Page 7 - NOV 2024 News On 7

HAZZARD HISTORY NOTES

by Grant Ketcheson

LEST WE FORGET THE “BRITISH HOME BOYS”

In the period from 1869-1939, 100,000 British children, ranging in age from four to fifteen, were sent to Canada. These
unfortunate children, for many reasons, had become wards of the state. In response to their situations, over fifty
agencies adopted a policy of “assisted juvenile emigration.” These needy children were sent to British colonies, Canada
being top of the list.
The children were first sent to “receiving homes” in Canada. From there, they were assigned to individual farms, the
girls slated to be domestics and the boys to be farm labourers, all indentured until age eighteen.
In recent years, descendants of those children, with the aid of internet research, have brought proper recognition to
the 'little immigrants” for their contribution to Canada. It is estimated that as many as 10% of Canada's current
population can trace their ancestry to one of the “British Home” children!
Less well known is the contribution of these home children to Canada's effort in both World Wars. At least 20,000
young men from these programs enlisted and fought overseas or at sea during WW2. As we prepare for Remembrance
Day, the Hazzard's Corners community pauses to honour two of the so-called “English lads” who fought for their new
homeland in the years 1939-1945 and are remembered in Hazzard's Cemetery.

Alec Murray (1914-1943), from the Manchester area of England, was sent to the Hazzard's Corners community where he
worked on local farms. He was made to feel welcome and the area became his home. When war was declared in
September, 1939, Alec enlisted in the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment and sailed with his comrades to England.
While training there, in 1942 he married Joan Lomax from his old hometown. Promoted to Sergeant, he was part of the
allied force that fought in the brutal Italian campaign. On December 9, 1943, at the Moro River crossing, before the
famous battle of Ortona, Alec was killed in action. While his body lies in the Moro River War Cemetery, his name has a
place of honour in Hazzard's Cemetery on the monument of his wife, Joan, and her second husband, Roscoe Keene. The
simple epitaph to Sgt. Alec Murray says, “He gave his all for us.”

Irvine Ambler (1913-2002), from Grimsby, England, served as a
Stoker, First-Class, on the corvette, HMCS Drumheller during the
Battle of the Atlantic. Corvettes carried out the perilous task of
protecting ship convoys from German U-Boats as the freighters
carried much-needed supplies from Canada to England. Irvine
married Mary Palmer, from our community, in 1943. We learned
from his son, Donald, of Irvine's contributions to his hometown of
Paris, Ontario following the war years. Irvine and Mary Ambler now
rest in Hazzard's Cemetery.

This Remembrance Day, as we honour all who served and those
who died, pause and think of the “Home Boys” who so enriched our
Canada.