A fine maroon, medium-sized, thick book in a hard cover imprinted on the spine only with the title, authors and publishers in gold.

The frontispiece portrait of Barnardo shows him sittng on what looks very much like the chair used in the portrait in Batt's biography, published in 1905, the year of Barnardo's death (see Notes 2), but the book in his lap is closed, and he looks straight ahead; it is signed 'Yours in the Children's Cause' by Barnardo, and has the printed statement 'The Last Portrait of Dr. Barnardo'.

The title page finely printed, as throughout, by T. & A. Constable, of Edingurgh, printers to His Majesty, states, under James Marchant, 'Secretary of the National Memorial to Dr. Barnardo'. The Introduction by W. Robertson Nicoll is listed, and the eminent publishers are printed in red, and given as from London, with no full address, and followed by the date as MCMVII.

These memoirs are dedicated to 'The Trustees the Presidents and Vice-Presidents to the Members of Dr. Barnardo's Council to the devoted Members of his Staff and to his children - the thousands of his adopted children in every clime.' The brief Preface begins with a quote of Barnardo's touching despair when he wrote twenty years previously - 'I wonder will the connected history of this work for God ever be written! I am afraid not' and the quotation is followed by the aspiration 'This volume is an attempt to write that connected narrative' which is remarkably reminiscent of J.H.Batt's introduction to his Barnardo biography some two years earlier(op.cit) It is then stated that Dr.F.A.E. Barnardo, T.J.Barnardo's brother, is responsible for Chapter 1 (Birth and Boyhood) and that Mr. William Baker, Honorary Director of the Homes, contributes a chapter on their future. Thanks are expressed to a number of other individuals, indicating the support of family and distinguished friends, but there is no indication as to the respective roles of Mrs. Barnardo and James Marchant in the authorship.

The Contents list twenty chapters, thirteen appendices, a bibliography, and a detailed index, occupying in all 404 relatively thick pages.

Comment:This is a comprehensive and studious book, doubtless intended to be the authorative account of Barnardo and his work.

The Introduction by W. Robertson Nicholl, a long-standing friend, is a response to the expressed wish of Barnardo that he should have something to do with any memorial of him that might be written. It begins with the paragraph 'The greatest apparent characteristic of Dr. Barnardo was ardour. He flamed up into vehemence very easily. Love, pity, wrath, scorn manifested themselves almost volcanically. These bursts soon subsided, but very readily recurred. Dr. Barnardo was a man of strong opinions on many points.' Frank friendship rather than adulation is the tone of this account, spread over six pages, and while ascribing to his personality ardour and tenacity of purpose within the qualities of a courteous and well-informed gentleman, submits those of organisation, shrewdness, humour, and leadership as having resulted in an affectionate reverence from his fellow-workers. He was a philanthropist of the old school, attributing deprivation to sinfulness of one sort or another, rather than a matter solely of humanitarian concern. His faith defined him as a 'non-sectarian protestant evangelist,' and his works as an 'evangelical philanthropist,' with the belief that simple Christian faith sustained him in a service driven by his passionate love for children. Tributes after his death came in great numbers, from the highest to the lowest in society, in recognition of the magnitude of the work for children that he had achieved. Interestingly, the writer of this Introduction appears in the S.W.Partridge & Co. Publisher's Catalogue inserted in Barnardo's own 1890 book (op.cit) under the heading 'New Popular Biographies' and was there listed as 'W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D., Editor and Preacher. By Jane Stoddart.'

