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Guernsey's emigrant children |
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The 1752 emigration
In 1752, Jean de Jersey, a well known and wealthy ship owner and merchant, proposed to take 20 to 30 children from the Town Hospital to New England. Although his methods may have seemed altruistic in giving these poor, and often orphaned children a new start in life, there was an ulterior motive behind his plan. 
The long voyage from Guernsey to Boston |
Jean de Jersey felt that by removing a number of the town's poor children he would help alleviate the 'poor-problem' in the long term, by ensuring they did not settle and have families in Guernsey, which they probably would not be able to support. The fewer poor families there were in Guernsey the less the richer inhabitants would have to contribute towards the costs of the poor house. These kinds of schemes were not unusual at the time, nor in the centuries that followed. In Surrey and Sussex the Petworth Emigration Scheme was built on a similar premise.
Provisions:
Town Hospital Records list items provided for a later group of children who went to Quebec. They included 12 lemons, ginger, a basket, a bottle of vinegar, six pairs of gloves, 12 yards of cloth, 2 bottles of sherry and a pannier basket. |
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The Directors of the Hospital agreed to the proposal but specified that only those who volunteered to leave would board the ship. Town Hospital records show that inmates and others regularly emigrated to America and Canada during the period 1750 - 1850.
In the end, only 16 people, five male and 11 female, agreed to the Jean de Jersey's proposed journey. Their ages ranged from eight to 28 years, although the majority of them were in the 10 - 16 years age bracket. The youngest on board was Pierre Enouf, aged 8, whilst Marie Broomstick was the oldest at 28. There were at this time 32 boys and 24 girls in the Town Hospital, so approximately 20 per cent of the children went to New England.
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