HIST 103

Comparative Book Review

Student - Piya Garg

Instructor - Steven Hugh Lee

Books
Laboring Children by Joy Parr
Migration and Empire by Marjory Harper and Stephen Constantine
Laboring Children (1980), a study of child immigrants based on many original sources, presents Formatted: Font: Italic

new perspectives on childhood, social work, and rural communities in Canada. Between 1868

and 1925, 80,000 British boys and girls, mostly under the age of 14, were trained as farm

workers and domestic servants in rural Canada. What is amazing is the commitment of

evangelicals who believed they were helping children from poor families make a fresh start in

the world. Conversely, the children’s parents, who were mostly working-class and thought at the

time to be overwhelmed by economic pressures to find time for affection, moved across an

impressive distance. The book begins with an analysis of the position of growing children within Commented [y1]: Bit awkward.

these families, examining the changing implications of demands for wage work and the fear of

“dangerous classes” that influenced the idealism of immigration policy. The demand for child

labor in rural Canada and the jobs children do is illustrated in an analysis of apprenticeships. The

book also shows that the children of British immigrants in Canada were not family, but outsiders.

Finally, the book discusses the end of the movement after World War I. Canadian social workers,

like British socialists, argued that even poor children deserve 14 years of growth and schooling

before being forced to sell their labor force. This book contains extensive documentation from

many case records, presents new quantitative uses for some of these records, and sheds light on

the dark corners of the Canadian immigration experience.

Migration and Empire talks about how during the 19th century the rate of British immigration to Formatted: Font: Italic

imperial destinations, particularly Canada, Australia and New Zealand, increased significantly

and remained high. These included so-called “surplus women” and “foster children” were, sent

abroad to alleviate perceived social problems within the country. However, imperial immigrants

also included entrepreneurs and forced laborers from South Asia, Africa and the Pacific (and

others from the Far East outside the Empire), who were, for example, in Central Africa and

South
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Africa. and others had a similarly transformative impact. Caribbean, Ceylon, Mauritius, Fiji. At Commented [y2]: Did you want to wrap up the thought here?

the heart of the empire, Great Britain has received imperial immigrants since 1945, especially

from the “New Commonwealth”, often government and entrepreneurial recruitment activities.

And ultimatelyultimately, they all benefited from improved transportation. All shared similar

challenges in transferring and adapting their cultural identities, and the rewards of migrants

differed, as shown in the analysis of returning migrants. However, as many non-white

immigrants were recruited into the lower tiers of the dual labor market run by white elites, and

immigration controls restricted the access of non-whites even to British subjects as a “white”

dominion and later, the difference is also clear. England. The legacy remains, but by the 1970s,

political shifts and shifts in the global labor market had eroded the once-close ties between

immigrants and the empire.

Stories of British children’s immigration to Canada are understandably sentimental. The image

of poor orphans living in the slums of England being “rescued” and sent to the blissful

countryside of the New World has struck a chord with the public. Unsurprisingly, journalists,

television producers and book publishers have dramatized a heartwarming story that focuses on

the British immigrant experience and resurrects a tattered ideology. These works usually

acknowledge that the experience was not always a happy one. Their general attribution portrays

rescue missions as worthy and successful.

But the child’s migrant experience had a far darker side and was far more complex than the

media image suggested. It describes a little-known but very important aspect of impairing Commented [y3]: Which book?

exercise. First, Parr emphasizes that young immigrants were not mere orphans or abandoned

Arabs. Rather, most of the children were placed in shelters by parents. So the men and women

who took their children to the rescue shelters did not abandon them and acknowledged their

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need. Parr paints a picture of “strong family affection and family cohesion” (p. 63) Among the Commented [y4]: Please consult the footnotes pdf or
Chicago Manual of Style website for information on how to
use footnotes for citation.

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working poor, material factors face difficulties and sometimes lead to the breakdown of family

units. This is the ironic consequence of true ties.

Migration and Empire focuses on aspects of immigration in the British Empire from about 1815 Formatted: Font: Italic

to the 1960s. It primarily examines the correlation between immigration and Britain’s formal

empire. Of course, the decision to limit the period covered by the review to the past two

centuries means that the Atlantic slave trade, the largest forced migration during the British

imperial era, is not included here. Despite this omission, one strength of the book is that they do

not limit it to immigrants from England and Ireland who have gone abroad to start new lives.

They have also made a careful analysis of the motives and factors that led to the migration of

non-Europeans into the empire. They also gave attention to the special experiences of women

and children, with a powerful section on imperial immigrants from the West Indies and South

Asia who immigrated to Britain after World War II. It therefore provides an excellent

comparative study of the diverse motivations and experiences of many immigrants within the

British Empire.

