Madge Gill

Madge Gill (1882–1961), born Maude Ethel Eades, was an English outsider and visionary artist.
Born 19 January 1882, an illegitimate child in East Ham, Essex, (now Greater London), she spent much of her early years in seclusion because her family couldn't stand the embarrassment. At age 9, despite her mother still being alive, she was placed in Dr. Barnardo’s Girls’ Village Home orphanage at Barkingside, Ilford, Essex.
In 1896, she was sent to Canada by Dr. Barnardo's Homes as a British Home Child, arriving aboard the S.S. Scotsman as one of a group of 254 children destined to become farm laborers and domestic servants for Canadian families. Upon arrival at Quebec City, she and the other girls in her travel party were taken by train to Barnardo’s Hazelbrae Home in Peterborough, Ontario before being sent out on placements as domestics. Her name, Maud Eades, can be found inscribed on the…