Home Child from Black Lights by Susy Wall

Between 1873 and 1933 more than 5,000 immigrant children from the Children’s Emigration Homes of Birmingham were settled in rural communities in Ontario and the Maritime provinces of Canada (Carl Chinn; Issue 192, Brummagem) And one of those children was Black Country poet Liz Berry’s great aunt - Eliza Showell. In 1908, aged twelve and newly orphaned, Eliza was sent from a Birmingham children’s home to work in indentured service in rural Nova Scotia. She never returned to England or saw her brothers again. This song is for her and for all the other home children, wherever they were from.

Tracklist

4.	Home Child	2:57

Lyrics

Brother of mine
I hate to leave you so far behind
our sister I will always be
So say you’ll come and look for me

Mother, I can feel your hand
As I say towards a strangers’ land
On misty water, I await my fate
When all I know is miles away

I’m a home child,
I’m a home child
So far from home child

They call it Nova Scotia but it’s not where I belong
It doesn’t even look or smell like home
I’ve been sending you my letters
But there’s nothing in return
This must be how it feels to be alone
Brother of mine, Will I see you more last time?

Credits

from Black Lights, released September 5, 2025
Written by Susy Wall
Produced by Chris Pepper
Mastered by Mark Freegard

Susy Wall: Guitar, Vocals
Chris Pepper: Percussion, lapsteel
John Parker: Double bass

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