single women going to Canada 1922

[Donches]

I was interested to read this topic as in 1910 the second wife of my g.uncle William Davies, Isabella Laurie Davies née Wood, left her husband and three children to emigrate to Canada to work as a domestic. She probably found that her marriage was bigamous and Frederick had left her for yet another woman. On the ship she was in 'the Joyce Party'. It looks as if there was some sort of organisation for recruiting Scottish women in difficulties as domestics in Canada. Is anything more known of this?

Don

[DonM]

Don

Mrs Joyce Party sponsored a number of domestics over a few years. 
Think of it s a forerunner of the employment agency.

Don

[hell o]

Eileen Wilson,

yes please I would like your help, I don't have a clue how to go about what u suggest.

helen

[eileenwilson]

Helen, I will go into the library this weekend and order in the microfilm from the Archives of Ontario.  With the estate #  you will be able to contact them and ask for a copy of the estate.  As I mentioned, it may take a couple of weeks to get the film, but will let you know how I make out.

[hell o]

Don, I too would like to know more about what happened to these young single women in Canada, and why they were selected. My great-grandmother had 3 children in 4 yrs before she was 20yrsold, was arrested and jailed for being drunk and prostitution, was in Woodilee Asylum on more than one occasion, her first child was adopted by a relative of father, 2nd child died age 6 months, and my gran - her 3rd child was taken into care around 7yrs of age (1915) then in 1922 left for a new life in Canada (without her daughter who was 14yrs old).  I think that "fallen women", "ladies of the night", prostitutes were selected in order to keep men from returning to Britain from Canada. A wife would keep one man in Canada but a prostitute could keep 100's. The death found by Eileen Wilson is defo my janet keith, who was still single when she died - her obit only mentions her brother William and a friend Margaret, no mention of previous life in Scotland where she had 4 more siblings and a son and a daughter. 

[Rena]

Not too many years ago there was a TV programme outlining old newsreels and I'm pretty sure that one of them showed Glasgow in the 1920s. My main memory is of a queue of women embarking on a ship to cross the Pond as domestic servants. 

My computer isn't running very well today and although I can see that Pathe News has a website, I can't access it to see if there's an item about migration.

[eileenwilson]

Helen, I have ordered the necessary microfilm into my local library.  Should have within a couple of weeks.  Will let you know when I have estate file number.

[Donches]

Interesting Don, thanks. Did she only recruit in Scotland?

[DonM]

Don't believe so Don.  Her name pops up on ships leaving England and Scotland.