When Thomas John Barnardo opened his first home in 1870, he was primarily concerned with the appalling conditions that existed for small, homeless boys, He thought that utterly homeless girls were much rarer than boys and that human hearts were a little more tender where girls were concerned. However, In the winter of 1872 a small, shoeless girl aged eleven called Martha stood on the doorstep of 18 Stepney Causeway E 1, That had in bold letters Thomas's now famous slogan, "No Destitute Boy Ever Refused Admission" Martha then gently knocked at the door, a lady opened the door and before she could speak Martha asked "Please d'you take in little gels, too?" The Matron drew her into the hall and found her to be in a very bad condition, her feet were cut, bleeding and her frail little body badly bruised, the answer was "yes" Martha was given shelter for the night. The next day a temporary home was found for her, until a more permanent one could be found.

It was then, after speaking to Martha and others like her, that Thomas realized that he had been wrong about the treatment of homeless girls. True, there were fewer girls roaming the streets, this was the truth, but their destitution often took a darker form than that of the boys. The age of consent prior to 1885 was 13 years of age. Until this time a young girls of the lower classes were bought for five pounds for local brothels or even transported to the Continent.

Thomas Barnardo decided that something must be done for these girls. Thomas had been refused in 1869 to open a home for girls because of his single status. Thomas needed a wife if he was ever to help these young  girls. From what we can find Thomas in 1871 had met Sara Louise (Syrie) Elmslie for the first time, She had taken up charity work 10 years before with her own Ragged school and had decided to organize a large tea party for the poor boys of Richmond. Syrie had heard of Barnardo's work with the waif's of London East End so she had invited Thomas to address her gathering.  The very next day fate dealt it's hand both Syrie and Thomas met again on Paddington station, the only problem Syrie was with her distinguished father and would be travelling first class. Thomas had only a third class ticket so he rushed off to exchange his ticket. On the journey which lasted over two hours Syrie's father had dozed off so allowed Thomas and Syrie to talk of their respective social activities. They compared problems, If they fell in love with each other no one knows for they did not meet again for eighteen months.

In May of 1873 cupid was drawing his bow one more time, Thomas was to meet Syrie Elmslie, again. The meeting place was as unromantic as one could find, a graveyard of all places, they had both come to pay their respects to a well loved cleric, The Rev William Pennefather. The funeral was attended by quite a large number of people so Syrie and Thomas had not yet met, but as the crowd was dispersing they met face to face. Cupids arrow must of hit the mark as both were overjoyed, and Thomas had offered to escort Syrie home; Syrie readily accepted. By the time they had reached The Laurels Close Richmond Thomas just knew he had to Marry this girl, with a wife at his side, in sympathy with the work he wanted to do, it would be that much easier to care for the girls, so with a deep breath Thomas proposed to Syrie; she while expressing her depth of feeling for Thomas rejected him. Thomas not being one to be rejected asked again a few days later and it is reported he was ushered into the comfortable drawing room in Richmond to discuss marriage arrangements with Mr. Elmslie

On Tuesday 17th June 1873 Thomas Barnardo was to marry Miss Sara Louise (Syrie) Elmslie, the only daughter of William Elmslie who was then chairman of Lloyds. The wedding was to be held at the 6,000-seat Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington Causeway so all of their friends could attend, the best man was Mr James Marchant. Thomas with his flair for publicity did not miss the opportunity to tell people of his project that was so dear to his heart, a home for girls.

The newly married couple spent their honeymoon at sunny Lowestoft. It is recorded they spend their time walking, bathing and watching the fishing fleet come and go from the harbour. Some days Thomas and Syrie would be held up getting to the beach area when larger ships would need the swing bridge to open for access to the inner harbour and the broads. They visited many times the most easterly point of Gt Britain at Nesspoint for a brisk walk together and watch the ships pass, wondering their destination and what life would they find.  They spent the rest of their honeymoon planning together on things to be. Its recorded they both spent many hours writing many letters in the last few weeks of their honeymoon regarding their hope of a Girls village home.

