The Rise and Decline of British North American Protestant Orphans

Atlantis Vol. 7 No. 2
Spring/Printemps 1982
21-35
The Rise and
Decline of British
North American
Protestant
Orphans' Homes
as Woman's
Domain,
1850-1930
Patricia T. Rooke and R.L. Schnell
University of Calgary
T h e r e is power i n sympathy a n d kindness
and persevering a n d disinterested efforts
for the good o f others which has proved
effective i n cases of the most hopeless
nature. W e read o f m u c h that has been
accomplished b y female agency. L e t us
seek to imitate the examples set b y our
sisters i n other lands, a n d 'haste to the
rescue.'. . .
(Kingston YOYi.^ Annual Report, 1860)
Introduction
In 1927, D r . H e l e n Y . R . R e i d , an i n fluential spokesperson for M o n t r e a l social
w o r k , delivered an address
before the
C a n a d i a n Conference o f Social W o r k e r s . H e r
address described the growing divisions within
the ranks of social workers between those
w h o m she categorized o n the one h a n d as
traditionalists, obstructionists and sentimentalists, and, o n the other, as thinkers a n d experts. T h e first three labels were pejorative
descriptions of those female philanthropists
and volunteers who c l u n g to what R e i d regarded as anachronistic methods of providing
relief, and who i n her view obstructed progress
by responding immediately to heart rending
appeals with a c r y of, " F o r G o d ' s sake w h y
don't we do something?" Such female emotionalism, R e i d believed, was being replaced
by a more rational approach a n d the volunteers by a new scientifically minded w o m a n .
These women were the " e x p e r t s " and the
" t h i n k e r s , " that is, part of the emerging professional class of trained social workers who
were committed to economy and efficiency i n
charity organization. N o t unnaturally, given
the audience, the address received loud acclamation!
1
Nowhere is the above anecdote more appropriate than for the transformation of the
Protestant O r p h a n s ' H o m e s ( P O H s ) , institutions which represented one of the most remarkable nineteenth-century C a n a d i a n demonstrations of female philanthropic genius. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, at the
behest of protestant middle class women, orphans' homes were established i n most major
cities from St. J o h n ' s to V i c t o r i a . Founded by
what R e i d described as traditionalists, sentimentalists or even obstructionists, the P O H s
in the twentieth century became the objects of
criticism from the professionalizers. Initially
monuments to the philanthropic impulse, the
P O H s became arenas of tension between old
forms of institutional charity and new forms of
scientific child care.
2
T h e following analysis uses the correspondence, minutes and reports of various C a n a d i an P O H s to demonstrate (1) the importance of
these institutions as one of the first significant
manifestations of women's role in social
reform; and (2) the erosion of such women's
role as the P O H s declined in importance.
The Philanthropists
T h e care of dependent and neglected
children in British N o r t h A m e r i c a fell under
the colonial equivalents of the English poor
laws. U n d e r these laws, provision for the poor
and destitute ranged from ad hoc assistance in
the form of grants of goods and money or employment on public works to institutions i n tended for chronic paupers, whose populations
them i n institutions specifically devoted to
their care. T h e movement to separate the relief
of children from adults coincided with the
growth of organizations such as the Halifax
and M o n t r e a l Ladies A i d Societies, and later
the W o m e n ' s C h r i s t i a n Association i n L o n d o n , the W o m e n ' s C h r i s t i a n U n i o n of W i n nipeg, and the Local C o u n c i l of W o m e n i n
V a n c o u v e r . T h e L a d y T r u e Blues of the
Orange O r d e r i n N e w Brunswick, British
C o l u m b i a and Saskatchewan, later imitated
these pioneer female efforts.
often fluctuated with economic a n d seasonal
conditions. T h e first significant institutional
forms of charity were the houses of industry
and refuge, which functioned as poorhouses for
acute cases of destitution. A l t h o u g h there were
private institutions which provided relief, they
were often unable to " c o m p e t e " with their
state-sponsored counterparts. T h i s can be seen
i n the case of the Halifax Association for I m p r o v i n g the C o n d i t i o n o f the P o o r whose
patrons bitterly complained i n 1866 that the
work produced from its stone shed and spinn i n g rooms was not i n the same demand as the
cheaper stone and spun articles from the P o o r
A s y l u m and P e n i t e n t i a r y . A s the relatives of
epidemic and accident victims tended to accumlate i n the public institutions, children and
dependent widows came to dominate the rolls
of houses o f industry and refuge; however, the
condition of the youthful inmates d i d not evoke
m u c h comment until the mid-nineteenth century.
3
T h e early societies were sometimes founded
as a result of epidemics that left children
without effective guardianship. " A most awful
visitation of Asiatic C h o l e r a " in 1832 led the
embryonic M o n t r e a l Protestant
Orphans'
A s y l u m to expand after receiving children
from the quarantine sheds; while, i n 1854, the
W i d o w s ' and O r p h a n s ' A s y l u m i n Newfoundland opened its doors as a thanksgiving " f o r
deliverance from so terrible a v i s i t a t i o n . " T h e
initial efforts created temporary facilities even
though the sponsoring organizations came to
have a m u c h longer life. T h e real drive for permanent asylums and homes came only i n the
1850s. A l t h o u g h often motivated by epidemics
as i n the case of the St. J o h n ' s A s y l u m , the new
institutions explicitly rejected the indiscriminate m i x i n g of children and adults i n existing
institutions. In K i n g s t o n , the W i d o w s ' and
O r p h a n s ' F r i e n d Society rescued the " p o o r ,
uncared for, destitute c h i l d r e n " from the
House of Refuge which was seen as " a
crowded receptacle of misery where they were
too often consigned to those who desired them
as household drudges." T h e ladies put the
children " i n t o so pleasant and comfortable a
home, where, as one family they were preserved from evil influences without, instructed
in the fear of the L o r d , and trained i n habits of
virtue and r e g u l a r i t y . "
6
T h e public nature o f generalized relief
meant that control and management of
benevolence resided i n the hands of colonial officials and well connected gentlemen. T h e few
efforts at private charity i n the early nineteenth
century, such as the Society for I m p r o v i n g the
Conditions of the Poor and the Benevolent
Irish Society i n Newfoundland, the P o o r
M a n ' s F r i e n d Society o f H a l i f a x , the M o n t r e a l
C o m m i t t e e for the R e l i e f of the Poor and the
R e d R i v e r Relief C o m m i t t e e , were generally
the result of male interest i n relieving distress.
