'I find it incredible that the young men leave their mothers, sisters, behind to face possibly even worse horrors.
As Claremont says this has always been the way of things and was very common within British and Irish families. Do we know if the young men who were sent ahead were the only ones who could look after the family? It may have been, as it was in many families going from an agrarian culture in our country, that the oldest son (or youngest uncle) stayed to work the land and support the family at home. The next eldest was sent, with what the family could gather together, to lands we had taken from others. There they did little other than work until they had enough land for the family so send the next son or cousin who was trusted to work for the first, save and be helped to buy his farm. From this system I have extended family in Canada, America, Australia and South Africa. The land they bought was often taken from the indigenous people and sold to the Empire builders very cheaply.
And this still happens but with different skill sets being traded. Those who are often made unwelcome were they have been settled for generations know to tell their young people to learn portable skills. Now these may be language and communication skills, entrepreneurial skills, digital literacy, craftsmanship and artistic skills, health and care-giving skills, etc.
So my family took advantage of Great Britain's stealing of others countries in the past. That stealing sometime took good things, such as modern medicine, to the people they displaced. Some countries now use phrases such as the Australians do "We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging."
The worst things that happened way back when (the 1800s in my families case) was usually down to ignorance. Ignorance, fear and arrogance did and still do play a large part in the wickedness of the past and of the wickedness of today.
My family still spread themseves around the world. In this generation we split to a third remaining, a third moving to the US and a third to Australia. We sent our most skilled and they were welcomed. A UK that does not organise and put in place a proper system to welcome those who add the things we lack will become a worse and poorer place to live. And let's not forget that one of our shortages is youth.
