISIAN
James Abbott, George Baker, Thomas Burns, George Corbett, Abraham Dantreen, Ernest Dixon, Albert Duffy, John Forbes, Charles Gill, Bertha Holms, Elizabeth Keith, John Lowe, Joseph Shaw, Bertram K Sweeny, Robert WEst, Samuel Wheller, John Wilson
There are 17 children noted on the LAC Database for this group.
Picture

Picture

Tracking the history of an antique trunk to local Smyly Home
an article by Paul Langan

Picture
The Smyle Home Trunk owned by Paul Langan

 George McDowell trunk


Picture
boys_who_enlisted_1916.jpg
File Size: 1144 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

​[left column]  - Transcribed by Dawn Sheppard

Robert West
Abraham Vantreen [Vautreen]
William Hunt (wounded)
James Guilfoyle
John Burns [Binns]
Arthur O’Connor
David Black
James Burke
William Millen
Thomas Carway
Harry Elston
Neville Oldfield
Joe Snodgrass
Albert Graves
Fred Johnson
Charlie Webb
Alexander Walters
Arthur Hodgins
James Beattie 806708
John Sims
Pat Bradney
Monsell [Mansell] Autisell [Antisell]
Evans Autisell [Antisell]
Sam Kenderick
James Clemens
Sam McEnnery
​[right column]
Cecil Duffy
Percy White (wounded)
William Clarke 633317
James Shipp
Joseph Smiler
Willie Gill
Charlie Gill
A McNabb
John Shanks
Tom Wafer
George Baker
Dick Williams (killed at Festinbirt) [not familiar with that place name, so may be incorrect]
Some also came before we had Hespeler
Tom Lambert
Bobbie Low
Tom Newton
Walter Shipp
None of these names on our lists C.L.F.
Coombe Home
Hespeler
Noted C.L.F.
Miss Fortier
[?] VBN 383725

Smyly Homes
15 Rockhill
Blackrock
Co. Dublin
Ireland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Smyly 


The following article was taken from the K-W Record Thursday October 12, 2000

by Mirko Petricevic
Record Staff

Peering north acrost the Speed River and into the past, Paul Langan can see
a monstrous stone building that was a refuge and a house of horrors.

The giant home is in plain view, but its history i hidden by the passage of
time.

So Langan has written a book to tell Cambridge residents the story of Jacob
Hespler' mansion on the west side of Guelph Ave at Fisher Mills Road.

Betewwen 1905 and 1947 the maze of rooms inside the mome, dubbed the Combe
Orphanage, housed children from Ireland, England and Ontario.

Before the First World War, about 40 boys and girls in orphanages in
Ireland were brought to Hespeler each year.

They were among more than 125 000 children known as Home boys and girls
shirpped to Canada by numerous socail agencies in the British Isles

After arriving in Canada, many were placed on local farm where the boys
sweated in fields and girls served as house maids.

"A lot of people in Hespler don't even know about the Coombe" Langan said.
"It was a piece of history I felt wasn't captured."

So Langan has written a 30-page book which includes 24 black and whilt photos.

Langan interviewed about half a dozen men and women who lived at the Coombe
during some of the last years it was open

Calling himself a "hobby historian" Langan wanted to record their stories
before all the survivors died. "once they're gone, it's all lost" he said.

Some of the people Langan interviewed recalled happy times at the orphanage.

"'I felt myself fortunate, lucky even, to have lived at the Coombe'"
Langan recited from the book. "'I never went hungry, had a bed to sleep on
and was not treated badly'"

Others were not so lucky.

Some former residents remember a house administrator who hurled abuse at
the children.

"(He) used to beat us," one resident told Langan, "I know this sounds
strange, but we could smell him coming down the hall. We couldn't hide. He
was coming to beat the kids and there was no reason for it."

The testimonials took such an emotional toll on Langan he had to stop
working on the project for a couple of months.

"It was too hard hitting," he said.

But his book doesn't dwell on the horrible experiences some of the children
experienced, Langan said.

"I did it more as a historical document as oppossed to a social statement
of the time," he said.

The Cooombe Orphanange colded in 1947 and has been transformed into nine
apartments.

Several years ago, Langan wrote The Tragedy in Galt about at train crash
that killed two people in 1956.

Along with Hidden Secret: The Coombe Orphanage 1905-1947, Langan will also
be releasing a short history of the Preston Springs Hotel next month.

Langan said he hopes he can at least break even on the $7 000 publishing
projects, which he financed using credit cards.

The $10 books will be available at several independent book stores in
Cambridege starting Nov 2

For more information call Langan at (519) 654-0089 
Sources and links


Charitable Words: Women, Philanthropy, and the Language of Charity in Nineteenth-Century Dublin by Margaret H. Preston

Women, Philanthropy, and Civil Society

The Golden Bridge

http://www.smylytrust.ie/index.php?page=history 

http://www.catch21.ca/printArticle/348981 

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BRITISHHOMECHILDREN/2008-10/1224816268 

http://books.google.ca/books?id=jUqetmogGxEC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Ellen+Smyly&source=bl&ots=b03kda_cwG&sig=A358munVM3rljd_t2IcQG_3EtmY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nb8OUNHGJJOQ0QHixoCIAQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Ellen%20Smyly&f=false 

Web Site Hit Counter
Web Site Hit Counter

 ​© 2022 Home children canada
CONTACT US ​

info@BritishHomeCHILDREN.com
BHC Facebook Group
Subsribe to the BHC Newsletter
Picture