Starving Boys Taken From Parents in 1892 pt 2

Carcassian Passenger List - Mustin brothers

When 10 year old Ernest and 12 year old George Mustin set foot on board the ship Carcassian on June 16, 1892 they must have been frightened.  They sailed together with a group of children from the Middlemore Homes in Birmingham England. All they knew was they were being sent to Canada to work as farm hands in Ontario. 

13 days later they landed in Quebec City, Quebec and were immediately sent on to Stratford, Ontario, where they would be part of Ms. Macpherson's Home for Children. More strangers. More adults bustling them here and there without telling them where they were going. Would they be together? Would the authorities separate them? Those young lads were expected to comply, do as they were told, speak only if spoken to, and behave themselves.

On July 11th John Hackett applied to take George on as a farm hand on his farm. Ernest was taken in by a German family headed by John Geinhselder living in Milverton Ontario where he was to work as a farm hand.

Middlemore Homes had inspectors in Canada who visited the homes where the children were placed. Luckily Library and Archives Canada holds the Middlemore records and after sending for records for Ern and George we learn that young Ernest attended a wedding with his new family in March 1893. The inspector noted that Ernest was with a "nice family of Germans where he's well looked after." Young Ern was attending school and church regularly.

His brother George was not doing as well. His first report in June 1893 stated that George was not a strong boy, so not much help with the chores, but was "able to do a bit." George wasn't happy and it seems the hired hand bullied him. He was told he should be grateful he had a home and that he must do better. In the winter of that year, the head of the house had an accident and George was kept out of school in order to help out. George's last report in 1898 shows he had managed to grow stronger and adapt to his new life.

April 1898 was the last time Ernest, who was then 16 years old, had an inspection. That report read "April 1898. Ernest very small and weak for his age and can’t do a great deal. Goes to Church and Sunday School and has a good home where they take —— [???]"

His time with Middlemore was done. He left the family and moved to Perth County where by 1901 he was found working as a servant for the Rogers family. Ernest's story has a happy ending, for in 1904 he married Alice Bell, a beautiful young woman 6 years his senior. The couple had 4 children during their 44 year marriage. His brother George never married but remained close to Ernest all their lives. It is not known if they ever had contact with their parents after being removed from the home, but it's doubtful. Ernest did not know his mother's name for when he married her name was left blank. What I find distressing is that his parents went on to have another son the year after the two brothers were removed from the home. I have not yet found out what happened to that child. I do know the father Thomas died in 1925 as an inmate of the local poorhouse, his mother Ellen having died the same year Ern married.

This was a family rife with tragedies for my research found that Thomas Mustin's father was killed by his daughter's lover in 1904, and his grandmother Hannah Mustin was raped and beaten in her village when she was 89 years old. Perhaps tragedies follow families? I have no answer to that question.

Be sure to read Part 1 of Starving Boys Taken From Parents in 1892.

Starving Boys Taken From Parents in 1892

February 1892 England. 11 year old Ern and his 12 year old brother George didn't realize when they went to school that cold day that their lives would change forever. Each wore thin pants, a thin jacket and worn boots. Their emaciated bodies were filthy and covered in lice. Both boys attended Staniforth Street (Boys Free Order) Board School for children who were too poor and dirty for ordinary board schools.

But luckily for the starving boys, the school had contacted the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. An inspector came to the school to see the children. Horrified at their condition he visited the parents in their home a week later.

The family were destitute and the brothers' mother stated that five of their children had died, two very recently, being 2 and 4 year old daughters. She seemed pleased with the insurance money she received on their deaths.

The parents, Thomas and Ellen Mustin, were charged with neglect and were summoned to court in June of that year. A doctor examined the boys, stating they were filthy and covered in vermin, as well as suffering from malnutrition. Ern was the worst off, with his thin legs being the same circumference at his thighs as his ankles.

Witnesses who knew the children were called and gave their statements that the brothers had been neglected and in that filthy condition for many years. The court found Thomas and Ellen guilty of severe neglect causing harm to their children and sentenced them both to two months of hard labour. Ern and George were sent to Middlemore Homes for Children at the request of Dr. Middlemore himself. The other children in the household were ordered sent to the Workhouse.

In 1892 the family consisted of Rose 18, Florence 17, and Henry 13 as well as Ern and George. A few months after being admitted to Middlemore Homes in Birmingham, Ern and George were on their way to Canada as part of the Home Children Emigration Scheme.

This scheme sent thousands of impoverished street children and orphans to Australia and Canada as farm labourers and servants to citizens of those two countries. Some children were terribly abused by their new "owners" while others had a happier experience. The boys worked very hard on farms, while the girls were put to work as household servants. I will share Ern and George's experiences as Home Children in subsequent blog posts.