Barnardo Boys Demonstrating Their Skills as Brushmakers at a London Technical Exhibition, 1892.
Training in habits of industry was a central part of the child rescue process. The emigration homes ran workshops in which boys were taught metal and wood working, photography, printing, shoemaking, tailoring and other skills. The homes publicized their training programmes in order to convince potential patrons that their charity encouraged industry rather then indolence. Especially during the period of most vigorous Canadian opposition to juvenile immigration, 1885 to 1895, emigration agents used photographs like these to demonstrate to Canadians that the children they received were experienced and useful workers. Unfortunately, many of the young apprentices' British skills were, like those of these brushmakers, of little value in rural Canadian placements.
