developmental psychologist Mrs. Jocelyn Motyer Raymond stumbled across the astonishing revelation that London workhouse children had been sent to Bermuda in the mid-1800s as indentured servants.

That was some years ago and now, her story of this controversial social experiment is being published in book form. Entitled "Saturday's Children -- A Journey from Darkness into Light, Bermuda 1850'', Mrs. Raymond's book will be available in local bookstores at the beginning of next month.

"I was intrigued by the reference to these children, but my husband was an invalid at the time and it wasn't until after his death several years later that I was able to look into it properly.'' She says that the late David Critchley was also instrumental in encouraging her to follow up this little-publicised facet of the Island's social history.

The Bermuda scheme had its roots in the London parish of St. Pancras. Shipping street children off to the colonies was considered a convenient way to deal with the growing problem of homelessness.

Mrs. Raymond conducted fruitful research at the Guildhall Library in London, as well as the Bermuda Archives. "It took me about two years altogether. I did the Bermuda bit first, and that was the most difficult, trying at first, to do it by long distance telephone.'' Noting that the entire project has been a succession of surprises, Mrs.

Raymond says the first came when she learned, through Governemnt archivist John Adams, that local historian W.E.S. Zuill had, in fact, written about the Britain/Bermuda emigration scheme in the Bermuda Historical Quarterly in 1968, "but at that time, he probably thought that it was a bit of a storm in a teacup.'' She explains it was only in the late 1970s that social historians started gathering, and publishing, "horror stories'' about emigration schemes under which children were shipped out from Britain to various colonies (principally to Australia and Canada).

"The information gathered indicates that many of those children were virtually abandoned and lived lives of terrible loneliness and privation, and some suffered physical and sexual abuse. But,'' she adds, "the next big surprise -- after learning that Bermuda was mixed up in all this -- was that the Bermuda experiment had, in relative terms, been a remarkable success.'' Explaining that most of the children, some of whom were as young as ten years old, were employed as domestic or agricultural labourers, Mrs. Raymond reveals that a few were apprenticed to trades.

Talking to Mrs. Raymond, it becomes obvious that she has been deeply moved by the stories of these children: "Most of them seem to have done well. But I think what really upset me the most was the young boy who ended up being sent to prison, and the kids who died of yellow fever in the epidemics which periodically erupted then. When it broke out in 1853, of the 39 children from St. Pancras, seven deaths were recorded, but there were possibly more.'' Descendants of some of those children who came out here to work for a set period of years before gaining their freedom, are still living in Bermuda today.

"I hope young people will read this book because I think it has things in it which both races, black and white, will find interesting and very surprising -- to realise, for instance, that these children came from very distressed circumstances and that not everyone came out here from English manor houses! The streets of London in those days were very, very grim.'' Pointing out that families broken by poverty in Industrial Revolution-England were literally dispossessed as family units, Mrs. Raymond says, "Unfortunately, we are seeing history repeating itself today. The wretched lives of `Third World' children are almost a replica of the lives that London street children led 150 years ago.'' This former reporter for The Royal Gazette has some praise for the much-maligned press which, she maintains, was largely responsible for bringing the plight of emigre children to light.

"Even in those days, it was the newspapers, especially The Times, which brought about changes. It was easy for Victorian people of wealth and power to be unaware of some of the dreadful social conditions that existed. But to be fair, when social issues were raised in the papers, they did take action to try and improve things. Charles Dickens is the most famous example of the power of the press -- and his books were first published as serials in the newspapers. People could ignore big problems until the papers exposed them. I think that's still true today.'' Mrs. Raymond, who is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Motyer, attended the Bermuda High School for Girls and obtained her B.A. in social sciences from McMaster University, followed by degrees in education from Mount St. Vincent. She explains that she decided to pursue further qualifications when her husband, a brilliant academic, accepted an appointment at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

After completing her Masters, she became an assistant professor in educational psychology at Mount St. Vincent. She has also taught at the Institute of Child Studies at the University of Toronto, and for some years, had her own column, "Living With Children'', for the Toronto Globe & Mail.

The author of two previous books, one of them a history of psychology in Canada, Mrs. Raymond began her writing career at the Mid-Ocean News in the late 1940s, when she was still a university student.

"The Mid-Ocean and The Royal Gazette were rival papers then, and Seward Toddings, who was the editor said I didn't have any experience and decided he would pay me sixpence an inch.'' During the 1950s, she worked at The Royal Gazette . "There was a Sunday paper then, as well, and we were expected to write pieces for it whenever we could.

I can remember when we were hard up for news, Martin Dyer, who was the editor, would just sit there, saying `God will provide'. Even my husband, Dick, who was actually a meteorologist at that time with the US Navy Base, used to write articles. He wasn't supposed to be doing that, so they'd call him a `Special Correspondent'.'' Mrs. Raymond, who now divides her time between homes in Bermuda and Nova Scotia, is "thinking about'' a sequel to her book."Some of the genealogical information is incomplete.'' Many of the descendants of the child-servants have become leaders in the community. One of the most illustrious was Mrs. Hilda Aitken, one of the first two women to be elected to the Bermuda Parliament. She was the granddaughter of a Miss Caroline Boyd, who arrived on the James in 1850 at the age of 11.

"There are still gaps to fill,'' says Mrs. Raymond. "I would love to get more information from the Bermuda public. Perhaps they can add to this fascinating story from their own family histories.'' "Saturday's Children'' will be availabe this week at a special pre-publication price of $18, from Arrowroot Press, 6 Whitney Avenue West, Pembroke HM13, with general distribution set for early March.

DISCOVERING SATURDAY'S CHILDREN -- Bermudian author /psychologist Mrs. Jocelyn Motyer Raymond, whose latest book traces the little-known story of 19th century immgrant children in Bermuda.