After six weeks they returned in July 1873 to a heart-stirring welcome at the Edinburgh Castle in the form a large tea party for the thousand people who had attended to welcome the Barnardo's back from their honeymoon. Lord Shaftesbury presented Mrs Barnardo with a silver tea service on behalf of the Peoples Church. The most generous gift came from Sir John Sands, who was the then Chairman of the London Stock Exchange. He offered the Barnardo's Mossford Lodge, a spacious leasehold house at Cranbrook Road, Barkingside, then a delightfully rural district, this was placed at their disposal for a term of fifteen years without payment as a wedding gift.

The Barnardo's visited their new home Mossford Lodge and started overseeing a conversion of the coach house so they would be able to take girls in and teach them to be domestic servants as there was a big call for clean well taught girls. After all the work had been completed and the builders had gone they spent a further £1000 on furnishing and clothing for the new home. The new Mrs. Barnardo shared her husband's enthusiasm and a commitment to evangelicalism and philanthropic work along with her new husbands deep desire to duplicate his home for boys with one for girls. This was been completed by mid October and within a few weeks all the twelve places were filled. The new project officially opened in 1874, when this project was first planed it was for only twelve girls, who the staff could have managed, but before long recorded on the 31st March 1875 it held 54 girls. If the project had stayed with the original number, Mossford Lodge would have been recorded as being a great success. Below is a photo of Thomas with some of his girls from Mossford Lodge coach house. This gives you a idea of the girls age that Thomas had taken in.

It was hoped that Thomas Barnardo would be able to get the girls off the streets and with Syrie being in full charge of Mossford Lodge with the help of some Christian ladies turn these children into parlour maids, servants, Laundry maids or even cooks. This would supply the demands for cleanly and instructed female servants, Syrie knew they were asking a lot from these girls. Touching on the problem of prostitution, Syrie wrote with characteristic Victorian delicacy, 'how can we expect to grapple (I speak as a woman) with our great social sin so long as girls heard in the lowest lodging houses'?

prostitution was rife in the Whitechapel area, which in truth of this period most mothers of the lower class  would do from time to time to feed the family or for the price of a drink and a bed for the night. But even worse people would take young girls off the street and sell them to the highest bidder. However Thomas Barnardo accepted all children and stressed that every child deserved the best possible start in life, whatever their background.

The problem of having sixty young girls under one roof was the start of Barnardo's problems, the girls slept in large dormitories what Thomas called the barrack system, one night Thomas heard the girls talking quite loudly, when he stopped to listen he was quite shocked at the topic of the conversation. From his own words:

I overheard' (he said) ‘some vile conversation carried on in what we thought was our happy little Christian Home, and then in a moment I realised what were the hidden forces of evil at work undoing all we hoped had been attained. Indeed I was made to feel as I listened with horror, that probably I had done harm, not good, and that by our system of aggregating these girls I was but propagating and intensifying evil. No reader of these pages can imagine the overwhelming hopelessness of the outlook, which almost seemed to crush me as I realised that the fair plans I had formed were producing such apples of Sodom !'

There life stories of the older girls were appalling in their revelations of neglect, degradation and even bestiality, he saw that the older girls were corrupting the younger girls by propagating evil. Thomas felt he had done more harm than good. Soon after this Thomas made a note: "My first attempt really took shape with a small institute on what would now be called the barrack system, one night I came to the conclusion that I must stop it all! I felt that the system was a bad one." These were street girls and their backgrounds represented the most extreme cases and they would need the love of a kind mother if these ties were to ever be broken. After an unhappy interlude, caused by his failure at first to realize how different are a girl's needs from a boy's he had a vision of a Girls Village Home a Garden City that he would build for them, with cottage around a central village green, that each cottage to have it's own garden area, it would be a home with a mother in charge of mixed small groups of girls, run as near possible like a normal family.

Syrie Barnardo had taken on a problem that she did not have any experience of. Also being in charge of young girls, yes she was a committed Christian but this quality did not help in this work, Syrie was to prove neither efficient nor economical as a housekeeper so took more of a back seat from this date. Mossford Lodge was not a great successes in Barnardo's eyes, but it had been a start and they had learnt the hard way. The big house was expensive to run, the serving staff who had solely been brought in to teach the girls had become a costly liability and an expense the Barnardo's could ill afford nor tolerate. Mossford Lodge would have to close as a home for Girls. Thomas also found it quite irksome that he was so far from the main scene of his main activities so he acquired a house in east London at Newbury House, Bow he also kept a suite of rooms reserved at Mossford Lodge.

