Information about Thomas John Barnardo

Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 1845 — 19 September 1905), Irish philanthropist, and founder and director of homes for destitute children, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1845. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1870 to the date of Barnardo’s death, nearly 60,000 children had been rescued, trained and placed out in life. The work of Thomas Barnardo is continued today by the charity Barnardo's.

Life

His father was of Jewish origin, his mother being an Englishwoman and member of the Plymouth Brethren, to which he converted on May 26 1862.^[1] With the intention of qualifying for medical missionary work in China with the newly formed China Inland Mission, he studied medicine at the London Hospital while living with Hudson Taylor's family, and later at Edinburgh, where he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He married Syrie Elmslie and they had seven children, three of whom died young, and one of whom had Down's syndrome which influenced him into setting up homes for children with physical and learning difficulties. One of his children, Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo, later became a well known interior decorator.

Dr. Barnardo's Homes

His medical work in the east end of London during the epidemic of cholera in 1866 first drew his attention to the great numbers of homeless and destitute children in the cities of England. Encouraged by the support of the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury and the first Earl Cairns, he gave up his early ambition of foreign missionary labour, and began what was to prove his life’s work. The first of the "Dr Barnardo’s Homes" was opened in 1870 at 18 Stepney Causeway, London. From that time the work steadily increased until, at the time of his death, in 1905, there were established 112 district "Homes," besides mission branches, throughout the United Kingdom.

The object for which these institutions were started was to search for and to receive waifs and strays, to feed, clothe, educate, and, where possible, to give an industrial training suitable to each child. The principle adopted was that of free and immediate admission; there were no restrictions of age or sex, religion or nationality; the physically robust and the incurably diseased were alike received, the one necessary qualification being destitution. The system under which the institution was carried on is broadly as follows:the infants and younger girls and boys are chiefly "boarded out" in rural districts; girls above fourteen years of age are sent to the industrial training homes, to be taught useful domestic occupations; boys above seventeen years of age are first tested in labour homes and then placed in employment at home, sent to sea or emigrated; boys of between thirteen and seventeen years of age are trained for the various trades for which they may be mentally or physically fitted. Besides the various branches necessary for the foregoing work, there were also, among others, the following institutions:a rescue home for girls in serious danger, a convalescent seaside home, and a hospital for the terribly sick.

In 1876 on the 9th July The Girls Village Home was officially opened with twelve cottages by the then Lord Cairns, In the same year a modern steam laundry was opened. Over the years the number of cottages grew to a total of 66 in 1906 housing some 1,300 girls which was spread over the three Village greens covering some 60 acres which was next to Mossford Lodge at Barkingside,Ilford, Essex that had been opened in 1873, by 1894 a Multi - denominational Children's Church was opened with a dedication service. The Girls Village Home had become a real "garden city"; where Dr. Thomas John Barnardo is buried in front of Cairns House and watchers stood imensly crying in deep pain to see this wonderful man go.

In 1901, through the generosity of Mr E. H. Watts, a naval school was opened in 1903 at North Elmham, near Norwich, to which boys were drafted from the branch homes to be trained for the navy and the mercantile marine. Watts Naval Training School closed 1949

In 1899 the various institutions and organizations were legally incorporated under the title of "The National Association for the reclamation of Destitute Waif Children", but the institution has always been familiarly known as "Dr Barnardo’s Homes." Barnardo laid great stress on the religious teaching of the children under his care. Each child was brought up under the influence and teaching of the Protestant Faith. Children of Jewish and Roman Catholic parentage were handed over to the care of the Jewish Board of Guardians in London and to Roman Catholi institutions respectively.

Life in Dr. Barnardo's Homes

There are many eyewitness accounts available from people who actually grew up in Dr. Barnardo's Homes [1]. For example, and ex-Yalding girl reports the following:- "I wet my bed & had my nose rubbed in it & all the other children were told of that fact. I found that they dealt you a cruel blow at Barnardos on an emotional level. You were never given any affection, just punishments. In fact I always thought I was there AS punishment until I received my notes a couple of years ago & found that it was nothing whatever to do with my bad behaviour."

Another Dr. Barnardo alumnus, Professor John Roy Robert Searl, is less shy about his identity. He has published his entire life story on the web, and has this to say regarding his stay in Dr Barnardo's home [2]:-

Emigration system

What was considered the most useful of all the varied work instituted by Barnardo was the emigration system, by which means thousands of boys and girls have been sent to British colonies, chiefly to Canada, where there were distributing centres at Toronto and Winnipeg, and an industrial farm of some 8000 acres (32 km²) near Russell in Manitoba. The fact that in Canada less than 2% of the children sent out proved failures confirmed Barnardo’s conviction that "if the children of the slums can be removed from their surroundings early enough, and can be kept sufficiently long under training, heredity counts for little, environment for almost everything."

Death

Barnardo died of angina pectoris in London on 19 September 1905. His coffin was one of only two ever to be transported by Underground.[3]

A national memorial was instituted to form a fund of £250,000 to relieve the various institutions of all financial liability and to place the entire work on a permanent basis. William Baker, formerly the chairman of the council, was selected to succeed the founder of the homes as Honorary director. Barnardo was the author of many books dealing with the charitable work to which he devoted his life.

References

• Hudson Taylor & China’s Open Century Volume Four:: Survivors’ Pact; Alfred James Broomhall; Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1983