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Record #21860

Name :: : Edward Barry NORRIS (1914 - )
aka : Barry Edward Norris
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 1914 (approx.)
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland

Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialCanada

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 20 Aug 1926
Country: : Canada
Ship: : Montcalm
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Crusade of Rescue

NotesEdward was the son of Henry George Norris and his wife Alice Ruth Balls. He was the sibling of Cecil and of sister Miriam Muriel Norris - who came to Canada the same time he did.

Photo Caption:
Uprooted since 1926 Edward Norris a "Home Children" dreams of finding his birth England. When he left at the age of 12 - British authorities led him to believe that he had won a vacation in a Canadian colony.

Exile Searching his roots
"I don't want to die before going to England"
74 years after being deported, Edward Norris holds onto the dream of seeing his birth land. This week the 86 year old learned his dream would become true.
This resident of Saint Luc, a borough of Montreal, is what we call a "Home Child". One of 100,000 British children who between 1869 and 1939 were sent to Canada to work on farms. Officially, they made the trip to escape poverty. In reality many were treated as slaves. A troubling story, long hidden but resurfacing in the last years. So much so that the British government, last spring, made available funds in the amount of 2.5 million to help Home children retrace their origins. These funds will allow the deported like Mr. Norris, to succeed in retracing members of their families in England and taking a 2 week trip back to their homeland. And soon a data base listing all Home Children will be put into action.

Mr. Norris knows that he now qualifies to make the trip. Thanks to the efforts of his grandson Alan and the research done by the Ellen Foundation, a non profit organization in PEI he just found out that he still has a niece living across the ocean, Sheila Gilbert, more then 60 years old. When she heard she had an uncle in Canada she was ecstatic. "She couldn't be more excited than me" stated Mr. Norris - feverish with the though of soon uncovering more of his own identity.

It was 1926 that the young boy of 12 was sent to Quebec. His older sister Muriel Myriam Norris also made the trip. He knows not what happened to her. He's always hoped to find her and ideally to return to England together.

Mr. Norris was led to believe that he had "won" a trip to a vacation colony. But what awaited him was nothing short of festive. Up until the age of 27 he was passed from one foster home to another - farm to farm= disappointment to disappointment.

Like the majority of Home Children, Mr. Norris was the victim of all types of abuse. "I worked hard - I was slapped" he recalls. "Sometimes I thought of my mother, in despair, and started to cry"

Mr. Norris keeps only bits of his past. The first thing he's going to do in England is try to find a portrait of his mother. This he says, with tears in his eye. Her name is Alice Ruth Balla (?). He hopes that his niece knew her. Yesterday he wrote her a letter and sent pictures. He is anxiously awaiting a reply.

ContributorsCreated : 2013-09-11 16:15:57 / From original database

Last Updated :

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Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 156 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
3157	ACTON, Alice	1909	ENG, WAR, Birmingham	Jul 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Society
5146	ALDWORTH, Cecil John	1915	ENG, HAM, Christchurch	Oct 1928 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
5145	ALDWORTH, Sidney Francis	1912	ENG, HAM, Christchurch	Oct 1928 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
11939	ALLCOCK, Sidney	1911	IND, , Bombay	Oct 1924 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
22343	ALLEN, Richard	1907	ENG,	Sep 1922 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown Catholic Group
11503	ALLPORT, Margaret	1914	ENG, , Shrewsbury	May 1931 : Montcalm		Waifs & Strays	ynaught
10453	ARMSTRONG, Lillian	1908	ENG, LAN, Liverpool	Sep 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
14857	AUSTRIN, Wilfred	1909	ENG, HRT, Hertford	May 1924 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
10504	AYOUB, Richard	1908	ENG, LDN, London	May 1922 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Childrens Emigration Service of London
11419	BANNON, Bartholomew	1910	IRL,	Aug 1924 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown Catholic Group
11420	BANNON, John Joseph	1911	IRL,	Aug 1924 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown Catholic Group
18735	BARNES, Mary	1911	ENG,	1922 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown
19733	BARNFATHER, Frederick Charles	1905	ENG,	Apr 1922 : Montcalm	CAN	MacPherson Homes
11470	BARRETT, Richard	1908	ENG, , Ashton under Lyne	May 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
11500	BARRETT, Violet	1909	ENG, LDN, London	Oct 1924 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
11468	BARRETT, William Joseph	1910	IRL, , Dublin	Sep 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
5388	BATE, Gordon	1912	ENG, LDN, London	Aug 1927 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
19545	BEATLEY, Arthur	1914	ENG,	Jun 1928 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
4109	BEATTIE, Thomas Leslie	1909	ENG, CUL, Carlisle	Apr 1926 : Montcalm	CAN	Salvation Army
10438	BECK, Christopher Edward	1908	ENG, , Camberwell	May 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Fegan Homes for Boys
20493	BECKETT, John	1913	ENG,	May 1924 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
20963	BEDFORD, Fred	1911	ENG,	Sep 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
20965	BEDFORD, John	1900	ENG,	Sep 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
20941	BEDFORD, John Edgar	1906	ENG,	May 1922 : Montcalm	CAN	Middlemore
21574	BEGG, Alexander	1916	ENG,	Apr 1926 : Montcalm	CAN	Salvation Army
21591	BELCH, George	1911	ENG,	Apr 1927 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown
21592	BELCH, James	1913	ENG,	Apr 1927 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown
21653	BELL, Alexander	1912	ENG,	Jul 1927 : Montcalm	CAN	British Immigration and Colonisation Association
22514	BELL, Mary	1907	ENG,	May 1923 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
3504	BENTLEY, James	1910	ENG,	Sep 1922 : Montcalm	CAN	Unknown Catholic Group
ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links

Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 156 Entries

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

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