His birth and boyhood is described in Chapter 1. by his brother, Dr. F.A.E.Barnardo, who relates the birthday, July 4, 1845, and immediately gives the background of the Barnardo family as Spanish, with members in Venice and Hamburg, the latter being the birthplace in 1800 of Barnardo's father John Michaelis Barnardo who 'spent some years in travelling before he finally emigrated to Dublin, and became a naturised British subject.' His mother belonged to the Drinkwaters - an old Quaker family that had settled in Ireland. She 'was a woman of great strength of character and deep religious convictions, which exercised a marked influence over her children.' Barnardo was baptized into the Anglican Church, and confirmed, while still 'unconverted', by the Archbishop of Dublin, around 1860. As a schoolboy he 'had a fund of wit, was affectionate and studious, and occasionally got into scrapes' according to his brother, and 'gave no end of trouble' later at two successive Anglican schools. According to his own account many years later he suffered cruelty from the pricipal of one of the schools. He read avidly and widely while at school, and at the age of sixteen the 'light of God's grace shone upon him and he verily became a "new man"'. He became devout, and, after meeting the Rev. Hudson Taylor, felt called to serve as a missionary in China. Having left school aged sixteen he went into a merchant's office for some time, where he learnt 'business habits and ways' apparently so successfully that a good offer was made to retain him, but Barnardo felt that it was not his true calling.

Of the three photographs opposite p.6 the upper two are of his childhood, and the lowest, 'at the age of twenty-one' i.e. 1866, the year in which he went to London, is clearly the head and shoulders of the upper of two photographs of the young Barnardo already published in Batt's book(Notes 2).

Barnardo's character is described as always self-reliant and determined, and although there is mention of his attending Christian meetings of evangelical character among the poor, and using prayerful deliberation before deciding his course, this chapter of fraternal recollection then ends, and the whole of the next is given to 'Rebirth and Baptism', by total immersion, and begins with 'The real starting point of this biography is not his birth but his rebirth'. It was during this time, after conversion but still in Dublin, that Barnardo met some of the well-known evangelists of this period, and he began to emulate their practices in taking revivalist meetings. More importantly, he started teaching in the Ragged Schools, a widely spread organistaion that provided free education for children before the 1870 Education Act. His activities and reflections are recorded in a diary that is lengthily quoted throughout the later pages(17-26) of this evangelical chapter.

Chapter 3. titled 'The Missionary Medical Student' suggests some change in authorship for it again describes, albeit more clearly(p.29), the circumstances whereby Barnardo felt so powerfully the need to join the Christians evangelising in China that, in Aril of 1866, he moved to London to prepare himself under the guidance of Mr. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission in 1853, and the aspirants lived together at Coburn Street in Stepney. Hudson Taylor saw the remarkable powers of organisation and leadership in Barnardo and suggested that he should take a longer time in his training, and aim to obtain some kind of experience and qualification in medicine that would better equip him for the China mission field rather than join the next party to leave for that country. Barnardo confirmed in his own later writings that, having been given this advice, he turned to evangelising in the streets of East London around him. It was not until October that he attended the London Hospital, and he did not pass the entrance examination until November of 1967, when his name was registered as a Medical Student. No mention is made of the role of Banardo's brother in obtaining the place at The London. The impressions of a number of students contemporary with Barnardo are then recorded, producing a picture of competence, courtesy, capability, and the apparent eccentricity of evangelising to the crowds on the adjacent space known as Mile-End Waste, rather than diligently pursuing his medical studies, all of which led to their conclusion that he was an oddity among them, to become gradually disregarded. In later life these opinions had changed for the better.

Barnardo's activites in 1866 included teaching at the Ernest Street Ragged School, near Stepney, and numerous street experiences, both demanding and dangerous, culled from his later writings. Nevertheless, whichever author dictated this chapter, begins the concluding paragraph with the statement: 'His whole career as a student was colourless' and writes that to the end of his time in The London Hospital 'he remained unappreciated and unesteemed'.

