The Horror of Britain’s Child Migration Schemes – ‘Empty Cradles’ a memoir by Margaret Humphreys

Empty Cradles
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Empty Cradles is a harrowing memoir which details the uncovering of an appalling part of British history: Child Migration Schemes. It has been many years since these events were brought to light by Margaret Humphreys. As you read this memoir, though, you understand that there is no end to the pain and its repercussions.

During the 20th Century, over 130,000 children were deported from Britain to distant parts of the Empire and to Commonwealth countries such as Canada, Rhodesia, Australia and New Zealand – the policy only ended in 1970. This was a governmental policy, involving charitable and religious institutions to remove perceived burdens from Britain’s ‘care’ system and help ‘build the Empire.’ Almost all of the children, from orphanages or children’s homes, had parents who did not realise what was happening. Often, both child migrants and their parents were told that their families were dead. In their new countries, their ‘new life,’ as the children were told they were going to, they encountered various things. For some there were positive opportunities but for many there were slavery-like conditions on farms and in domestic service. There was lack of food, no comfort or love and horrific experiences of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The depth of suffering is devastating to read. In uncovering these events, Margaret Humphreys set up The Child Migrants Trust, in 1987, to attempt to reunite these ‘lost’ migrant children with any family members who were still living.

The initial task, which began in the 1980s, was enormous and the book details this with power. As you read you weep at the stories, so appalling and devastating are they. Children lost without an identity, lost without a homeland. Children believing they had no family, feeling alone in the world without love, often abused and mistreated, never feeling they belonged, wondering what they did to cause the removal from their home country and carrying buried trauma for their entire lifetime. The intensely poignant family reunions which are detailed in this book are a testimony to one woman’s incredible courage and persistence.

And it is this one woman I keep thinking of, when I read, who is in the midst of this firestorm: a Nottingham social worker called Margaret Humphreys. She uncovered this tragedy and sacrificed time with her family, experienced death threats, listened to these unimaginable stories of horror over and over again and became physically ill due to overwork. Yet still she continued. She continued in spite of the huge toll it took on her. She continued for the lost children, the now often lost adults, to try to return something of what was taken from them. To try to help them heal. Whilst we all think that such terrible things must come to light, we often give little thought to what it may have cost the ‘whistleblower’ to pursue this path.

If you think that this memoir will be too painful to read then you are probably right. It is harrowing just for a reader and unimaginable for the children at the heart of it. The film of these events is equally moving: Oranges and Sunshine. But as you read or watch then you are witness to this suffering and offering your support. This is the voice of injustice and we all need to hear these voices. And perhaps most importantly, to wonder if we can help in some way. The work of The Child Migrants Trust is ongoing and relies on donations to support adults, who were once child migrants, in numerous ways. Most importantly, helping to reunite them with family members and return their rightful history to them. Though we may feel powerless as we read or watch, there is in fact something tangible that we can do to help.

I will remember this memoir for Pamela, Harold, Marie, Desmond and many others. For their suffering and for the appalling inability of governments and organisations to accept their role and responsibilities in this tragedy. But most of all for Margaret Humphreys, who innocently and naively stumbled upon this tragedy and pursued it with tenacity. She didn’t work for plaudits, although she has received them: the Australian Order of Merit in 1993 which she considered belonged to the Child Migrants Trust; and the CBE in the UK in 2011. Her only drive has been to support the adults at the heart of this tragedy. She has made such personal sacrifices, showed enormous courage, and succeeded in bringing healing to many lost, disenfranchised and traumatised people. I imagine she wouldn’t want me to say it, but she really is a remarkable and inspirational woman.