Thomas needed to gather in funds if his plan for a Girls Village Home was ever going to happen, but his problem was the Victorians saw poverty as shameful and was a direct result of laziness, daughters who had found themselves pregnant were disowned by the family and were on the streets. So needless to say Thomas Barnardo startled the people when he wanted to help the poor. The Victorians were accustomed to placing orphaned children in institutions being herded with adult thieves, beggars, and human failures into vast workhouses, clothed in pauper uniforms, ticketed and drilled. Thomas would not allow this for his boys let alone his girls and he further stated that his little girls should not have their hair cropped, wear coloured ribbons in their hair, they should own individual dresses and sleep in individual beds in small bedrooms, and be known and loved by name.

Thomas tried another tack, he placed an advert in The Christian and his own publications appealing for funds to erect a Village Home for girls. Thomas was still not getting any support for his new plan at Barkingside It was obvious the situation could not continue unchanged. Thomas Barnardo then heard that land adjoining Mossford Lodge was in the process of being sold. After some enquiries Thomas had found it was the Sisters of mercy, a Roman Catholic order was trying to purchase land adjoining Mossford Lodge in what Thomas felt sure was blocking move to prevent his girls home being built. Thomas needed to act quite quickly as he had learnt that the article in the Christian was still not bearing any funds, The Village home for girls had come to a full stop. In a letter entitled 'A Romish Plot',' Barnardo had written to his subscribers urgently begging them to send him £7,000 immediately to prevent a Roman Catholic sisterhood from buying land at Barkingside adjoining Mossford Lodge, which had been occupied on a lease free of any cost by the institution ever since 1873. Barnardo wrote:

Thus, not only may I lose the house, Mossford Lodge, and land hitherto occupied and still so sorely needed, but I may also be opposed in the very centre of our work by a hostile community, who, I regret to say, have for ten years past left no stone unturned to hinder and to harass my operations ... if the property is to be saved to our Institutions, it must be bought without delay, or else the fruits of years will be jeopardised by the action of Romish proselytisers who never seem to want money when it is required to make converts or to hinder a work of true Evangelisation, although funds are conspicuously lacking when the rescue of the children of Romish parents from slum land is in question.

The evangelicals rallied to support Thomas with the funds to purchase Mossford Lodge (photo left) and adjoining land of 13 acres Mr Elmslie who had always supported his daughters wishes generous purchased  a further 13 acres. The Village home project was safe, but Thomas still did not have any funds for the building of the cottages. This was estimated to be in the region of £10,000 that would be needed to build the first thirteen Cottages. Thomas took a break to attend a religious gathering for fellowship and consideration of Gods word. The history of how the first cottage was obtained which was in Memoriam I feel should be told as written in his memoirs. click here to read >>>>>>

Within six month funds for a further ten cottages had been promised by the middle of 1875 enough money had been raised to build a further two cottages estimated to be between £200 and £250 each. Thomas then organised the laying of a foundation stone to be presided over by Lord Aberdeen in 1875, Lord Aberdeen was the same age as Barnardo and was a grandson of the then Prime Minister, who was deeply influenced by evangelical ideas.

Thomas Barnardo had never underestimated the importance of publicity. He planned the opening of his first thirteen cottages on 9th July 1876 with great care. The cottages were all named after plants or flowers, apart from one which was "Myrtle" Lord Cairns, the Lord Chancellor, had for some time past been showing an interest in the work Barnardo was doing. By persuading him to perform the opening ceremony at Barkingside Thomas Barnardo was able to make known his interest to a far wider public.

Invitations from Dr and Mrs Barnardo were despatched to all their friends and supporters. An enormous marquee was erected in the grounds, detailed instructions as to train times were sent to all the guests and every arrangement for their entertainment and comfort was attended to with the greatest care. The ceremony was thought out in great detail and only at the last minute did a hitch occur when a telegram arrived from Lord Cairns secretary informing Barnardo he could be late as he had been detained by parliamentary duties. His absence would have been a blow to the Barnardos, for this was by far the most important event that they had yet organised. Lord Aberdeen was asked to stand in for him, but before the ceremony was over Lord Cairns arrived in the nick of time, just as  Ira Sankey, Moody's musical partner, Sang 'Rescue the Perishing' with 'affecting tenderness' the village home was opened. The Barnardos could feel pleased and proud at the way things had gone. Criticisms concerning Barnardo's work was beginning to be heard.

