Lost Children of the Empire - Softcover

Melville, Joy; Bean, Philip

3.4

10 ratings by Goodreads

9780044406433: Lost Children of the Empire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0044406436 ISBN 13: 9780044406433

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1990

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Originally published in 1989. The extraordinary story of Britain’s child migrants is one of 350 years of shaming exploitation. Around 130,000 children, some just 3 or 4 years old, were shipped off to distant parts of the Empire, the last as recently as 1967.

For Britain it was a cheap way of emptying children’s homes and populating the colonies with ‘good British stock’; for the colonies it was a source of cheap labour. Even after the Second World War around 10,000 children were transported to Australia – where many were subjected to at best uncaring abandonment, and at worst a regime of appalling cruelty.

Lost Children of the Empire tells the remarkable story of the Child Migrants Trust, set up in 1987, to trace families and to help those involved to come to terms with what has happened. But nothing can explain away the connivance and irresponsibility of the governments and organisations involved in this inhuman chapter of British history.

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Synopsis:

This is the story of an inhuman chapter in Britain's history. Between 1860 and 1930 some 130,000 children were shipped off to parts of the British Empire and forgotten. It was a cheap way of emptying homes and populating the colonies. Many were subjected to cruelty, with names changed, records withheld and brought up to believe that they were orphans. But the shocking part of the story is that it did not end in the 1930s. After World War II, some 10,000 children were transported to Australia with the last batch going as late as 1967. The book looks at the remarkable story of the Child Migrants Trust set up in 1987 to trace relations and help both sides of the family come to terms with what happened.

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