However, in Chapter IV, his mission work is further enlarged upon, for it earned him a trip to Paris to distribute bibles, and his enjoyment of this is related at length, closely followed by one of the few surviving letters from his mother expressing pious concern at the worldly direction of her son's activities, adjacent to which are portraits of this distinguished lady in both her youth and maturity. There follows a letter from Barnardo of considerable importance, since it was written on his return to London in March 1867, well before he became a prolific correspondent and writer in magazines and pamphlets. It is addressed to The Revival, an evangelical publication, on 25th July, 1867, and describes his evangelical work in the East End streets, including the observation that half the audience were children, a quarter their parents, and the remainder of the class, aged from thirteen to twenty-eight years, that filled the prisons. He relates his success in getting many of these to attend his Ernest Street Ragged School, which soon proved too small, and his letter is basically an appeal to the public for funds to obtain a larger place. It was sufficiently successful to commit himself further, at the expense of his health and failing his first year medical examination, but, with the assistance of some medical student friends, resulted in The East End Juvenile Mission, at Hope Place, being opened in March of 1868.

Barnardo's failure to pursue the studies necessary to qualify him as a Medical Missionary at this stage is again dwelt on in the next chapter, and his later re-appraisal of the priority of such studies is quoted, albeit well short of regret. However, the 'East London as Barnardo Found It' (Ch.V) at that time included the cholera epidemic, in 1866, and this, with its high death-rate, was experienced by Barnardo in and around The London Hospital. It cannot have been anything but appalling to a young student, both sensitive and thoughtful, who 'passed his days and nights' amidst it, and who is quoted in a footnote on page 64 as writing, many years later, 'But for that cholera epidemic in 1866, I should never have known Stepney.' There is no detailed record of the effect on Barnardo, however, either with regard to any repulsion, or enjoyment of the privilege of being the student 'Dr.' among such suffering and death; both reactions may well have had a part in his subsequent role as a doctor. Quite certainly, Barnardo must have fully experienced the depth and breadth of deprivation in which he steeped himself from 1866 onwards. Curiously enough, there is again a sense of change of authorship in Chapter VI under the heading of 'Four Turning Points' viz: a gift of £1000 for his work, provided he gave up the idea of going to China, his 'First Arab', his first public address, at the Agricultural Hall, at which he spoke of his work, and the invitation to dine with the Earl of Shaftesbury and acquaint him with the homeless children of London, thus entering the influential philanthropist's world.

His most disturbing realisation of the plight of London's East End children that occurred through the discovery that one of his Ragged School children had no home to which to return at night, and was one of very many children living on the streets, became a frequently related and publicised story under under such titles as How it all Happened & My First Street Arab. It's actual place in determining Barnardo's move from the expanded Ragged School in Hope Place where it must have occurred, sometime between 1867 and 1870, to the Boys Home that he opened in Stepney Causeway is less easily recognised, since, according to Barnardo's own recollection, the great Missionary conference in The Agricultural Hall, Islington, at which he spoke, impromptu, about his work in Stepney, was early 1867.

This extensive account of the genesis of Barnardo's life work, which, with the description of the opening of the first actual Home for Boys at 18, Stepney Causeway, extends from chapters III to VII in this book, may well have been designed by the authors to present fully the nature of his evangelism against the failures in his medical training.

The former is further exemplified by the taking over of the Edinburgh Castle, a Public House that was a 'flaming gin palace' with an adjacent music-hall, in 1872; with public support and a committee it was converted to a People's Mission Church and Social Centre, of which Barnardo became pastor.

Having started his Home for destitute boys in Stepney Causeway, this became Barnardo's overwhelming concern, particularly when he had refused admission to a boy because of lack of space and found him, a few nights later, in one of the yards off the streets, dead from exposure. The story became well-known under the child's nickname of 'Carrots' and the incident led thereafter to Barnardo's declared policy: 'No destitute child ever refused admission'.

Barnardo's frequent nocturnal expeditions round the East London streets to find the destitute children gave rise to the many subsequent stories of 'the man with a lamp'.

Seven years after coming to London Barnardo met and married Miss Syrie Louise Elmslie, whose father was in Lloyd's Shipping. She supported his work, both in spirit and practice, and enabled him to begin the Girls Village Home at Barkingside. They started with the kind of large Home that had worked so well for the boys, but soon had to abandon the insitutional type of care, and replace it by cottages where the girls were cared for as members of a family, extending from infancy to the late teens, when they underwent training for useful employment. The Village is very fully described and is illustrated with a fold-out picture(p.124). Page 134 is taken up with Barnardo's extensive reply to a question on the use of music in the girls' care and training that displays great perception and enterprise.