Throughout this book, Margery Harper and Stephen Constantine highlight the many “push” and

“pull” factors that have helped inform and determine people’s choices. The former included

political or religious persecution, economic hardship, criminal penalties, and government

incentives. The latter included incentives such as positive reports from already residing families,

the promise of greater economic power, and carefully constructed propaganda campaigns by the

colonial government to attract the right people. Although the promise of a better life abroad

rarely materialized, the belief in a better life was a powerful incentive for immigrants. It broadly

reflects on the influence of charitable and for-profit organizations. Similarly, Laboring Children Formatted: Font: Italic

argues that, even after moving to Canada, the children often kept in touch with their families. For

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example, about two-thirds of Barnardo girls’ parents kept in touch with their children after

crossing the Atlantic. Parr points out that while Child Savers talked a lot about the importance of

the family as a basic social unit, it did not really appreciate working-class ties in the family.

Sometimes, they illegally shipped children to Canada without parental consent.

The second major theme of Laboring Children discusses the experiences of British children after Formatted: Font: Italic

immigration to Canada. Again, Parr’s conclusion radically changes the image of openly armed

Canadians who altruistically welcome all new families from their home country. They usually

accepted the children for financial rather than sentimental reasons and Parr argues that they were

not seen or treated as another child in the family but as boarders fulfilling an economic

arrangement. In short, the British children became members of Canadian households, not

Canadian families. Immigrants represent inexpensive contributors to meet productive needs in a

variety of home settings. Britishain’s children’s ability to play these roles determines where they

live, moving from one household to the next as they grow older, adapting their powers and

experiences to the needs of different families. Parr admits that these transient children sometimes

sought emotional bonds “trust, sharing, and solidarity they knew to characterize family concerns.”

(p. 96). But she suggests their hopes are unrealistic. “By birth, by background, by speech, by the

physical and mental legacies of their early deprivations, child immigrants were different from

Canadian children and too different to plausibly claim kin” (p. 96)

Migration and Empire begins with regional case studies across Canada, Australia, New Zealand Formatted: Font: Italic

and sub-Saharan Africa. These chapters begin by estimating the number of people who migrated

to each region and how those numbers declined. It is important to quantify the number of

immigrants involved. However, this structure makes the pages at the beginning of each chapter

heavy. This information might have worked better in tabular form in the appendix than breaking

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the flow of otherwise well-written papers. A particular emphasis is placed on the use of

immigrant testimony, thus balancing a detailed discussion of figures with an easy-to-read social

and cultural history of immigration. After a region-specific opening, the book takes a thematic

approach with chapters handling non-white immigrants and settlers, immigrant networks,

women’s immigration, child immigration, and immigrant return. A chapter on sub-Saharan

Africa reveals that the experience of settlers in this region differed from that of British North

America and Australia. As a place of settlement, it attracted far fewer migrants than other

destinations, and migrants were unevenly distributed throughout the region. Even in the warmer

regions of British East and Central Africa, settlement remained relatively sparse. Remaining a

minority within the white community, the white community has always been inferior to the black

population of Africa.

Joy Parr’s general analysis is consistent with many recent historical studies, placing her subject

in several important academic contexts, such as education and family history, and social policy in

the late nineteenth century. Those familiar with and confident in the general direction of this

recent research will warmly welcome Laboring Children. However, the book has a strong

character, and while Parr’s arguments are often compelling, some readers may find them

unconvincing. Along wide-ranging concluding chapter would have been a great addition. Also, Commented [y5]: "In addition" or "Further"?

the book is clearly sensitive to the importance of systematic research strategy, but a desire to

promote the argument seems to take precedence over a balanced weighing of the evidence. She

could have discussed alternative perspectives in more detail. She could have discussed another

point of view in more detail. The question of how British immigrants treated their Canadian

homeland is very complex and raises various questions. Was the hope among child immigrants

for ‘trust, sharing and solidarity” (p. 96) a goal that was characteristically achieved by the

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Canadian children with whom they lived? In other words, is “apprenticed or adopted” (p. 82)A

valid dichotomy? Or were family relationships in Canada determined by economic

considerations, not just emotions?

