home child

noun

A person who was sent as a child from the United Kingdom to one of its colonies, under a migration scheme founded in 1869.

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Meanings

nounhome child (plural home children)

plural home children

  1. historicalA person who was sent as a child from the United Kingdom to one of its colonies, under a migration scheme founded in 1869.

    […] orphanages sent tens of thousands of children to start new lives in the overseas dominions, particularly Australia and Canada. Some 100,000 children were sent to Canada alone, and about a quarter of all Canadians have a home child on their family tree.

    2011, Simon Fowler, Family History: Digging Deeper
Cite this entry
APA

home child. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/home%20child

MLA

“home child.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/home%20child. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “home child,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/home%20child.

Source: home child on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.