"British Home Children were those who had been admitted into a Philanthropic Home, Union Workhouse or Industrial School between 1869 and 1948, from families that had suffered a great tragedy or were dysfunctional. A great many of these children were then brought to Canada where they were received into a Distributing Home for settlement as farm labourers and domestics. [The stories of Home Children collected in this book by the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa] reflect the contributors' recollections of their ancestors and the times and conditions in which they lived"--Introduction, p. ix.