It was not, however, surprising that colonial
ladies, being i n closer contact with real poverty
through their ministrations i n the visiting committees of these societies, were often the ones
who sought more specialized forms of relief.
A s a result o f first h a n d contact with wretched
conditions i n public institutions, female
visiting committees i n mid-nineteenth century
T o r o n t o , M o n t r e a l , Halifax and K i n g s t o n first
articulated the necessity of taking children out
o f these squalid surroundings a n d sheltering
4
5
7
Elsewhere, and perhaps most especially i n
Ottawa, the philanthropic spirit was a reflec-
tion of "noblesse o b l i g e " in keeping with the
social pretensions that prevailed in the capital
despite its still being " a very straggling p l a c e "
in the 1860s. T h e " r e l i e f of destitute children
and other kindred objects [having] been long
and ardently desired by the charitable and
philanthropic part of the c o m m u n i t y , " the
ladies admitted T h o m a s M c D o w e l l ,
the
brother of C o p p e r J o h n i e , a familiar O t t a w a
beggar, as its first boy orphan to the " c u r e " of
the institution i n 1864. T h e first funds came
from the L a d i e s ' Benevolent Association representing several protestant denominations. T h e
thirty lady subscribers displayed their social
accomplishments before an excited public at
literary and musical evenings and at a G r a n d
Promenade Concert given at the British H o t e l .
T h e Daily Mail, on February 16, 1865, observed that "the commodious salon of the
British will doubtless be crowded by the beauty
and fashion of the c i t y " and that social i n tercourse and parading would be impeded in
the crowded rooms i n those days of " c r i n o l i n e
and a m p l i t u d e . " O t t a w a had the example of
the Toronto L a d i e s ' A i d Society which, in
1851, had imaginatively brought in singer J e n ny L i n d to raise the first public subscriptions
for an O r p h a n s ' A s y l u m .
8
9
1 0
Both T o r o n t o and O t t a w a recruited eminent
patronesses (such as L a d y H e a d , the Countess
of E l g i n and K i n c a r d i n e , and the Marchioness
of Landsdowne) who featured prominently in
their annual reports. L a d y M a c d o n a l d , the
wife of Canada's first P r i m e M i n i s t e r , was O t tawa's first directress. M o s t P O H s , however,
began less auspiciously and with a more modest and prosaic awareness of a scheme's usefulness and urgency. In V i c t o r i a , for example, a
ladies' committee of twelve members first accommodated neglected and orphaned children
i n private homes using subscriptions to pay for
their support until a more spacious shelter was
obtained.
11
T h e orphan asylums and related institutions
offered socially prominent middle class women
one of their few opportunities to establish,
make policy for and manage a significant
social agency. U n l i k e general relief institutions
P O H s excluded men as objects of charity and
progressively limited their attention to children
and appropriate women. M o r e o v e r , the goals
of such institutions went beyond the mere
physical survival of the inmates. T h e L o n d o n
Refuge, for example, was intended to prevent
widows and unwed mothers from descending
"the path of degradation" and becoming " an
easy prey for the enemies of s o u l s . " T h e
Halifax L a d i e s ' Benevolent Society, a c o m mittee of twelve women, reported that the St.
P a u l ' s Almshouse of Industry for G i r l s , founded i n 1867, was intended to withstand the
awful possibilities of procuring and prostitut i o n . T h i s committee quickly took over the
organizational details of the Almshouse of i n dustry from the founding gentlemen's c o m mittee of ten males, and enthusiastically embraced a t r a i n i n g program of girls otherwise
growing up " u n d e r the most baneful i n fluences." T h e ladies' committee of the T o r o n to Protestant O r p h a n s ' H o m e , expressing as
m u c h concern for widows and girls out of work
as for its orphan population, established an
employment registry for seamstresses and servants to prevent them from being d r a w n into
"the vortex of i n i q u i t y . "
Several homes
provided a similar rudimentary employment
service as a safeguard against the dangers of
prostitution.
1 2
1 3
14
Even in those cases i n which a men's committee had organized the h o m e , there was an
immediate need for a " l a d i e s " committee to
supervise the domestic economy a n d management of the institution. Such immediate
management soon relegated men to limited i f
essential tasks, e.g., audits of incomes and expenses, preparation of legal instruments, i n vestment of the societies' endowments, and
honorary services such as those provided by
physicians and solicitors. M a n y of the medical,
auditing and legal officers, it might be noted,
"WE ARE SEEKING
HOMES,
'' Courtesy Public Brochures of Canada, PA 120926.
were spouses or relatives of the women. T h i s
enabled the women to reduce the expenses of
the home by paying only n o m i n a l fees for advice on land purchase and the subsequent
b u i l d i n g and architectural problems. Sometimes prominent citizens were retained as
n o m i n a l governors, such as Sheriff Glass of
L o n d o n , to provide the necessary liaison between the home and the city i n the distribution
of municipal grants or i n c u r r y i n g favours regarding civic regulations or the acquisition of
suitable land sites.
