Dr Barnardo

In the year 1845 a young man called Thomas Barnardo was born in Dublin Ireland. When he was sixteen years old he decided to work in china as a doctor. He moved to London to become a doctor but never completed the course. During this time he became intrested in the lives of poor Victorian children, he saw lots of small children living rough on the streets suffering from illnesses.

In 1867 Thomas Barnardo decided against moving to china and instead opened his first school to educate poor and homeless children.One of his pupils Jim Jarvis took him for a walk around the East End of London showing him huge numbers of children sleeping rough on the streets.

Thomas Barnardo was moved by the sight and decided to do something about it. In 1870 he opened his first care home for boys giving them shelter,food,education and a bed. One day a poor boy was refused to one of Dr Barnardo's homes.Two days later he died on the streets. From then on no one was turned away from any of his care homes.

A sign on the wall saying 'no homeless child ever refused admission'.Dr Barnardo passed away age sixty and during his life time he opened over one hundred care homes for eight thousand children. Dr Barnardo is still in existence today and during his life time cared for thousands of children who have no family or need help.I believe that Thomas Barnardo is one of the true Victorian greats.

Callum Piggott