Chapter XI concerns criticisms levelled at Barnardo and his work in 1877, and is titled 'Through Storm to Sunshine'. Among the charges ill-treating the children, spurious photography, and misuse of collected funds, are the only three specified, and all were directed to Barnardo personally since he had neither committee nor treasurer. Evidence was submitted under oath to three legally appointed Arbitrators, and both defendant and plaintiff had legal counsel. Barnardo was cleared on the money charges, deemed to have used artistic fiction in the photographs, and did have solitary cells that had been used once or twice for longer periods of confinement than was advisable, but they found overall in favour of Barnardo, and considered his Homes to be 'real and valuable charities, and worthy of public confidence and support.'

The Lord Chancellor, Earl Cairns, wrote the day after the Arbitration award, offering to become the President of the Homes, having for some time subscribed to its funds, and the offer was accepted.

No mention is made of Barnardo's title of 'Dr' having been questioned in the Enquiry, but on page 147 it is briefly stated that after the enquiry Barnardo courageously went to Edinburgh and became a Licentiate of The Royal College of Surgeons and registered as a medical practitioner in London, 1876(sic) The solicitor to the Royal Colleges of Edinburgh and Glasgow is quoted as stating, on 18th October, 1906, 'that only a holder of the degree of M.D. is legally entitled to use the designation "Dr," although as a matter of courtesy this is applied to all medical practitioners, and as a matter of course is used by most of them.'

Barnardo already had trustees at the time of the Enquiry; he now needed a Committee: clergy, evangels, aristocracy, businessmen were appointed, and there followed an outpouring of support from the press and public. The Aims statement published in the 1890 book, interestingly referred to as a detailed 'Report,'(p.17, see Notes 1) is reproduced as fulfilled, and Barnardo's application for and acceptance of a salary is included as the final outcome of the Arbitration Report, in which serious accusations had been overturned by the weight of greater good. The final paragraph begins: 'So he passed through storm to sunshine; and learned, as all who make a way of their own know, that "Endurance is the Crowning quality, and patience all the passion of great hearts;"' but these authors so close to personal knowlege of Barnardo give no source for the quotation.

They then write in detail on Emigration and Boarding Out, with both of which Barnardo had such great success, and with particular insight in a chapter headed 'Litigation and Relations with Romanists,' which begins with 'Barnardo was a Protestant of Dublin;' and his organisation governed by 'orthodox evangelical principals'. Barnardo's actions in the Gossage case involved facing the inadequate law over the custody of children, and greatly contributed to the new act in 1891.

Chapters XV and XVI present Barnardo in financial matters as less consistent in principal than in achievement, and, under the heading 'Full Steam Ahead' a number of the resulting achievemnets are described, including a Home for Cripples, and the Watts Naval Training School, to which Barnardo gave much practical attention and enthusiasm, but died before it finally opened.

Barnardo's illnesses and death are described, in Chapter XVIII, with detail that only his wife would have known, and there is a serious and far-looking portarait of her opposite page 262, and, surely from her, the fact that he was reading Stevenson's Catriona on the day of his death. Among the tributes and reminiscences is an account of his remarkable working day that is later confirmed by one of his secretaries, A.E.Williams, who uses the same Board Room portait, oppositie page 236, in his own book(p.17, see Notes 7).

The chapter titled 'Conclusions' pictures a little, dapper, autocratic, dynamic, determined, devoted, decisive, and immensely competent, man, both lovable and a leader.

It is in this chapter that can be found many details of his particular but attractive personality, and some details of his own family life are related, mostly as illustrations of his depth of personal affection. He had five sons and two daughters, of whom three sons had died in childhood: 'Baby Tom' died in infancy, diphtheria claimed Herbert, 'a gentle, dear lad and fond of music,' and the same disease took Kennie, 'a bold and fearless youngster, like his father' and mourned by his father for a long time thereafter.

