YOU would not know it, to look at this photo of a dapper young man in three-piece suit and smart shoes, but when Drumchapel teenager Adrian Rose arrived in Canada in 1929, he had £2 in his pocket.
His nephew, Eric Flack, recalls: “Adrian was my mother’s brother – his father (my grandfather) had died in 1922 and Adrian and his brother, two sisters and mother did not have much money.
“There was an organisation called the British Immigration and Colonisation Association of Canada – it would be considered very controversial nowadays, its slogan was ‘Keep Canada British’.”
Eric adds: “After the war they were advertising widely for British boys aged between 14 and 18 to work as farm hands in eastern Canada, with the aim of eventually becoming permanent citizens.
“They had an office in Bath Street, Glasgow and advertised fairly extensively in newspapers. The starting wage was 10 shillings a week with full board on the farm.
“Boys who went out under this scheme and who saved £100 by the age of 21 would receive a loan of £500 from the Canadian Government to set up on a farm of their own.”
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Times Past regular reader Eric, who is from Drumchapel, got in touch to share his uncle’s story after reading our recent feature on Canadian immigration.
He adds: “My grandmother signed up her youngest son, Adrian, to the scheme and he left Liverpool on the Doric, arriving in Halifax bound by rail for Montreal on April 2, 1929. After what he termed a ‘learning period’ on a farm run buy the BICA he was placed for three years on a farm with a Wesley Schuyler in Jarvis Ontario.
“He returned to Glasgow in 1931 having completed his first three years.”
Life in Glasgow in the early 30s was not easy, however, and, finding work hard to come by, Adrian decided to return to Canada in the summer of 1931.
Eric explains: “He was 19, and this time he had £10 in his pocket. The coldest weather on record hit East Ontario in late December 1933 and he returned in January 1934 to Drumchapel. He spoke about his time in Canada often – it was not easy for many of the labourers as some were badly treated and lived in quarters which were no more than wooden shacks.
“There was very little supervision of essentially a fairly wild bunch of teenage lads. He was aware of one lad who had not been paid and stole food, then found himself in prison and was deported.
“Adrian struck lucky though, and was treated well.”
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Back in Glasgow, with some money he saved, Adrian managed to complete a nautical engineering qualification. He worked in shipping for the rest of his life
“He worked in Rowans marine engineers, and was on the RAF air sea rescue boats as an engineer in World War Two,” says Eric. “He worked as a marine engineer for the rest of his life and did well – a long way from when he arrived in Canada as a 16-year-old with two pounds in his pocket…”
Does your family have a Canada connection? Many Glaswegians started new lives there in the 30s and 40s - get in touch to share your stories. Email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.
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