A medium-sized deep pink-coloured, hard-covered book with the title, subtitle, author and publisher imprinted in gold on the spine only. A fly leaf has the title on the front, and on the back a list of the author's other books, including a number of biographies and historical topics.
The frontispiece is a cut-down of the well-known portrait of Barnardo(Notes 7, p.16) and the title page has, in large black print, the title, which is derived from W.F.Stead and used in many previous publications(Notes 2), and the subtitle 'A Portrait of Dr. Barnardo'. Beneath the author's name is printed 'With 26 illustrations' and the publisher is given as from London at the foot of the title page, and more universally overleaf, with the accompanying publication date.
The list of illustrations on the next page shows that many are family photographs, and others a mixture of etchings of Barnardo's East End adventures, some of which are signed, and none have the cogency of the originals; there is one early photograph of Hope Place, where Barnardo started his own Ragged School, and two illustrating Barnardo's dream that inspired the formation of the Young Helpers League.
The Author's Note on page 7 suggests that he is supplying a comemmorative biography, since 1955, the year after publication, would be the fiftieth anniversary of Barnardo's death. He acknowledges the help of a number of specified relatives of Barnardo with the provision of previously unpublished material, as well as a number of other authentic sources, including some of the material already used in earlier publications(Notes 3). The Bibliography on pp. 244-6 is extensive, and includes Barnardo's letters, notebooks, records, and sermons, numerous of his pamphlets, and publications, and various official reports, newspapers and journals. There is also a detailed index occupying 8 pages, followed by a page of review quotes on the author's biography of Dr. Arnold of Rugby.
Comment:The product of a professional biographer.
The solemn portents of a paternal financial crisis, and a critical neonatal few hours, are detailed, followed by diphteria and other life-threatening childhood illnesses, all emphasising the remarkable entry of Barnardo into the world. Acknowledgemnt of his small stature, astute intellect, and wayward inclinations making him a difficult student at school, but a dandy youth at Trinity College Dublin, for only a few months, before going into his father's furrier business, where he proved very able, and stayed four years. During that time he moved from conventional attendance at the Established Church to agnostic intellectual humanism before being caught up in the Evangelical revival in 1862, following other members of his family to public addresses by William Fry, and ultimately to conversion marked by much emotional distress, long introspective entries in his personal dairy, and finally to baptism by total immersion. Following this he burnt his secular books. Throughout all of this, his mother and his brothers George and Frederick, were in close support, the last of these enabling him to leave Dublin and obtain a student's place at the London Hospital, to prepare for missionary work.
The following chapter puts well into context the East End of London in 1866 by pointing out that industrialisation had brought overpopulation, under-employment, poverty, and the Poor Law provision of Workhouses into which children could be admitted on parental application. As inmates, the children gained little but bare sustenance, and left at sixteen years of age, with small chance of providing for themselves other than by crime of one form or another. Thus the author describes well the background of destitution and child exploitation that produced the London in which Barnardo first found homeless children who appeared as waifs, beggars, and arabs, in the streets and lodging houses of East London around him.
Placing Barnardo in the context of the London Hospital of 1866 is also well done, in chapter III, the author using a combination of his listed sources, literary interpretation, and his appreciation of Barnardo's role in the cholera epidemic of the time is shrewd. His quite readable accounts are based upon Barnardo's own, from his many early publications, with occasional direct quotes.On page 49 he assesses the personal ability of Barnardo in obtaining so successfully the confidence of the homeless young people, and lists courage, faith, and humour among his qualities.
He places the Jim Jarvis incident as occurring in 1867, before Barnardo went to Paris to distribute bibles, and also records that he passed his Anatomy and Physiology Examinations in 1869 with distinction. He follows Barnardo's work in East London in detail, including the religious and disciplinary teaching behind the Homes that he founded in Stepney, and his evangelical preaching and teaching of such calibre that he had to resist calls by others that he should join the ministry.
In chapter VII, page 106, aged 26, Barnardo is depicted as both autocrat and a humble servant. In the following pages his courtship and marriage is detailed, and the strong personal connection of both him and his wife with the Girls Village Home at Barkingside is well described, whereas the activties of Reynolds and the Charity Organisation are but briefly dealt with.
The re-organisation of Dr Barnardo's Homes, following the Arbitration Enquiry, with the appointment of Directors and Trustees, the strong support of Earl Cairns until his death in 1885, and a Committee of Mamnagement sharing his responsibilites, led to the further expansions of many aspects of the work in 1886, including Boarding Out of children with families and the emigration of many to Canada and other countries.
Among descriptions of boys training in trades and crafts, including music, comes an account of Barnardo by one of his staff(p.117): "the face of a doctor, the eyes of a lawyer, the figure of Napolean, the head of a banker, the tongue of an orator, and the heart of a Christian," on top of which an organisational ability of great magnitude is added.
The account of the Custody Cases and dispute with the Catholic authorities is presented through the columns of the newspapers Truth and Pall Mall Gazette and reference to an important correspondence between Barnardo and Cardinal Manning, all appreciated within the context of sad events within Barnardo's own family life, and his multiple appearances in court.
An Epilogue summarises the admission of 59,384 children to the Homes, and receits of £3,250,000 at the end of Barnardo's life, and, by the end of 1953 - the year before publication of this bookk - 144,000 children admitted and 108 Homes being run. He mentions that the Homes still enjoy Royal Patronage, and finishes with a final paragraph outlining the later ramifications of the distinguished Barnardo family, indicating once again the close association with them in the writing of this book.
Comment:A comprehensive and well-studied biography of Barnardo in a social context