Barnardo's Future Citizens - Charities

Thomas Barnardo lived in the second half of the 19th century, and spent most of his life in London. Millions of people had poured into London to find work in the newly industrialised capital, but there wasn't enough housing or enough work to go round. As a result, many people lived in terrible conditions.

Dr Barnardo was one of the first people to try to do something about the dreadful poverty of the times. His attempts to help poor, abandoned and distressed children were way ahead of his times. He made no distinction between the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor; he looked after single mothers at a time when everyone else condemned them; he found solutions to social problems that have become the basis of much of our childcare today. And, when he died, so many people filled the streets of London for his funeral procession that the capital came to a standstill.

1845		Born, Dublin, Ireland, the fourth of six children born to John and Abigail Barnardo.
1861		Thomas joins the Open Brethren, a religious group. He decides to become a missionary.
1866		Thomas arrives in London to train as a doctor. An outbreak of cholera shortly after he arrives introduces Thomas to the suffering of poor people: 5,548 people die in the epidemic. He gives up his plan to go to China.
1870		He opens his first home for boys in Stepney Causeway, in the East End of London. One boy dies after being turned away from the home, and Thomas decides not to limit the number of children he helps. A sign above the home says 'No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission'.
1872		Thomas buys the Edinburgh Castle, a large building in Limehouse, London. He receives important support from rich evangelicals.
1873		Thomas marries Syrie Elmslie. They have seven children, three of whom die young. His daughter, Marjorie, has Down's Syndrome and influences Thomas to set up homes for children with physical and learning disabilities.
1876		Thomas qualifies as a doctor. He sets up a council of trustees to look after the charity's money and to make policy. The charity becomes more famous, and receives more and more money. In the same year, Thomas and Syrie open the Girls' Village Home in Essex – a collection of cottages that eventually house more than 1,500 girls.
1882		Thomas sends the first 51 boys to Canada as part of an 'emigration programme'. The programme is to settle children in colonies overseas. The programme is not a success.
1887		Thomas begins a scheme of 'boarding out', sending 330 boys to country homes to be fostered.
1889		Thomas begins another scheme, boarding out the babies of unmarried mothers. While the mothers live and work in one family, their babies are looked after by a fostering family nearby.
1903		The charity opens a naval training school in Norfolk.
1905		Thomas Barnardo dies. At the time of his death, the charity runs 96 homes and looks after more than 8,500 children.

Barnardo's

Who was Dr Barnardo?