567 Carnegie Ave, Peterborough, Ontario, K9L 1N1

705-745-4404

6 June, many people gathered for a series of events focusing on the Barnardo children, and aspects of their contributions to our collective experience. A new monument was dedicated to the memory of those buried in Little Lake Cemetery. These included a teacher, aged 45, and several youngsters, aged 8 to 25. They were young, for the most part those who were too sick, weak or disabled to be placed with a Canadian family. Then, the group of perhaps 100 people moved to Peter Robinson College for the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to the history of Hazelbrae, the large home that served for nearly forty years as the major distribution centre for Barnardo girls. The day concluded with a church service at George Street United Church.

Hazelbrae was the large house and its extensions which served as home to the some 10,000 Barnardo Children, native of England, who passed through Peterborough. They were usually on their ways to be adopted or to be domestics or apprentices in Canada. Barnardo’s, which assisted 30,000 children to Canada, was the largest of the many agencies organizing the major emigration of perhaps 80,000 to 100,000 children to Canada.

Historic Hazelbrae was important to Peterborough and to those children who grew up to be farmers, agricultural labourers, miners, factory workers, forest workers, policemen and soldiers, and professionals in one of the most formative periods in Canadian history - the twenty or thirty years before World War I.

The new plaque was planted on the laneway to one of the most interesting places in Peterborough’s history. Edward Caddy sketched the house at the top of Conger’s Hill in 1839, and it was a fine house by any standard even then. The property, roughly bounded by Parkhill Road, Chemong Road, Barnardo Avenue and the river, was owned by John Hall and Moore Lee, the owners of Peterborough’s government mill (on a site now occupied by Quaker Oats). The property passed to John R. Benson, the town’s first merchant, in a public auction in 1837 and remained in the family until 1872, when this particular property was purchased by Alexander Smith.

Sheriff Conger appears to have built the first grand home on this site. Conger was Peterborough’s first sheriff, 1841-56, and was a sometime MPP and mayor. He died of tuberculosis in 1864, at the age of 60. He offered the house for sale in 1861, and the advertisement was still running in July 1863. His home, "Terrace Hill Cottage", was occupied by the Hon Sidney Smith, the Postmaster General of Canada. "The House is large, convenient and in excellent state of repair. The grounds attached - an entire block of two acres - are beautifully laid out, forming one of the most agreeable residences in Upper Canada." [It is not clear what happened to the property between Sidney Smith and Alexander Smith; need to check the date of the fire at Conger’s place, and whether this was the house.]

Alexander Smith built Hazelbrae on the top of the hill, perhaps in 1871 and 1872; perhaps earlier. The property passed to Robert Nicholls, the banker and merchant, and was in his estate when he died in November 1883. His widow, Charlotte Nicholls, sold the property to T.G. Hazlett, Samuel Dickson’s son-in-law in June 1884, and it was in turn sold to George A. Cox in 1888. Title to the property passed to the Barnardo Homes only in 1918, near the end of its remarkable connection to Peterborough.

George A. Cox took an early interest in the Barnardo Homes which by 1883 already had a reputation for assisting orphans, and neglected and destitute children. The first Barnardo children arrived in Canada in 1883, and George A. Cox visited the Toronto base in the summer of 1883 and offered a Peterborough home for the enterprise. The Rev F. Fielder, the leader who had brought out those first seventy boys came to Peterborough. He was excited by what he saw and accepted George A. Cox’s offer of a house and land for a branch home, for Barnardo’s orphan and destitute girls. Cox had given Fielder a wide choice, and Fielder chose Moira Hall, the building that became the first home of Nicholls’ Hospital. Clearly, Charlotte Nicholls and T.G. Hazlett were partners in George A. Cox’s offer.

The first group of children destined for Hazelbrae arrived 22 July 1884, almost 115 years ago. Their train stopped as it crossed this laneway, and the children had only a short walk to their new Canadian home. The preparations had been completed and the following day a grand lawn and garden party was held at Hazelbrae. Dr Barnardo came to town in August, and Peterborough people packed into the Bradburn Opera House to hear Dr Barnardo talk about his work in the "rescue of human wrecks from the seething sea of London misery." The work had begun with one homeless boy in 1865, and by 1883 the Barnardo Homes were helping 1300 children a year. There had been some criticisms, but he noted that the more general feeling in 1883 was that "there was room in this broad Dominion for every soul likely to become a good and industrious citizen."