Such pragmatic use of male involvement
cannot be construed i n any way as relegating
the ladies' committees to a secondary status.
A n example was the founding meeting of the
O t t a w a home. M r s . T h o r b u r n , an Ottawa
gentlewoman and one of the original members,
observed i n her memoirs that " I t was not
customary for ladies to occupy platforms i n
1864 and they modestly sat on the side
benches," as the gentlemen drew up the bylaws and the constitution. She wryly suggested,
however, that modesty was quickly overcome
once the official business arrangements of the
fledgling project were c o m p l e t e d . I n Halifax,
too, although W i l l i a m C u n a r d , the powerful
shipping magnate, was nominated President of
the P O H in its first years of formation, it was
his wife on the ladies' committee whose power
was most keenly felt in the actual organization
of the i n s t i t u t i o n .
15
16
These pioneering efforts i n child welfare
were related to several social and intellectual
developments. First, b y the 1830s there existed
in several colonial centres sufficient population
and wealth to make philanthropy possible.
T h r i v i n g commercial towns such as M o n t r e a l
and Halifax were the first to establish female
societies aimed at widows and orphans. Secondly, pedagogical theories associated w i t h
nineteenth century educational reform emphasized that the ideal educational relationship
was that between a loving mother and her
child, while advice to parents on child-rearing
stressed the central role o f the mother i n i n suring the proper development of h u m a n life.
Consequently, women of the right classes were
ideally equipped to direct and make policy for
institutions devoted to c h i l d r e n .
Thirdly,
protestant m e n and women were often aware
of the substantial effort made by R o m a n C a t h olic religious orders to provide for the destitute
and dependent. I n particular, various orders of
nuns were active i n the establishment o f orphan asylums, foundling homes and other i n stitutions for women a n d children. T h e
catholic challenge was explicit i n the founding
of protestant homes i n M o n t r e a l , V i c t o r i a , St.
J o h n ' s a n d L o n d o n . Fourthly, although some
institutions were clearly the agencies of a single
church, most P O H s recruited their members
from several protestant churches and thus
served as " n o n - s e c t a r i a n " but C h r i s t i a n organizations for w o m e n . Consequently the w o m e n
combined generalized protestant evangelicalism and middle class social ethics i n their
commitment to charity and m o r a l uplift o f the
deserving poor, values which justified their expanded feminine role.
17
T h e significance of the asylums rested first
in the policies on admission and demissions,
the training and education schemes, and the
placing out and apprenticeship
practices,
which were c o m m o n to all P O H s almost to the
point of uniformity. It was precisely i n these
areas that w o m e n through their ladies' committees exercised m a x i m u m control. Second,
the pedagogical and medical literature of the
early nineteenth century stressed the importance of childhood experiences i n determining
the future well being of society and the
necessity of reconstructing schools and other
agencies on the model of the new family w i t h
its emphasis on love and maternal care. U n l i k e
the m u c h earlier advice of Renaissance h u manists and later writers such as J o h n L o c k e ,
the advocates of " f a m i l i a l i z i n g " the school
took the mother and not the father as the
crucial figure i n transforming societal values.
T h u s , the women performed two significant
functions by insuring that the asylum w o u l d
display the proper homelike characteristics and
that unlike the c o m m o n school it w o u l d indeed
provide the " i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d " equivalent of a
child-centred family permeated by maternal
love.
1 8
A l t h o u g h it has frequently been observed of
children's institutions that any resemblance to
an actual " f a m i l y l i k e " situation was purely
coincidental, C a n a d i a n P O H s i n some ways
offer a curious anomaly to this perception.
W i t h o u t unduly exaggerating the pervasiveness of either mother love or family sentiment,
it can be observed that many C a n a d i a n P O H s
more nearly approximated the ideal than d i d
their huge and impersonal counterparts i n the
rapidly industrializing centres elsewhere i n
N o r t h A m e r i c a or i n the great urban centres of
B r i t a i n . I n 1914, W . H . Hattie, Inspector of
H u m a n e and Penal Institutions i n N o v a
Scotia, commenting on the county poorhouses,
observed that:
In the small institutions particularly, a
degree of friendly intimacy is often noted
w h i c h even suggests a family spirit, and
which assures one that institutional life
m a y be happy and not devoid of pleasure.
(non-orphans i n temporary custodial care)
which were always the majority, and erratic
nursery and domestic help, frustrated the possibility of realizing the family ideal. K e e p i n g
staff for small remuneration and under extremely demanding conditions was a constant
anxiety. T h e smallest homes made do with a
matron (or "superintendent") and cook and
whatever assistance the ladies' committee
could provide on an ad hoc basis. T h e larger
ones supplemented this cadre with a teacher,
one or more nursery maids and housekeepers.
In some of the first institutions, the matron
who was frequently a w i d o w used her older
children to aid i n the management. Some
homes preferred a married couple with the
husband performing maintenance services.
T h e P O H s and Protestant F o u n d l i n g or I n fant H o m e s marked one of the first major
thrusts of middle class women into concrete
reform and social service. T h i s experience
opened women to wider vistas; with the establishment i n 1893 of the C a n a d i a n N a t i o n a l
C o u n c i l of W o m e n , m a n y ladies' committees
of the orphanages affiliated with the local councils. W o m e n of the Halifax, W i n n i p e g ,
K i n g s t o n , O t t a w a , T o r o n t o and V i c t o r i a
homes quickly became aware of broader social
concerns
and
worked
actively i n
the
amelioration of the more deleterious conditions
of child life and family life.
