Episode details
Available for over a year
Between 1869 and the end of the 1960s around 100,000 British children were sent to the former colonies as part of a child migration scheme aimed at orphans or children from struggling families. They were promised better lives in the countryside air of Canada or Australia but few children prospered and many were horribly abused. In 2010, the then PM, Gordon Brown, apologised for the UK's role in the scheme. Now a new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood reveals just how misguided the scheme was - and just how badly mistreated the children were. Emma Jane Kirby went to meet the curator and some former child migrants, including Patrick, pictured above, at the opening.
Programme Website