Orphans, cheap labour and a brave new world JIM GILCHRIST THE OLDEST of them was 18, the youngest six, and they watched their homeland recede in their wake as the Hibernian steamed down the Firth of Clyde, en route for Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was 19 March 1891, and the 129 boys on board were orphans, from Quarriers homes - established in Renfrewshire less than 20 years before - making the 2,650-mile Atlantic crossing to Canada in the hope of a better life than they might otherwise find in Scotland. One can scarcely imagine what the feelings of these orphans, particularly the younger ones, must have been as they headed for the open sea and an unknown future, but their names and ages can still be seen, entered neatly in the ship's passenger list, with "Quarriers party" written tellingly on the first of the three pages. Between 1871 and 1938, an incredible 7,000 "home children" of both sexes were dispatched to Canada by Quarriers alone. Other orphanages, such as Barnardo's, or the Middlemore Homes in England, also sent children to Canada, as well as to other colonial outposts such as Australia. And now it is possible for descendants and other researchers to trace these individuals online, through what is being hailed as the first comprehensive database of passenger ships leaving Britain for destinations such as North America, Australia, India and Africa between 1890 and 1960 (more on site) http://heritage.scotsman.com/genealogy.cfm?id=178782007 Chris