Editing Thomas John Barnardo

{{short description|Philanthropist, founder and director of homes for poor children}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Thomas John Barnardo 
| image       = Drbarnardo.jpg
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1845|07|04|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Dublin]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Ireland]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1905|09|19|1845|07|14|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[London]], England
| occupation = [[Philanthropist]]
| known_for = Founder and Director of [[Barnardo's]]
| nationality = [[Irish people|Irish]]
| spouse = Sara Louise Elmslie
| children = 7, including [[Syrie Maugham]]
}}

'''Thomas John Barnardo''' (4 July 1845{{snd}}19 September 1905) was an [[Irish people|Irish]], Christian<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Thomas-Barnardo/623428 |title=Thomas Barnardo }}</ref> [[philanthropist]] and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's death, nearly 60,000 children had been taken in.

Although Barnardo never finished his studies at the [[London Hospital]], he used the title of 'doctor' and later secured a [[Licentiate (degree)|licentiate.]]

== Early life ==
Barnardo was born in [[Dublin]], Ireland (then part of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]), in 1845. He was the fourth of five children (one died in childbirth) of [[J. M. Barnardo & Son|John Michaelis Barnardo]], a [[furrier]] who was of Sephardic Jewish descent, and his second wife, Abigail,<ref name="ODNB-30600">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Wagner |first=Gillian |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |contribution=Thomas Barnardo |contribution-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30600 |access-date=15 November 2011 |edition=September 2010 online |year=2004 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}} {{subscription required}}</ref> an English woman and member of the [[Plymouth Brethren]].

Sometime before his first marriage in 1827 to Elizabeth O'Brien, John Michaelis emigrated from [[Prussia]] via [[Hamburg]] to Dublin, where he established a business; he married twice and fathered children with both wives. The Barnardo family "traced its origin to [[Venice]], followed by conversion to the Lutheran Church in the sixteenth century".<ref>{{cite book |title=A William Somerset Maugham encyclopedia |last=Rogal |first=Samuel J. |year=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-29916-2 |page=5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0MqigagKTkC&pg=PA5 |chapter=Barnardo, John Michaelis }}</ref>  Barnardo wrote that, as a child, he was selfish and thought that everything that was not his should belong to him. However, as he grew older, he abandoned this mindset in favour of helping people experiencing poverty.

Barnardo moved to London in 1866. It was during this time that he became interested in becoming a missionary.<ref name="ODNB-30600" />

== Philanthropy ==
[[File:Group portrait of children outside a Barnardo home. Wellcome L0000901.jpg|thumb|Group portrait of children outside a [[Barnardo's|Barnardo home]]]]

Barnardo established 'Hope Place' [[ragged school]] in the [[East End of London]] in 1868, his first attempt at aiding the estimated 30,000 'destitute' children in Victorian London.<ref>Cook, R. 'Tom, Jim, & Harry… and the law', Triple Helix, summer 1998, pp.6–7</ref> Many of these children were not only impoverished but orphaned, as the result of a recent [[cholera]] outbreak.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/our_history/thomas_barnardo.htm |title=The life of Thomas Barnardo |website=Barnardo's}}</ref> For those unable to afford private education, the school offered education which although Christian-based, was not exclusively religion-focused,<ref>Simkin, J. Thomas Barnardo, Spartacus Educational, 1997, retrieved 28 February 2015, available: http://spartacus-educational.com/REbarnardo.htm</ref> and worked to provide tutelage on various common trades of that time (for example, [[Newspaper hawker|newsboys]] and [[shoe-shiners]]).<ref>Ramsland, J. 'Neil J. Smelser. Social Paralysis and Social Change: British Working-Class Education in the Nineteenth Century', History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 1, 1994, pp. 89, retrieved 17 March 2015, JSTOR database.</ref>