A large laundry for steam and hand‑washing was built in 1876, and a small infirmary, which dealt with all types of ailments, It is interesting to note that in 1879 there was an outbreak of scarlet fever, which swept through The Girls Village Home, and of the 170 girls who contracted it, not one died. In 1879 Thomas was able to announce that the original thirty cottages planed had all been promised and most had been erected. H. R. H. Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck,  who was to have a long association with Barnardo's had kindly promised to honour the Village Home with a visit and to lay the foundation stone for May cottage. This was the last cottage on the green.

Some years later in 1887, a further nineteen cottages had been built and opened within the Village Green. Each cottage housing between ten to twenty girls, with a superintendent to look after them who was known as "mother". Every cottage had, on the ground floor, a roomy dining‑room and kitchen, a play‑room in addition to the mother's sitting‑room, the necessary administrative offices. Upstairs in the larger cottages were four bedrooms, each with four or five beds, a bathroom with two baths and the mother's bedroom. In a semi‑detached outbuilding was an ordinary water closet, and a trough water closet. The latter was for the use of the children, and it was regularly emptied, cleansed and refilled with water twice a day by a man whose special job it was.

The Stepney area where Thomas Barnardo had his boys home and where most of the girls came from was still synonymous with urban poverty and squalor. It was often known to middle-class Londoners as the `Abyss'. Thomas would do his best to get these girls out of the area as the main killer of this time was cholera. The Bazalgette sewage system had not connected the Whitechapel area by this date. To set the date and scene further Victoria is the Queen of England and in the early hours of Tuesday August 7th of this year Martha Tabram is stabbed to death at George Yard. The Whitechapel mystery had started click here to read >>>>>> Thomas was so concerned about the plight of young children, that he wrote a letter to the Times dated October the 6th.click here to read >>>>>>

On the 13th November 1888 there was a well attended meeting at Dr. Barnardo's Homes. Stepney Causeway, Dr. Barnardo, who presided, said that the crimes of the past few months had revealed to them a state of things which made them heartsick, and the phase of the subject which came more prominently before them was in relation to the young. Large numbers of children lived among persons of the degraded and vicious class, and they would naturally yield to the influence of their evil surroundings. He thought, therefore, that some practical legislative step should be taken, but pending this, they must do what they could, and experience led them to begin their work by the rescue of the young. In this they must seek to make the admission of children into common lodging houses illegal. Objections might be urged against this, but they could be overcome by the establishment of lodging houses solely for children. He had already begun negotiations for the acquiring of two houses, one of which would be devoted to girls and the other to boys. A nominal charge of one penny would be made, and for this a warm meal would be given. If this experiment were successful, he intended to open a shelter in each of the lodging house districts. It would, moreover, result, he hoped, in legislative enactments under which the work would be carried out on a larger scale. It was urgently needed, for he computed that no fewer than 50,000 people found shelter in lodging houses of various kinds each night, and of this number he confidently believed that 25 per cent were children. An address was given by the Rev. Walter J. Mayers, and he was followed by Mr. Rankie, M.P., who spoke with satisfaction of the success of Dr. Barnardo's institutions in Canada.

Some time after this Thomas Barnardo opened  some refuges for young boys and girls in Flower Street, Spitalfields and Leman Street, Whitechapel, for children only and a shelter for older girls in Alfred Street, They were to be licensed under the Lodging - House Act.  For the price of a penny a child could be given shelter for the night and for half a penny they were given a hot meal. While it was encouraged that the boys and girls would pay for their keep, the Lady Deputies were instructed to never turn away any child. The doors were opened each evening between seven o'clock and 10pm and they were full night after night. The system brought in many waifs who soon realised the benefit of the doctors shelter, which was a stepping stone of their own free will in to the care of Dr Barnardo's Homes. 