1 9
Such observations were clearly applicable to
the smaller children's institutions. O r d i n a r i l y
institutions held between fifty and twohundred and fifty children, with few P O H s exceeding three hundred residents at a given
time. T h e institutions i n H a l i f a x , Fredericton,
L o n d o n , O t t a w a , C a l g a r y , V a n c o u v e r and
V i c t o r i a , are examples of the smaller homes,
while those of W i n n i p e g , T o r o n t o and Saint
J o h n , at their height, represent the largest
ones. Inadequate staffing and financing, compounded by the problems of the " i n s and o u t s "
Although m u c h may be made of the
religious proclivities of the women who founded and controlled the P O H s , the institutions
themselves d i d not seem to represent oppressive evangelical fervour i n religious training
and indoctrination. Aside from a selectivity regarding suitable objects of their benevolence,
the ladies rarely promoted religious instruction
i n excess of that available in most churches and
Sunday schools. There was, of course, perfunctory attention given to mealtime and
" f a m i l y " prayers, but this was under the supervision of the matron who was more often
than not too harried by her responsibilities to
engage in excessive religious inculcation.
Since, the records contain few indications of an
obsession to proselytize, it can be concluded
that religious earnestness was subsumed under
the simpler practical goal of ensuring a " s p i r i t
of docility and subordination [that] testifies to
good m a n a g e m e n t . "
In other words, the
assumptions underlying the foundation and
policies of the asylums reflect more the broad
middle class values relating to social order and
individual behavior than the views of religious
enthusiasts.
20
o n religious and m o r a l t r a i n i n g , or institutional life contributing to the children's eternal
life as well as temporal comfort. T h e r e is,
however, little evidence i n the daily journals or
minutes that demonstrates repressive religious
fervour, puritanical zeal or excessive religious
indoctrination. O n e calls to m i n d at this point
the cloying and fanatical preachments found i n
the records of M i i l l e r ' s O r p h a n A s y l u m at
Ashley D o w n , or some of the grateful prayers
before meals at the B o w n m a n Stephenson's
Homes or the systematic inculcation of religious values at smaller homes in Great
Britain.
2 1
T h i s is not to say that annual reports or
speeches at public meetings d i d not contain the
predictable C h r i s t i a n sentiments and emphasis
Unabashedly committed to their philanthropic assumptions, the ladies rejected claims
of " s c i e n t i f i c " charity that called for the poor
to be scrupulously investigated and their needs
parsimoniously weighed according to strict
standards of economy and impartiality. M a n y
would have agreed wholeheartedly with the
sentiments expressed in 1823 by the Halifax
Methodist Female Benevolent Society that
" m i s e r y itself has a claim for relief and that the
cry of distress on its own account should be
heard independently of the deserts of the suff e r e r . " Such assumptions not only prevailed
with the establishment of facilities designed for
dependent children who were identified as
" w o r t h i e s , " but also in the case of rescue,
foundling and infant homes. Since these i n stitutions often included unweaned babies with
the "unfortunate" mothers, the general public
was often far less sympathetic to the claims of
such unequivocal charity than the women who
heeded such cries of distress.
22
THE "POOR, " Courtesy of the Public Archives of Canada,
PAC118221.
As a result of this approach to charity, many
foundling and infants' homes were accused of
encouraging promiscuity and illegitimacy by
providing disreputable females with a convenient means of disregarding the consequences of
their fallen state and escaping the onerous
responsibilities of motherhood. E v e n as late as
1932, this attitude was still c o m m o n as the case
of C o o k e versus the K i n g s t o n Infants' H o m e
demonstrates. T h e home was sued for nuisance
"as it was distasteful to them [the neighbors] to
have an institution which cared for illegitimate
children i n close p r o x i m i t y to their h o m e s . "
T h e plea, which curiously was put forward on
"sentimental g r o u n d s , " was rejected i n a
rousing court decison which justified the
courage and effort of the twenty w o m e n of all
faiths who not o n l y saw their institution's usefulness i n terms of " s a l v a g i n g " y o u n g women
but also i n directing them and their babies to
health and social services. In denying the suit,
the court ruled that:
. . . there must be an inconvenience
materially interfering with the ordinary
comfort physically of h u m a n existence,
not merely according to the elegant and
dainty modes and habits of l i v i n g but according to the plain and sober and simpler notions a m o n g English p e o p l e .
23
It should be noted, however, that P O H s
committees were not without " s t a n d a r d s " for
admission. A s committed but genteel C h r i s tians, the ladies practised a conventional religious benevolence that distinguished between
the worthy and unworthy poor; and, as
privately maintained orphan asylums, w h i c h
required n o m i n a l monthly payments for temporary custodial cases, the P O H s became a
refuge for those children who were approved of
b y the ladies' committees for admission often
o n grounds of the respectability of the families
seeking assistance and of the likely ability to
pay the requisite sum o n a regular basis. A p peals o f sheer destitution were often less i m portant than the fact o f being part o f the ' w o r thy p o o r . ' Subsequently when compared with
the desolatory nature of the poorhouses of the
M a r i t i m e s and m a n y of the Catholic orphanages w h i c h operated on less discriminating and open door policies, the P O H s
remained generally smaller and more intimate,
although depressingly poor. T h e y were,
therefore, without being gratuitous, relatively
" e l i t e " institutions which catered p r i m a r i l y to
that category of labouring poor deemed respectable. T h e state sponsored almshouses a n d the
Catholic institutions were truly "the last
resort." Subsequently children o f the unwed,
the transient, the " n e f a r i o u s " sectors o f
society, were those who were usually destined
for the almshouses and lunatic asylums where
they
became
neglected
public
charges.
C h i l d r e n o f the marginal sections o f society—defectives, epileptics, bastards and i m m i grant youngsters—were usually identified with
the unworthy poor.
