Home Child data online

As anticipated Library and Archives Canada have now updated their website at Home Children, 1869-1932.

LAC describes the contents as:

This database includes names indexed from the following Canadian immigration records:

Passenger lists from 1869 to 1921 and 1925 to 1932 (RG76): These lists constitute the official record of immigration to Canada in those years and are arranged by date and port of arrival. They were consulted to find names of Home Children. The lists have been digitized and can be viewed online through our Passenger Lists 1865-1922 database. Form30A immigration records (1919 to 1924) were not systematically indexed, but other sources were consulted for the years 1922 to 1924.

The annual Sessional Papers for the Immigration Branch were sometimes used to help identify particular parties of children when the passenger lists did not provide precise details.

When passenger lists were not available or partially illegible, other Canadian immigration records were consulted to identify children or help decipher the names such as:

Department of Agriculture (RG17): Prior to 1892, the Immigration Branch was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. The General Correspondence Series includes some correspondence between the Immigration Branch and various sending organizations. These records are not available on microfilm or online.

Immigration Branch, Central Registry Files (RG76 B1a): These files include correspondence between the Immigration Branch and various sending organizations. Files may contain annual reports, information booklets and some lists of the names of children sent to Canada. Relevant files in that series cover the years 1892 to the early 1930s. Available on microfilm and online.

Immigration Form 30A (RG76 C1j): From 1919 to 1924, individual Form 30A records were used instead of passenger lists. Available on microfilm and online.

Juvenile Inspection Reports (RG76 C4c): These reports, which date mostly from the 1920s, recorded the inspection visits to individual children in the years after their arrival. Available on microfilm and online.

Manifest indexes (RG76 C2): Transcripts created by the former Immigration Branch in which the names on each passenger list were grouped alphabetically for that ship. They include fewer details than the corresponding passenger lists. These indexes are arranged by date of arrival, regardless of port. They cover the years 1906 to 1920. Available on microfilm and online.

Names of Home Children were also indexed from non-Canadian immigration records such as:

Outwards passenger lists: Passenger lists for ships leaving ports in the United Kingdom. These lists are in the Board of Trade series at the National Archives in England.

Records held by of other institutions: When a reference is provided to documents held by another institution, such as the Colonel Laurie's Papers at the Nova Scotia Archives, you must contact the specified office for information about those records.

U.S. passenger lists: Some groups of children arrived at American ports and are recorded on American passenger lists held at the U.S. National Archives.

This database also includes names indexed from other various archival records or published sources from the:

Canadian Department of Agriculture
Canadian Immigration Branch, Central Registry Files
Catholic Emigration Association, England
Charlotte A. Alexander, England
Chorlton Union, England
Barnarbo's Homes, England
Father Berry's Home, England
Father Hudson Society Archives, Coleshill, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Fegan Distributing Home, Toronto, Ontario
Gibb Home, Sherbrooke, Quebec
Girls' Friendly Society, England
Isle of Man
Leeds Board of Guardians, England
Middlemore Children's Emigration Homes, England
National Children's Home, Hamilton, Ontario
Nugent Care and other Catholic Liverpool Agencies, England
Soeurs de la Charité, Rimouski, Quebec
West Derby Union, children sent to Canada by Father Berry's Home, England
Westminster Catholic Diocese, London, England
This database also includes names of Home Children:

Sent by Maria Rye to Canada from 1869 to 1879
Enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and who died in the First World War.
In addition to the names of Home Children, some of the records that were indexed include the names of:

Some unaccompanied juvenile migrants who were not Home Children
Some older boys who were recruited for farm training schemes
Some older children and young adults who were recruited by immigration agents in the U.K. for farming and domestic work in Canada
Some Armenian orphans who arrived with Home Children groups
Some young adults who had been in care as children and travelled as chaperones for the organizations

There are links to additional information sources at:

British Home Children & Child Migrants in Canada: Research pages

British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa:  Home Children pages

It's good to see LAC giving credit to volunteers:

Library and Archives Canada gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa and its volunteers, without which this project would not have been possible. In particular, we would like to thank John Sayers, who coordinated the BIFHSGO volunteer indexing project and contributed in many ways to the database partnership with LAC.
Library and Archives Canada would like to thank the late Mr. Brian Rolfe, who donated the microfilm of the Dr. Barnardo's Homes Ups and Downs magazine and initiated that indexing project.
Library and Archives Canada would like to thank Gail Collins, who compiled the index to Maria Rye children who were sent to Canada between 1869 and 1879.
Library and Archives Canada would like to thank Lori Oschefski, Dawn Heuston, Jenn Layne, Marjorie Kohli and Perri Snow for their work on identifying Home Children who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces during the First World War and who died during the war.