The Examples

Sooner or later most of the child emigration ventures became organisations in the sense that their conduct was subject to a measure of control by a management committee, their finances were scrutinised and certain formal posts created. That said, however, their founders frequently continued to exercise considerable influence and tended only reluctantly to relinquish the reins of power. Nevertheless, there was a clear evolution from individual initiative to incorporated agency and thus to the continuation of the organisation after the retirement or death of the originator. However, there were some schemes that did not follow this course and which, until they disintegrated or were absorbed by established organisations, remained essentially ‘unorganised’; that is to say, they operated without any formal structure and hence without a superordinate authority to which, in the last resort, they were answerable. Maria Rye and Annie Macpherson fall into this category, as does the Catholic John Boyd; there were also others who worked independently of an administrative framework. Although having this in common their histories vary; yet each illustrates the pitfalls and dangers to which such individualistic enterprises exposed the children who were emigrated. Three lesser-known examples are considered here: Emma Stirling, W.J. Pady and, paradoxically, given its name, the Bristol Emigration Society (BES).

Emma Stirling Confronts the Law

Emma Stirling (1828-1907) was a Scottish spinster whose wealth enabled her to finance various schemes for child protection. In 1877 she established a day nursery in Edinburgh for the care of the children of working mothers. This was followed soon afterwards by a shelter for homeless children and then by a number of Homes. At first these establishments were simply called ‘Miss Stirling's Homes’, but following the appointment of a committee in 1884 the enterprise became known as the Edinburgh and Leith Children's Aid and Refuge Society, a body that, having merged with a similar Glasgow Society in 1885, is generally regarded as a forerunner of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. However, in 1887 Stirling resigned from the organisation and thereafter pursued her schemes independently.

In 1882 she visited Canada to explore the possibilities of child emigration. The account that she wrote, however, was extremely critical of what she had seen.