T w o instances illustrates the point. I n 1860 a
M r s . Stewart of K i n g s t o n , having been deserted by her husband, wanted her three children
admitted to the P O H . Although her situation
was so urgent that she herself was voluntarily
entering the house of industry, the ladies of the
K i n g s t o n home decided against receiving them
as " b o t h parents were a l i v e " and it would be
against the rules. Yet there is evidence i n the
same year of the circumvention of this rule i n
the case of other children. Clearly associations
with the house of industry were not respectable
and M r s . Stewart's destitution was cast among
the lot of the " u n w o r t h y . " I n 1867 the O t t a w a
ladies committee demanded that a M r s . A r m strong from Brockville produce her marriage
certificate before they would admit her children despite this woman's obvious desperation.
2 4
2 5
T h e ladies noted the advantages o f careful
guidance o f dependent and destitute children
and understood the differences between middle
class family life and the situation of most
children of the poor. T h e y also doubted that
the reformation o f the children i n their care
was possible without the personal service o f
good C h r i s t i a n women. A description of M r s .
T h o r b u r n , wife of an eminent O t t a w a businessman, and influential member of the O t tawa P O H committee for over sixty years,
could well be used i n summary of her generation of women who founded similar asylums.
W h e n she died i n 1927, it was said of her that
she had been "the last of that group of women
who were God-chosen over sixty years ago to
be the founders of the P O H in O t t a w a . She
was a woman of stalwart piety, unflinching
determination, and great c o u r a g e . " Actually
M r s . T h o r b u r n ' s " p i e t y " was less noticeable
than were her singular loyalty to the home (she
had missed but one annual meeting i n those six
deca.ies) and her hardnosed, pragmatic organizational acumen over this impressive period
of service.
26
described as Charlotte W h i t t o n ' s "apostolic
succession of volunteers," demonstrated a tendency to perpetuate original institutional patterns i n relative isolation from the demands
and new assumptions of child welfare.
A growing emphasis on keeping families
together when possible or on the boarding out
of placeable children, and the " c l a s s i f i c a t i o n "
of children transformed previously accepted
assumptions about the needs of children into
anachronisms. Improved standards of ventilation, space, hygiene, diet and nutrition, as
well as new medical and psychological theories
further eroded such a s s u m p t i o n s . T h e growing band of professionalizes, with its insistence on trained superintendency, nurses,
social workers, caretaking staffs, and an active
liaison w i t h child welfare departments and
family life agencies, represented a new view on
social problems that contrasted sharply w i t h
"mere relief." E v e n the introduction of
seemingly innocuous procedures such as filing
systems, careful auditing, case histories, observation of child behaviour and the keeping of
detailed records, proved costly and erosive
aspects of the professionalizing mode. T h u s ,
nineteenth century values of family life and
child rescue, which originally justified both
provision for orphans and the separation of
children from delinquent parents by means of
the asylum, increasingly gave way to new
values that condemned the institutionalization
of any child except the c r i m i n a l and defective.
B y the 1890s the asylum operated i n a climate
of opinion that saw it as a necessary evil. In
some jurisdictions, the official position as expressed i n legislation, such as that of the O n tario C h i l d r e n ' s Protection A c t of 1893, was
committed to the quasi-public C h i l d r e n ' s A i d
Society and to foster c a r e . It was i n some
ways ironic that the values of family life and
the sentimentality surrounding modern C a n a dian childhood undercut the first institutions
established to insure a properly protected environment for dependent children.
29
The Professionalizes
Whatever the original motives, the managers of the P O H s became p r i m a r i l y concerned with the survival of their institutions
rather than the degree to which the service they
provided met changing contemporary criteria
of child care. That so many of the early founders remained "stalwart"members for decades
also led i n many cases to a lack of innovation.
W o m e n such as M a r i a T h o r b u r n and M r s .
Bronson represented the faithful vanguard i n
Ottawa; M r s . G . A . Sargison, founder of the
V i c t o r i a home in 1875 and an active member
until her death in 1905, demonstrated similar
fidelity. Frequently generations of the same
families, such as the Bronsons of Ottawa,
Mucklestons of K i n g s t o n and H a y w a r d s of
V i c t o r i a , continued to dominate the policy and
domestic management of the institutions. E v e n
in 1942, a M r s . E d w a r d C r i d g e still sat on the
B o a r d of the V i c t o r i a H o m e as a lasting reminder of its faltering beginnings under the
patronage of Bishop C r i d g e i n 1 8 7 3 . T h e
Haywards were so influential in V i c t o r i a that
they sat on the boards of both the P O H and the
C h i l d r e n ' s A i d Society ( C A S ) with the latter
being organized on identical principles, which
were seemingl- tried and true i n V i c t o r i a but
contrary to the spirit of developments elsewhere.
Such cases, which might well be
27
28
30
T h e reaction of P O H directors to the rise of
the C h i l d r e n ' s A i d Society, first in O n t a r i o and
later in other provinces, was suspicous and
even hostile. Whereas the K i n g s t o n home,
consistently sensitive to changing modes and
policies of child care, received C A S wards into
its institution and virtually became a " s h e l t e r "
for children under the C h i l d r e n ' s Protection
A c t , the homes in O t t a w a , V a n c o u v e r and
W i n n i p e g were disinclined to do so. A l t h o u g h
the great majority of P O H s had accepted small
government and civic grants, their managers
were keenly aware of the implications of government aid, namely increasing intrusion i n
the form of regulations and inspection, and the
loss of control and autonomy exercised by the
ladies' committees. T h e acceptance of C A S
wards increased this tension between philanthropic autonomy and government intervention by transforming the home into a " s h e l t e r "
(thus meeting the obvious parsimony of
provincial and civic authorities who were u n w i l l i n g to establish and staff their o w n shelters
when existing facilities could serve the purpose) or even occasionally into a detention centre for children awaiting presentation before a
juvenile court under the Juvenile Delinquents
Act of 1908. Such cooperation with municipal
and provincial childwelfare authorities would
i n time alter both the essential character of the
home and the total control exercised by the
ladies' committees over admission and demis-
eral examples include the M e r r y m o u n t Centre
in L o n d o n for temporary cases, the C h i l d r e n ' s
Village in Ottawa for disturbed youngsters,
and Sunnyside Treatment Centre i n K i n g s t o n
for behavioral problems. Almost all of the
P O H s which survived followed such a pattern.