The building that greeted the Peterborough visitors to the lawn party was well-described by the reporter for the Peterborough Examiner:

The building is thus laid out for use. On the left of the wide entrance hall is the private parlour of Mr and Mrs Duff, who in consideration of the social sacrifices their position entails, are entitled to the seclusion and comfort this well-furnished and comfortable room admits of. Facing the entrance is the dining-room for the staff, and to the left end of the staircase hall is the secretary’s office, and to the right of the hall, is entered by two doors, the capacious, well lighted play roo, the former drawing room of the residence. The kitchen has been converted into a dining hall for the children. Opening off this is an annex, added by Mr Cox, fitted up as a lavatory, where the youngsters perform their toilets. In the second story are the sleeping rooms of the staff, and a portion is used for a dormitory. This, together with the third story, is fitted with neat little single cot beds, sufficient to sleep 150 children. Each cot is neatly made up, the covering being a grey blanket, with spotless pillows, etc. To a lad or girl, whose memories go back a few months to the time when softest couch was under a cart or archway, in a coal bin, or in the more sheltered but more repulsive squalor of a lodging house, these comfortable beds will be the incarnation of princely luxuriousness - a realization of something which, to their one-time wretchedness, seemed as unattainable as to the Scriptural Dives, is "Abraham’s bosom." // The staff of servants required is only two girls, a large share of the work being done by the orphans who are thus practically initiated into the mysteries of housekeeping. // Hazelbrae is only a temporary home for the orphans. As soon as possible they are placed in situations, or adopted, and thus make room for fresh arrivals.

Dr Barnardo returned to Hazelbrae in July 1890. He had been concerned that at times the girls had been left without adult supervision in the house, or in the distant outhouses milking cows. The Duffs had been succeeded by the Annersleys, and then by Miss Woodgate. Barnardo seemed happy with Miss Woodgate.

Miss Woodgate has effected such improvements and changes here, as you who remember what Hazelbrae was, would hardly realise or believe. The servants are respectful; they wait upon us properly, we never see or hear the nineteen children in the house except at morning Prayer. Miss Woodgate has everything like clockwork, is scrupulously methodical and clean, and very thoughtful and capable. Except her slight mannerism, which one soon gets over, there is no possible point at which we can criticize her unfavourably. The grounds aredelightfully cool after the broiling heat of the last few days. The grass was green and verdant, the trees in full leaf, and flowers everywhere and Marriott says, ‘it is just as sweet a spot as he has ever seen in Canada’.

At any given time, it seems there would have been about 25 to 30 girls and the staff. In 1901, for example, there were 28 girls living in Hazelbrae, and 21 had arrived in the current and the previous year.

When Barnardo visited in 1890, old girls were invited to Hazelbrae. About forty girls came, mostly those who had done well. Barnardo noted the girls arrived in "the queerest kind of buggies, gigs, waggons and other primitive vehicles, often driven by their employers, sometimes by the mistress only, and of course, in holiday attire."

The maintenance of Hazelbrae proved difficult. George A. Cox, the great benefactor, moved to Toronto shortly after Hazelbrae came to Peterborough. Moreover, he seems to have been upset with how the Annersleys, whom he considered friends, lost their job. The Roman Catholic church had gone to court because it felt many of the children who had had Roman Catholic parents were being raised as Methodists. Raising local funds was more difficult in this climate. The Barnardo Children had been warmly welcomed to Peterborough, and for the most part, and despite great difficulties, the history of Hazelbrae seems to have matched its expectations.

Hazelbrae ceased to operate in 1922. The Canadian government was pressured to stop child emigration because labour unions complained that such emigration drove down the wages other workers could demand. As well, Canada was developing systems for looking after Canadian orphans and destitute children, and people such as Charlotte Whitton and other social workers thought priority should go to Canadian social welfare developments. The buildings at Hazelbrae were dismantled over the years and in 1941 Dr Barnardo’s Homes in London, England sold the entire property to Morley Shaver of Peterborough. A subdivision was soon developed on the lands along O’Carroll Avenue, from the Peterborough Normal School to Barnardo Avenue.

So today we dedicate this plaque to many fascinating, intertwined stories of international, national and local significance.