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Leasowe Lighthouse will be lit up tonight (September 28) in red, white, and blue, as part of an international tribute to mark National British Home Child Day in Canada.
The historical landmark is joining memorials, buildings, and other monuments across Canada and around the world in the Beacons of Light Tribute. The tribute is a gesture showing that the children involved in the scandal aren't forgotten.
In case you're wondering, from the 1860s until 1948, over 100,000 children were taken from their homes in the UK to Canada. These were essentially government-supported migration schemes, where the children were sent to be used as farm workers and domestic servants.
Leasowe Lighthouse is connected to this dark history, as many of the children sailed from Liverpool, and Leasowe Lighthouse would've been seen on their sail path on their journey.
The narrative at the time was claiming the children were impoverished or in overcrowded environments in Britain's industrial cities.
Canadians believed the children were orphans, but this was not true. Only a small percentage - estimated to be 12 percent - were. Some children faced positivity under the change, with some being adopted and finding a better life, but many found it difficult.
Documented testimonies speak of the poor conditions many children faced in their labour situations, with a lack of food and safe sleeping arrangements often being their reality.
Many children were passed around, moving from one farm to the other. Some ran away from the arrangements, while many died from ill health or from injuries as a result of neglect and abuse. Some even committed suicide.
Leasowe Lighthouse wants to honour those children.
In a Facebook post, the lighthouse said: "We are participating in the Beacons of Light Tribute today along with other monuments, memorials and buildings across Canada and internationally. It is a symbolic gesture showing these children are not forgotten."
More information about the British Home Children's story is available at www.britishhomechildren.com.