Surveys conducted i n the late 1920s and
early 1930s by the C a n a d i a n C o u n c i l on C h i l d
Welfare ( C C C W ) under the direction of C h a r -
sion.
C r i t i c i z e d for the debilitating consequences
of institutionalization and plagued by perennial problems of finance and public supervision
that gradually eroded their autonomy, most
P O H governing boards fought a determined
battle to maintain their institutions. W h e n
growing expenses, declining numbers of children eligible for their care, and government
policies threatened to put an end to their
usefulness, the women responsible for the i n stitutions moved in a series of stages to convert
them again into special purpose facilities. Sev-
Proper Subjects for Rescue
lotte W h i t t o n examined the effectiveness of
social agencies i n various centres. These surveys represented the point o f view of professional social workers, not that of P O H philanthropists. Published C C C W reports of conditions in N e w Brunswick and M a n i t o b a and
in V a n c o u v e r , V i c t o r i a , K i n g s t o n , Y o r k , O t tawa, E d m o n t o n and C a l g a r y , were unusually
insensitive reprimands that caused hard
feelings to d e v e l o p . P O H matrons and assistants were chastised as unsuited for their
positions while whole boards of management
were denounced as inefficient and ineffectual.
T h e matron of the V i c t o r i a C A S , which
operated virtually as a small and intimate
home, wrote ruefully that "the nature of our
work in many cases does not bear publication
but it is that very work that takes up most of
m y t i m e . " M i s s M c C l o y , who was not
" t r a i n e d , " realized that her replacement was
imminent due to local professional criticism;
indeed, her daily diary bears witness to a
rather uneducated background, but it also
testifies to warmth, humour, domesticity, patience, generosity and, above a l l , a genuine
love for the " k i d d i e s " that is quite touching to
read. W h e n she resigned i n 1930 the home was
totally d e m o r a l i z e d .
31
32
T h e C h i l d r e n ' s H o m e of W i n n i p e g rejected
overtures to affiliate with the Federated
Charities fearing the inevitable interference
with its domestic arrangements and d i d not
yield to the seductions of a community chest
until the 1920s when economic pressures
forced the situation. Similar events occurred in
T o r o n t o . In 1891 the T o r o n t o committee of
the G i r l s ' H o m e and Public Nursery had resisted j o i n i n g the C o m b i n e d Charities although they eagerly affiliated with the
National C o u n c i l of W o m e n in 1 8 9 4 . Five
years later they again refused but by 1922 their
records indicate they had succumbed to the
practical wisdom of such affiliation. B y 1926
the G i r l s ' H o m e and P O H which met similar
needs had amalgamated to reduce overhead
3 3
34
35
expenses. T h e withholding of city funds due
to m i n o r dissatisfactions and the reduction of
Federated Charities Service budget on the
grounds of duplication of facilities hastened the
merger.
T h e T o r o n t o P O H was relatively smooth i n
its transformation from a congregate institution to a specialized facility; nevertheless, such
cooperation, ironically, was the beginning of
the end of institutional autonomy and the
social significance of the ladies who ran them.
By 1918 the T o r o n t o H o m e had included o n its
staff a trained housemother, called an " I n stitutional M a n a g e r , " and an assistant social
worker who together dealt with court work, apprenticeships, admittance policy, child placing
and family case w o r k . T h e salaries and ideas
of the qualified additions to the staff were to
prove expensive enough to compel the homes
into amalgamation.
3 6
K i n g s t o n ' s cooperation with the professionalizers who would undermine their original
assumptions and erode the control exercised by
a female agency was more striking since it occurred earlier than in the case of T o r o n t o . T h e
institution began its transformation under the
pragmatic and " p r o g r e s s i v e " influence o f
M i s s M u c k l e s t o n who introduced methods of
records keeping, case histories and the
classification of the inmates i n 1909. T h e new
centre for specialized care, " S u n n y s i d e , "
w h i c h developed i n the 1920s was itself housed
i n the home of M r s . G . Y . C h o w n whose family
had been involved in the founding of the i n stitution. T h e 1927 annual report noted that
"the work of the Society is beginning again as
it d i d seventy years ago, i n a small residence
with a small number of children, a matron, or
superintendent, a garden and a c o w . " T h e
difference, however, was fundamental. " S u n n y s i d e " would never evolve into a significant
social agency p r o v i d i n g custodial care for
w o r k i n g class emergencies nor would it ever be
totally controlled by a group of lay women. I n 3 7
stead, health departments, psychiatric clinics,
public welfare professionals, p u b l i c education
facilities and sophisticated federated charities
boards, admitted, placed, fed, trained and
tested the children i n highly specialized
facilities supervised by trained personnel and
supported by government funds.
T h e ethic o f personal service had been subsumed by a professionalism which put high
priority o n qualification, remuneration and
social status based on merit rather than ascript i o n . Problems of social maladjustment and the
imperatives of individual psychology had replaced the urgency of custodial care and the genius of female lay control.
