Frederick George "Fred" DAYE [Parents] [scrapbook]-54 was born on 19 Dec 1900 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. He died on 05 Apr 1982 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fred was in a common law marriage with Rebecca-2117.
Other marriages:JONES, Myrtle Alma
FREDERICK GEORGE DAYE
This is the family history for Frederick George Daye as I have been able to ascertain through online records research and oral family histories.
First of all, the surname DAYE as it is known here in Canada is spelled without the final E in all the English databases. It appears to have been added sometime after Fred's arrival in Canada. The ship's passenger manifest records the surname as DAY as well as the Middlemore Homes¹ and British census records.
Frederick George Daye (I will use the final E for Frederick and his descendants, and DAY for his antecedents), was born December 19, 1900 in Birmingham, England to George Day and Annie Maria Walker Day. Current records searches do not indicate any other siblings.
About the time he was 14 years old, Frederick was placed in the care of the Middlemore Home, where he resided until he was placed on a ship destined for Canada. The ship, the Carthaginian, left Liverpool on May 18, 1915, arriving at Halifax's Pier 21 on June 01, 1915. The reasons for his placement are unknown. Since this was during the outbreak of WWI (The Great War), one can presume it was for his safety, although a ship crossing the North Atlantic Ocean at this time was not entirely safe as the German Naval Forces Submarine Patrols (Wolf Packs) were torpedoing Allied vessels crossing the North Atlantic at this time.
Upon his arrival in Canada, following arrangements made by the Middlemore agent, he was sent to the Fredericton, New Brunswick area, where he was placed with a local family as a trades apprentice, farm worker, mercantile worker or any other position he was able to fulfill. The history of this time period is currently unknown to this author until his marriage to Myrtle Alma Jones on December 24, 1924 at the age of 24. Fred's surname is still listed as DAY on the marriage notice, so the E was added some time after 1924. The family history from this point on is quite well documented.
Notes
Note 1 - The Middlemore Home was a place for poor and destitute parents to divest themselves of their children for placement in either Canada or Australia, in hopes they would have a better life. This was not always the case. Between 1875 and 1932, approximately 100,000 British children were sent to Canada to work in stores, factories or on farms as paid labourers, or something akin to slave labour with little or no wages and poor living conditions. The program was headed by John Throgmorton Middlemore and came to be known as Middlemore's Children's Emigration Scheme, based in Birmingham, England, with placement homes in Canada and Australia. The children became known as the British Home Children.