The final chapter, on the 'Future of the Homes', by william Baker, the Honorary Director of the Homes at the time of Barnardo's death and thereafter, indicates that they would continue not only because of a Council of distinguished and devoted members of the community, but also because Barnardo had planned and developed each institution with great thoroughness, and had attracted staff of fine calibre who were devoted to Dr. Barnardo's Homes, and this remained the case for quite a number of years.

Appendices: A: 'Chronological Table' of the chief events of Dr. Barnardo's Life' is useful, and reproduced elsewhere. B: Could well be entitled an anthology of Barnardo's paediatric experiences, and contains: 1. My First Arab by Thos J. Barnardo, F.R.C.S.Ed. This version is elaborate and lengthy - quite possibly Barnardo's last, but it does place the event in the Ragged School at Hope Place, and therefore, between 1867-70; the reflections upon his apparently co-existent medical studies are interesting. 2. The Story of Carrots. Shorter, and poignant. The account of the 'Queen's Shades' near Billingsgate Market is almost Dickensian. 3. Some Queer Children I have met. This is noted as the last article ever dictated by Dr. Barnardo and is a comprehensive reflection upon his observation and understanding of children expressed in masterly prose. C: 'A Table showing the scope of the principal Voluntary Institutions in the United Kingdom for the reception of Destitute, Ailing, Abandoned, and Orphaned Children, from 1552 to 1906' and is no mean document for the advanced student in the history of this aspect of sociology. D: 'Table Showing the Growth of the Village Home' again confirms an impression of the importance of this Home to the authors, apparent in the main text(Ch.X), perhaps because both Barnardo and his wife were involved from the beginning, and the 'Cottage Home' basis was so successful. This Appendix upon its growth is a reminder of the many important benefactors behind it. E: 'Tabular Statement of the Children Boarded out by Dr. Barnardo' again confirms the magnitude and success of this undertaking already apparent from the text. F:'Statistical Record of "Ever-Open Doors" since Dates of Opening' is numerical evidence that Barnardo's policy attributed to the death of Carrots was applied in fourteen places other than London, and there is little wonder that such a policy drove the demands upon funds for Dr. Barnardo's Homes. Appendix G: 'Material Relief Supplied to Necessitous Cases not Admitted to the Homes: 1895-1906.' is an indication that Barnardo had alternatives to insitutionalisation, a point that is succinctly presented in Appendix H: 'Relations with the National Society For the Prevention of Cruelty of Children' by a letter from the 'Rev. Benjamin Waugh' longwhile at the 'helm' of that Society to the author, dated 1906, concerning improving the well-being of children without removing them from their homes. He had been on a different side from Barnardo in the Gossage case, and Barnardo's 1905 letter of appreciation to Waugh for his outstanding services to children immediately follows, as though their common interest was greater than their differences; Barnardo had been on the council of the N.S.P.C.C. in earlier and friendlier years.

Appendices I to L list more of the Homes' facts and finances, and Appendix M is a most interesting bibliography that lists 68 authors on child-care under the headings: Historical, Law, Miscellaneous, Philanthropy(under which is included Batt's book(Notes 2.) dated 1904 rather than 1905), Social, State, and Training. This is followed by a list of Barnardo's own 'chief contributions:' Something Attempted, Something Done. 1888(sic), Night and Day Magazine, edited by, vol.i, 1877. The Children's Treasury Magazine, vol.i., 1874, Young Helpers' League Magazine, vol.i., 1892, & Bubbles Magazine, vol.i., 1894.

Comment: The Memoirs of the Late Dr. Barnardo is a comprehensive book in which Mrs. Barnardo and James Marchant present his family back-ground, personality, religious faith, and great philanthropic achievements against some failings in professionalism that are discreetly recognised. It serves as a good basis for subsequent biographies, and increasing examination of his life's work.