Conclusions
Students o f W o m e n ' s H i s t o r y , rightly we
believe, have come to comprehend the problems that might accrue from an inordinate concentration upon the negative aspects of past
female socialization and are now emphasizing
the "strategies" women adopted i n realizing
their o w n histories despite the constraints o f a
male dominated socio-political order. M a n y
nineteenth century women's groups, while
rarely the vanguard of major political change,
held assumptions about social reform which
they manifested through various philanthropic
endeavours. These groups drew attention to
objective social realities about them—urban
squalor and social disorder—and attempted to
provide amelioration through charitable institutions. O n e o f the first expressions of female
concern i n all of the rapidly industrializing
centres i n English C a n a d a , were Protestant
O r p h a n s ' H o m e s which were founded and
controlled, often totally, by women whose
energies and organizational talents were fully
challenged by the conditions of child life they
saw about them.
T h e original assumptions behind the campaign to found child rescue institutions were
gradually transformed or eroded under the
pressures exerted by trained child welfare
professionals and by m u n i c i p a l and provincial
child welfare departments staffed by civil servants. T h e N e w W o m a n i n child welfare, committed to scientific methods of social i n tervention, gnawed away at one of the few
significant expressions o f past female autono m y . Such professionalizers, m i x i n g personal
ambition and humanitarian sentiment, apprehended the possibilities of expanding their
own domains within newly created areas o f
social work. C h i l d welfare experts subjecting
child and family life to more sophisticated
analysis created increasing demands
for
professional care, counselling and administration. Demonstrating either indifference or a
righteous crusading zeal, child welfare experts
disregarded the fact that the P O H s were not
merely " i n s t i t u t i o n s " but were indeed reflections of the world view of a certain group of
women and the spatial, physical and moral expressions of a real sense of usefulness, selfworth, identity and autonomy.
Appendix: Founding Dates of
Institutions Examined*
1822
1848
1851
1854
1855
1856
1857
1857
1860
1864
1867
M o n t r e a l Protestant O r p h a n A s y l u m
H a m i l t o n Ladies Benevolent Society
and O r p h a n A s y l u m
T o r o n t o Protestant O r p h a n H o m e
and Female A i d Society
Saint J o h n Protestant O r p h a n
Asylum
St. J o h n ' s C h u r c h of E n g l a n d
W i d o w s ' and Orphans A s y l u m
T o r o n t o G i r l s ' H o m e and Public
Nursery
K i n g s t o n O r p h a n s ' H o m e and
W i d o w s ' F r i e n d Society
Halifax Protestant Orphans H o m e
B o y s ' H o m e Toronto
O t t a w a Protestant O r p h a n s ' H o m e
Saint Paul's Almshouse of Industry
for G i r l s , Halifax
1869
1870
1873
1874-76
1875
1885
1893
1894
1894
1907
Brantford O r p h a n s ' H o m e
M o n t r e a l Protestant Infants' H o m e
V i c t o r i a Protestant Orphans ' H o m e
W o m e n ' s Refuge and C h i l d r e n ' s
Home, London
H o m e for O r p h a n s , A g e d and
Friendless, L o n d o n
H a l i f a x Infants' H o m e
Protestant C h i l d r e n ' s H o m e ,
Winnipeg
Maternity Home, Victoria
A l e x a n d r a Orphanage, Vancouver
K i n g s t o n Infants' H o m e and H o m e
for Friendless W o m e n
Protestant O r p h a n s ' H o m e ,
Prince E d w a r d Island
* These institutions were either founded and managed by
women, or in the case of those under male governance, had
ladies' committees which substantially contributed to, and even
controlled, their internal conduct or admission practices. Others
such as the Methodist Orphanage, Newfoundland (1888) while a
creation of the Methodist Conference was in fact run by
deaconesses, matrons and by 1923, four female superintendents.
a Red River Relief Committee, Provincial Archives of
Manitoba ( P A M ) . A n analysis of the transformation of
child welfare in the nineteenth century is provided by the
authors in "Childhood and Charity in Nineteenth Century
British North A m e r i c a , " Histoire sociale I Social History, 14
(Spring 1982).
5.
See, for example, Margaret Johnson, The First One Hundred
Years, 1874-1974 (of the Women's Christian Association),
University of Western Ontario ( U W O ) .
6.
Diamond Jubilee Report (1914) and First Annual Report (1855),
Anglican Archives, St. John's, Newfoundland; Montreal
Ladies Benevolent Society, 40th Annual Report (1873), and
"Historical Sketch of the Montreal P O H . . . " (1860),
National Library of C a n a d a .
Kingston P O H , Annual Report (1859), Queen's University
(QU).
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
NOTES
T h e authors acknowledge the support provided by a S S H R C
Research Grant (1979-81) and by T h e University of Calgary
Research Grants Office (1979-80).
1.
Quoted in " V i c t o r i a Report, 1932," File 139, V o l . 28,
Canadian Council on C h i l d Welfare Papers, M G 28110,
Public Archives of Canada ( P A C ) .
2.
T h e authors have discussed the role of Charlotte Whitton
and the C C C W in the professionalization of Canadian
child welfare in " C h i l d Welfare in English C a n a d a , 192048," Social Service Review, 55 (September 1981): 485-506.
Report of Halifax Association for Improving the C o n ditions of the Poor (1866); and also Nova Scotian, January
28, and M a r c h 18, 1867, Public Archives of Nova Scotia
(PANS).
A Report of the Society for Improving the Condition of the
Poor of St. John's (1809). Rules and Constitution of
Benevolent Irish Society (1807), Provincial Archives of
Newfoundland (PANf), and Accounts Books (1862-1875),
Centre of Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University.
Halifax Poor M a n ' s Friend Society (1820-1827), P A N S ,
and George E . Hart, " T h e Halifax Poor M a n ' s Friend
Society: A n Early Social Experiment," Canadian Historial
Review, 24 (June 1953): 100-123. Report of Montreal C o m mittee for Relief of the Poor (1819), M c G i l l University
( M U ) , and Nor'Wester, October 9, 1868, discusses a call for
3.
