Uncertain Waters

Irish Sea shoreline - Dublin 2018, Photo by: CJ Scott

In 2018 I journeyed to Northern Ireland for an overdue adventure filled with uncertainty, excitement and connection with family I had never met.  The first day of my arrival I took some time to sit outside of my hotel and take in the scenery.  As I sat staring at the shoreline of the Irish Sea I started thinking how amazing it was to finally be here.  I also started wondering what my Nana, Lillian Breen, was thinking as she left these shores and came to Canada back in 1927.  

She never spoke to me of where she came from, but I do remember there were times that she was sad because she missed her family.  It was not until I was asked to do a family tree school project that I asked her if she could answer some of my questions.  Although very grateful for the conversation I had more questions.  She came from Northern Ireland and lived in County Tyrone having 11 siblings which she easily named.  I am so grateful for having to complete that family tree project, but little did I know my journey ahead!

Why did she decide to leave her home at the age of 17 and travel by herself to Canada in 1927?  I began to think of what was happening at that time to encourage her to leave, and how she could afford the trip considering her family were farmers which meant they had very little.  In 1919 WW1 had ended, and when the Canadian economy started recovering in the 1920's there was a need for labourers, farmers and domestics due to Canadians starting to migrate to the United States.  In Northern Ireland unemployment was at an all time high in with even the ship yards in Belfast falling from 24,000 employed in 1923 to only 8,000 by 1934 (Johanne Devlin Trew, Leaving the North-Migration and Memory, Northern Ireland 1921-2011, Liverpool University Press, pg. 39-43).  

Canadian Pacific Liner S.S Metagama, Photo by: CJ Scott

In 1922 the Empire Settlement Act was designed to facilitate British resettlement of agriculturalists, farm labourers, domestics and juvenile immigrants throughout Canada. As an incentive the E.S.A. provided paid passage by boat and train (Library and Archives Canada. Statutes of Canada. A Bill to Make Better Provisions for further British Settlement in His Majesty's Oversea Dominions, 1922. Ottawa: SC 12 George V, Bill 87).  

According to a ships manifest I acquired for the S.S. Metagama, which left Belfast on April 30 1927, Elizabeth Breen from Beragh, County Tyrone, is identified as an 18 year old Domestic who's passage was paid for by the E.S.A 1922.  The manifest further states that she arrived on the 8th of May 1927 in Quebec with £2 in her pocket and would be travelling on the Canadian Pacific Railway to Toronto, Ontario as her final destination.  It also confirms her mother's name, Rebecca Breen, showing her as the nearest relative from the Country in which she came.  Another item of interest was that her ticket was for third class.  Third class or steerage as it is sometimes called can be difficult travelling, meaning she did not stay in a cabin and either travelled on the deck in the open elements or was in the bottom of the ship with crowded conditions for 9 days by herself.  The S.S. Metagama consisted of 520 cabins and had room for 1200 third class tickets.  

Passenger List Canada Incoming 1865-1935-Ancestry.ca, accessed Oct 2021

Remember I said that my Nana was 17 years old and the ships passenger list indicated that she was 18? Based on a certified copy acquired from the General Registrar of Northern Ireland, Elizabeth was born on the 7th of January 1910 in the District of Sixmilecross Omagh.  There is no evidence to understand if she showed her identification or not to confirm her age, or if she was simply asked, but it is clear that she was 17 years old in 1927.  

What is clearly proven to me by this journey on uncertain waters is that, a young girl 17 years old who was the youngest sibling in her family, left Northern Ireland and journeyed by herself on a ship travelling for 9 days, 9,126 Kilometres (5,670 Miles) to find a new life with opportunities.  These simple facts offer a insight to what a courageous individual my Nana was, and her simple desire of a better life.  I am so grateful today for her decision to make the journey.