Browse through a volume of newspaper cuttings detailing Dr Barnardo’s life and work
Browse through a volume of newspaper cuttings detailing Dr Barnardo’s life and work
Dr Thomas John Barnardo was born in 1845 in Dublin, Ireland. In 1866, Barnardo moved to London to train to be a doctor. London was rife with poverty and disease with one in five children dying before their fifth birthday. In the 1860s, a cholera epidemic swept through the East End of London, killing 3000. Many children were left orphaned and needed help.
In 1867, Dr Barnardo set up a ‘ragged school’. This was a place where children could go to get a free, basic education. Here he met Jim Jarvis who showed Barnardo the true horrors and hardships that children in London’s East End faced. Barnardo gave up medical training and instead set out to help children living in poverty.
In 1870, Dr Barnardo set up his first home for boys where they could live and learn a craft before getting an apprenticeship. Barnardo believed that no child should be turned away and that all children deserve the best start in life, no matter where they had come from.
Barnardo married Syrie Louise Elmslie in 1873. As a wedding present, they were given 60 acres of land in Barkingside, London. They opened a home for girls. By 1900, the village had 65 cottages, a school, a hospital, and a church and over 1500 girls living there.
Barnardo also believed in the importance of ‘boarding out’ or fostering. Barnardo’s was also one of several children’s charities who sent children to start new lives in Canada or Australia.
Barnardo and Syrie had seven children, including the interior designer Gwendolyn Maud Syrie. Barnardo died in 1905 and was buried in front of Cairns House, Barkingside, Essex. The house is now the head office of Barnardo's.