4.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
One Hundred Years: Protestant Children's Village, 1864-1964,
p. 3, Canadian Welfare C o u n c i l Library, Ottawa ( C W C ) .
Ottawa Orphans' Homes ( P O H ) M G 28, I, 37, pp. 1-3
and V o l . 9, ( P A C ) .
Minutes, 15/7/1851, M T L and Protestant Children's Homes of
Toronto, 1851-1951, p. 5, C W C .
Colonist, June 23, 1893; also see N o r a L u p t o n , "Notes on
the British C o l u m b i a Protestant Orphan's H o m e , " in In
Her Own Right, ed. Cathy Kess and Barbara Latham (Victoria: Camosun College, 1980), pp. 43-45.
Johnson, p. 2; and Report for St. Paul's Almshouse of Industry f o r G i r l s (1868), p. 3, P A N S .
Orphans' H o m e and Female A i d Society, Preamble, V o l . 1
(1851-1853), L , 30, Metropolitan Toronto Library ( M T L ) .
In an effort to uncover the real significance of these institutions and strip the moralizing tenor o f its rhetoric the
authors agree with J o h n T . C u m b l e r that such middle class
responses to poverty provided in some cases a rudimentary,
although quite insufficient, "advocacy organization for
poor women," in the Canadian as well as the American experience. " T h e Politics of Charity: Gender and Class in
Late Nineteenth Century Charity Policy, "Journal of Social
History, 14, (Fall 1980): 99-111.
Ottawa P O H , M G 28, 1, 37, P A C and One Hundred Years,
p. 6.
T h e First A n n u a l Report (1858) lists W i l l i a m C u n a r d as
governor with M r s . C u n a r d on the management committee. Subsequent annual reports reveal that, except in
relation to raising the annual " C u n a r d Collection" which
was essential to the home's survival, his involvement was
minimal.
A n excellent example of the literature popularizing a
growing control of women over children is found in the
writings of the educational theorist J . H . Pestalozzi, e.g.,
Leonard and Gertrude (1780) and How Gertrude Teaches Her
Children (1801).
Daniel C a l h o u n , The Intelligence of a People (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1973); Barbara Finkelstein,
"Pedagogy as Intrusion," History of Childhood Quarterly, 2
(Winter 1975): 349-79; and "In Fear of C h i l d h o o d , "
History of Childhood Quarterly, 3 (Winter 1976): 321-335; and
Neil Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976).
Reports on Public Charities, Halifax (1914), p. 9, M U .
Kingston P O H , 14th Annual Report (1971), Q U .
21.
22.
A n examination of available daily journals, minute books,
and correspondence relating to the institutions listed in the
appendix has led the authors, who were predisposed before
the study to believe otherwise, to this conclusion. T h i s
discrepancy between the printed document (e.g., annual
reports) and private communications
illustrates
the
dangers of not going behind public statements, which in the
case of philanthropic societies were intended to attract
funds through popular appeal, to determine actual practice.
Halifax
Methodist
Female
Benevolent
Society,
Welfare in Ontario (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1981).
31.
32.
33.
Annual
Report (1823), p. 6, P A N S .
23.
In " C h i l d Welfare: Legal Citations (1832-34)," M G 28, I
24.
Kingston P O H , M i n u t e 10/4/1860, Q U .
25.
Ottawa P O H , M i n u t e 28/10/1867, P A C .
10, V o l . 4 5 , P A C .
26.
One Hundred Years, p. 50.
27.
British C o l u m b i a P O H , 70th Annual Report (1942), Provincial Archives of British C o l u m b i a ( P A B C ) .
Charles H a y w a r d , Papers and Children's A i d Society
Collection, P A B C . H a y w a r d was president of the Victoria
Children's A i d Society and the British C o l u m b i a P O H .
Discussed by authors in unpublished manuscript, "Death,
Diet and Disease: Aspects of " S e r i a l " Contamination in
British North American Children's Orphanages 18501930."
Neil Sutherland details these shifts in Children in
English—Canadian Society. Also see Andrew Jones and
Leonard R u t m a n , In the Children's Aid: J.J. Kelso and Child
28.
29.
30.
34.
35.
36.
37.
" C h i l d Welfare in English C a n a d a , 1920-48"; and Rooke
and Schnell, "Charlotte Whitton Meets ' T h e Last Best
West': T h e Politics of C h i l d Welfare in Alberta, 1929-49,"
Prairie Forum (forthcoming).
Daily Journal, Vols. 10 and 11; Minutes V o l . 1 and
Secretary's Report (1926), V o l . 6, C A S collection, P A B C .
T h e home affiliated with the National Council of Women
in 1894, having officially separated from the Christian
Women's U n i o n in 1887.
Its participation in the
Associated Charities from 1910 to the Central Council of
Social Agencies in 1924 ranged from acrimony to reluctance.
Toronto P O H also affiliated with the National Council of
W o m e n in 1894 as did the Protestant Girls' H o m e and
Public Nursery. T h e Girls' H o m e rejected affiliation with
Charities Organization in 1899 and finally federated in
early 1920s. Girls' H o m e V o l . 7 ( M ) , 1917-24, and V o l . 3,
1899-1901. Also Minutes, April 29, 1919, report that the
P O H was unhappy about affiliation with the Federation for
Community Service, V o l . 5, ( M ) , 1909-19, M T L .
Letters and Papers, L30(B) Protestant Children's Homes,
1920-26 and ( M ) 1922-26, discuss the Girls' H o m e ;
whereas P O H V o l . 6 ( M ) 1919-26 discusses the P O H ' s
part in amalgamation, M T L .
Minutes, M a y 13, September 9, October 31, and November 26, 1919, V o l . 5 ( M ) , 1909-1919, M T L .
Kingston P O H , Annual Report (1927), Q U .