In 1870, Barnardo was prompted to form a boys' [[orphanage]] at [[18 Stepney Causeway, London|18 Stepney Causeway]] after inspecting the conditions within which London's orphaned population slept.<ref>Wagner, G. 'Barnardo, Thomas John (1845–1905)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004; online edn, 2010, retrieved 3 March 2015, available: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30600</ref> This was the first of 122 such establishments, caring for over 8,500 children, founded before he died in 1905.<ref>Rogal, S. A William Somerset Maugham encyclopedia, S.V  "Maugham, Gwendolyn Maude Syrie Barnardo"</ref> Significant provisions were available to occupants; infants/younger children were sent to rural districts in an attempt to protect them from industrial pollution, and teenagers were trained in skills such as carpentry and metal work, to provide them a form of basic financial stability.<ref>A Alford & J Brock. Bearded Gospel Men: The Epic Quest for Manliness and Godliness, W Publishing Group, Nashville, TN, 2017, pp. 210</ref>

Barnardo's homes did not just accommodate boys; in 1876, the 'Girls' Village Home' in [[Barkingside]] was established, and by 1905, accommodated 1,300 girls who were trained for '[[Domestic worker|domestic occupation]]'. Another establishment, the 'rescue home for girls in serious danger', aimed to protect girls from the growing tide of [[child prostitution]].<ref name = praszkier>R Praszkier & A Nowak. Social Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2012, Pp. 171</ref>

In addition to the various homes and schools established by Barnardo and his wife, Sara Louise Elmslie, a seaside retreat and hospital were also founded.<ref name = praszkier/>

From the foundation of the homes in 1867 to Barnardo's death, nearly 60,000 children had been taken in, most being trained and placed out in life.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}  At his death, his charity cared for over 8,500 children in 96 homes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barnardos.org.uk/who_we_are/history.htm |title=The history of Barnardo's |date=2011 |publisher=Barnardo's |access-date=27 October 2011}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In June 1873, Barnardo married Sara Louise Elmslie (1842–1944), known as Syrie, the daughter of an [[underwriter]] for [[Lloyd's of London]]. Syrie shared her husband's interests in evangelism and social work. The couple settled at Mossford Lodge, [[Essex]], where they had seven children, three of whom died in early childhood. A fourth child, Marjorie, had [[Down syndrome]].<ref>{{cite book |title=A William Somerset Maugham encyclopedia |last=Rogal |first=Samuel J. |year=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-29916-2 |page=5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0MqigagKTkC&pg=PA5 |chapter=Barnardo, Sara Louise (Syrie) Elmslie }}</ref>

One daughter, [[Syrie Maugham|Gwendolyn Maud Syrie]] (1879–1955), known as Syrie like her mother, was married to wealthy businessman [[Henry Wellcome]], and later to the writer [[Somerset Maugham]], and became a socially prominent London interior designer.

Barnardo died of [[angina pectoris]] in London on 19 September 1905,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.goldonian.org/barnardo/drb_funeral.htm |title=The Public Funeral |date=2003 |work=The Goldonian Web |publisher=Goldings The William Baker Memorial Technical School for Boys |access-date=26 October 2011}}</ref> and was buried in front of Cairns House, [[Barkingside]], Essex. The house is now the head office of the children's charity he founded, [[Barnardo's]].<ref name="EL0608">{{cite news|url=http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=&refresh=3Ex0Hy14j5C1&EID=52357006-6cf2-46b7-874f-a85febe6a2c6&skip=true|title=The birthplace of Barnardo's|last=Wrightman|first=Sara|date=June 2008|work=Essex Life|publisher=Archant|pages=88–89 |access-date=3 February 2009}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A [[Dr Barnardo's Memorial|memorial]] stands outside Cairn's House.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1081001|desc=Dr Barnado's Memorial at Barnardo's}}</ref>

===Alleged Jack the Ripper suspect===
At the time of the [[Whitechapel murders]], due to the supposed medical expertise of [[Jack the Ripper]], various doctors in the area were suspected. Long after his death, Barnardo was named a possible suspect by Donald McCormick (1970) and Gary Rowlands (2005).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Mammoth Book Of Jack The Ripper|first = Maxim |last=Jakubowski|publisher = Little, Brown Book Group |date= 2008|isbn = 9781849015264}}</ref> Rowlands proposed that Barnardo's lonely childhood and religious zeal led him to kill prostitutes to clear them from the streets and to encourage them to place their children into his care. Only because of an accident in a swimming pool that left him deaf shortly after murdering Mary Kelly did he stop killing, as being deaf left him more vulnerable to capture. 

