Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Walker, Emma J.
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Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Mrs. Emma J. Walker was the originator of the National Council of Women's efforts to evacuate British children to Canada during the Second World War.
During World War 1, she served as a Red Cross hospital visitor, and then as a Welfare Officer for Canadians at the Duston Military Hospital in Northampton. In anticipation of the Second World War, Walker arranged in 1934 for a young girl of her acquaintance in England, to be sent to Canada in the event of war. She later discussed plans to evacuate large numbers of British children with the North Shore Council of Women. The plan was presented before the National Council of Women, which then worked towards the inclusion of a clause in the voluntary registration of women regarding a family's willingness and ability to take in a British child during war. In response to the large numbers of British children cared for by Canadian families, in 1947 the Kinsmen Trust organization in England offered scholarships for Canadian children to attend schools in Britain.