In Migration and Empire, the authors argue that climate and pathogens alone are not sufficient Formatted: Font: Italic

reasons to explain British immigrants settling in Africa. Politics and business offer more

compelling reasons. The British never saw West Africa as a potential area for white settlement,

but as a place where British citizens were conditionally encouraged to engage in other forms of

economic exploitation. They argued that in East Africa, Goans and Arabs diversified, stayed and

proliferated in other commercial activities, and thus were more likely to be demographics of that

part of the British African empire than those affected by British immigration. After World War I,

a resettlement program for ex-employees, supported by both the Kenyan and British

governments, was introduced in 1919 and East Africa had a new population i.e. an influx of

English settlers.

Parr attributes the hardships these children endured to the Canadian factor. Through research, it is

implied that these children, regardless of whether they came from slums or broken homes, could

have been saved and could have gone through childhood without being deprived. Abandoned in

a less-than-ideal Promised Land, they were never able to experience the idyllic childhood. Now

that many wealthy children exhibit behaviors previously associated with disadvantaged

backgrounds, historians need to question such comfortably held Victorian notions of childhood.

Yes, it’s understandable that rural Canadians were skeptical of these kids. Parr argues that this

bordered on fear and manifested in a rather persistent hostility towards these individuals.

Immigration policy during this period made immigration from England a top priority.

Immigration statistics provide conclusive evidence of the results of this policy.

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 Finally, Joy Parr reluctantly admits that Canada’s child immigration has been doing pretty well,

but few children end up in the middle class and are drawn to unskilled and skilled industrial

occupations. Pointing out that Children Rescuers emphasized the agricultural destiny of

children’s immigrants, but their audience were not in the slums. These statements, in fact, funded

these efforts. It was a propaganda aimed at elements of middle-class guilt. The general

impression of Laboring Children is that the book is too short. The ideas are plentiful, the

approach clever, and the author mostly right. Throughout the book, however, the discussion only

acquires momentum when the subject changes, often before the subject complexity and potential

ambiguity of the data have been fully developed and the argument resolved. Perhaps this results

from overly price conscious publishers or tyrannical editors. I wanted to read more. Of course,

this conclusion reflects the quality of the book.

Well researched and written, Migration and Empire lives up to the expectations associated with Formatted: Font: Italic

the Oxford University Press series. Immigration is often written in isolation rather than as part of

a larger experience. Putting it in context of empire migration can lead to some uncomfortable

questions about the uniqueness of migration, but it gives us a broader understanding of the

diaspora.

I thought your essay offers a number of unique strengths among other comparative essays, especially in your Formatted: Left

assessment of the arguments and how they could have improved them through better articulation, use of

evidence or attention to the contrary. The way in which you present your perspectives on the books also

contributed to comprehending your reception of not only the contents of the books but also their approaches

in handling the subject of immigration in the British Empire. I f I could offer some suggestions on how you

might improve the essay, be mindful of mechanical errors, and make sure to use the correct way of citation

as required by the essay prompt – we ask for footnotes and a bibliography in the format of Chicago Manual
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of Style. Further, also be mindful of the page requirements and the deadline for the assignment.

Final Essay Grade: C+

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Bibliography:

Parr, J., 1980. Labouring Children : British Immigrant Apprentices to Canada, 1869-1924,

McGill-Queen's University Press. Retrieved from

https://canadacommons.ca/artifacts/1877079/labouring-children/2626821/ on 09 Dec

2022. CID: 20.500.12592/03h3gk.

Harper, Marjory & Constantine, Stephen. (2011). Migration and Empire.

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199250936.001.0001.

Parr, Joy. “APPRENTICED OR ADOPTED.” Labouring Children: British Immigrant

Apprentices to Canada, 1869-1924, University of Toronto Press, 1994, pp. 82–98. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt2ttk5p.11. Accessed 9 Dec. 2022.

McCalla, Douglas. Review of Labouring Children: British Immigrant Apprentices to Canada 1869–

1924, by Joy Parr. The Canadian Historical Review, vol. 63 no. 3, 1982, p. 381-382. Project MUSE

muse.jhu.edu/article/571330.

Marjory Harper, Stephen Constantine. Migration and Empire. The Oxford History of the British Empire
Companion Series. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 380 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN
978-0-19-925093-6.

Chilton, Lisa. "Migration and Empire." Victorian Studies, vol. 54, no. 1, autumn 2011, pp. 127+. Gale
Literature Resource Center,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A283157287/LitRC?u=anon~231ad2f7&sid=googleScholar&xid=7ee10f46.
Accessed 9 Dec. 2022.

Harper, Marjory and Stephen Constantine. “Migration and Empire.” (2010).

“Reed on Harper and Constantine, 'Migration and Empire'.” H,

networks.h-net.org/node/16749/reviews/18417/reed-harper-and-constantine-migration-and-empire.

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