There is no evidence that Barnardo committed the murders,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/cjmorley/12.html |title=Dr Thomas Barnardo|last= Morley|website= Casebook: Jack the Ripper|first = Christopher J. }}</ref> and critics of this theory have also pointed out that his age and appearance did not match any of the descriptions of the Ripper.<ref>Eddleston, John J. (2001). ''Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO. p. 197. {{ISBN|1-57607-414-5}}</ref> Barnardo was well known in the East End, however, and would visit cheap boarding houses to talk to underprivileged customers. During one of these visits, he spoke to a group at 32 Flower and Dean Street, Whitechapel, during the period of the murders. One of the women drunkenly cried, 'We're all up to no good and no-one cares what becomes of us; perhaps some of us will be killed next.' He later viewed the body of [[Elizabeth Stride]], Jack the Ripper's third [[canonical]] victim, at the mortuary and confirmed that she had been among those present.

==Legacy – Barnardo's ==
{{main|Barnardo's}}
After Barnardo's death, a national memorial was instituted to form a fund of £250,000 to relieve the various institutions of all financial liability and permanently place the entire work. 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 192 books dealing with the charitable work to which he devoted his life.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Barnardo's work was carried on by his many supporters under the name ''Dr Barnardo's Homes''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barnardos.org.uk/who_we_are/history.htm |title=History page, Barnardos.org |publisher=Barnardos.org.uk |access-date=11 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529162701/http://www.barnardos.org.uk/who_we_are/history.htm |archive-date=29 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Following societal changes in the mid-20th century, the charity changed its focus from the direct care of children to [[foster care|fostering]] and [[adoption]], renaming itself ''Dr Barnardo's''. Following the closure of its last traditional orphanage in 1989, it took the still simpler name of ''Barnardo's''.

=== Controversies ===
There was controversy early on with Barnardo's work. Specifically, he was accused of kidnapping children without their parents' permission and of falsifying photographs of children to make the distinction between the period before they were rescued by Barnardo's and afterwards seem more dramatic. He openly admitted to the former of these charges, describing it as 'philanthropic abduction' and basing his defence on the idea that the end justified the means. In total, he was taken to court on 88 occasions, usually on the charge of kidnapping. However, being a charismatic speaker and popular figure, he rode through these scandals unscathed. Other charges brought against him included presenting staged images of children for Barnardo's 'before and after' cards and neglecting basic hygiene for the children under his care.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2002/oct/03/advertising.childprotection | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Mark | last=Oliver | title=The echoes of Barnardo's altered imagery | date=3 October 2002}}</ref>
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=== The charity today ===
The official mascot of Barnardo's is a bear called Barney. [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] was Barnardo's Patron from 1983 to 2016, when she handed over the role to The Duchess of Cornwall, who is now [[Queen Camilla]]. Its chief executive is Lynn Perry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.barnardos.org.uk/who-we-are/our-organisation|title = Our organisation}}</ref>

==See also==
*''[[The Likes of Us]]''
*[[Charitable organization]]
*[[Orphanage]]
*[[Ragged School Museum]]
*[[List of Freemasons]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
;Attribution
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Barnardo, Thomas John|volume=3|page=411}}

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.britishhomechild.com British Home Child Group International – research site]
* [http://illustratedpast.com/england/orphanages.html IllustratedPast.com – jahahagsgsfsfguaphotographs of a Barnardo orphanage in 1893]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnardo, Thomas John}}
[[Category:1845 births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:Adoption, fostering, orphan care and displacement]]
[[Category:Founders of orphanages]]
[[Category:Irish evangelicals]]
[[Category:Irish Protestants]]
[[Category:Irish Freemasons]]
[[Category:Irish people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Irish people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Irish people of English descent]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:Child welfare in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish philanthropists]]
[[Category:Irish Protestant missionaries]]
[[Category:Protestant missionaries in China]]
[[Category:People of Sephardic-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Founders of charities]]