In 1888 Three children, Harry Gossage, Martha Tye and John James Roddy were admitted into the care of Dr Barnardo's care under the usual conditions. The following year the parents of all three demanded that their children be restored to their custody. Thomas response was typically high handed; Harry Gossage and Martha Tye were sent out of the country. Martha had been admitted into The Girls Village Home on the 14th December. The public account given by Barnardo of the circumstances in which Martha was found omits all mention of the fact that Martha took the initiative and referred herself to Müller's orphanage in Bristol; it also omits the fact that Martha was admitted as a Roman Catholic. The extract from the admissions register gives a Précis of the remarks made by Thomas Barnardo himself:'

Presented herself, in ragged clothes, at the gates of Müller's Orphanage in Bristol and begged for admission. Was found to be living with her mother and a cruel step‑father in a low locality; sent out to beg or steal a certain sum every day; and beaten when she returned home with less. Has been kicked and beaten so that her body is marked and bruised, and her step‑father ‑ now living at Worcester ‑ was bound over to keep the peace, at Bristol. Mother would only sign for two years and Canada clause omitted. (R.C.)

The court cases would go on for some time with the prosecutions being run by a well known Catholic firm of solicitors. In short the head of  they did not want these children to be brought up within Barnardo's protestant Homes. The case of Martha was to cause Thomas to be sent to gaol  for contempt of court.

In the Court of Appeal on Tuesday 16th July 1889, Dr Barnardo appealed against the decision of Queen’s Bench granting attachment for contempt of court in not producing a child called Martha Tye, who had been taken from her mother’s home at Bristol, and placed in one of the appellants homes. Dr. Barnardo made arrangements for sending the child to Canada, and when the mother demanded her return he handed Martha over to a lady Madam R (Gertrude Romand) who had taken the child to France on the 21st December. Steps having been taken in the English Courts to obtain the return of the child, Dr. Barnardo wrote to the lady, who had refused to return the child because she believed that she had been ill-treated by its natural guardians. The Master of the Rolls in delivering judgement said Dr. Barnardo, in his zeal for his own benevolent objects, had overlooked the rights of the people and the law of the country. Having done so he must take the consequences, and he was accordingly committed to prison. Thomas did not stay in the cells long and was allowed his freedom. Some years later In April of 1891 a bill was passed through the upper and lower houses and had received Royal Assent the law relating to the Custody of Children, Thomas Barnardo could congratulate himself upon having been responsible for a change of the Law of England.

To say that Dr. Thomas Barnardo hated Roman Catholics, would be a little way off the truth. Thomas could not and would not suffer fools gladly, The Cardinal Manning was one person Thomas did not see eye to eye. When the Cardinal Manning died in 1892 his successor was less narrow minded and took steps to end the bitter strife by negotiation a sensible scheme with Dr. Thomas Barnardo.

Barkingside was still far removed from the squalors of Whitechapel and the girls were benefiting from being away from the large scale barrack systems. In 1896 close to Mossford Lodge a spacious village school was built named Mossford school. Close by the Crippled physically and mentally handicapped girls attended the embroidery school, where they were taught and turned out exquisite embroidery, art needlework, and weaving. The majority left the home to become laundresses, apprentice dressmakers and to go into service as parlour‑maids, housemaids, and cooks, although there were always more requests than The Village could supply.

The Village at this time covers some 30 acres, 21 of which are grassland for recreation and other purposes. By the time of Dr. Barnardo's death in 1905 The Village had grown to such an extent that it covered 60 acres of ground. There were sixty four cottages and 1,300 girls ranging in age from 2 to 16 years. In addition to the cottages there is a beautiful church for the children built in 1894,  Apart from learning the "three R's" the girls were taught domestic science and dressmaking. There were always 100 girls at work in the Laundry, which washed some 18,500 items a week.

The Girls Village Home had become a great success for  Dr. Thomas Barnardo, not forgetting Syrie who had been with Thomas from the start all those years ago at Mossford Lodge.

Over the last century thousands on thousands of visitors have poured into the Village for a whole range of celebrations not the least has been Founder's Day. The photo above shows Dr. Thomas Barnardo on the 15th July 1905 enjoying his big day. This would be the last time Thomas visits his Girls Village Home, the vision he had all those years ago.

Source information:
'Barnardo' Gillian Wagner
'Memoirs Of The Late Dr. Barnardo' Mrs. Barnardo and James Marchant.
'Father of Nobody's Children' Norman Wymer
The Barnardo Guild magazine.

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