Emigration around the Empire
By 1896 many boys, whose passages were paid by the Board of Managers, had blazed the trial of Empire and beyond-Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Canada and the U.S.A. Letters from the boys were richly nostalgic. A boy wrote from New Zealand in 1893:
"...don't look at the end of this letter to find the writer. Think of the bad boys and I'll be among them... I look back on my school-days as the happiest I have ever known."
In 1896 a boy wrote from India:
"I look back on my school-days and often wish I could have them over again."
But after all, to many the Institution had been their only home.
In 1959 a former Orphanage girl died in Australia in her seventy-fifth year. She bequeathed £100 (£75A) to the Fund in memory of the happy times she and a younger brother had spent in the Institution more than 60 years before.
It is not easy to calculate precisely how many orphans
Group of children from The Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage
emigrated on leaving the Orphanage. Between 1928 and 1936, however, a total of 31 boys and one girl went to Australia. Each was met on arrival by the local police, found accommodation and suitable employment and supervised until well into maturity. By 1936 one boy had a 200 acre farm and three were serving as Constables in the Victoria Police Force, probably shooting competitively every year for a silver chalice bearing the inscription:
"Presented by the Board of Managers of the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage to the Victoria Police Force in recognition and appreciation of the kind and valuable services rendered to the boys and girls from the Institution who have emigrated to Australia."
The chalice was presented in 1928.
