No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission

"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

http://spartacus-educational.com/REbarnardo.htm

NO DESTITUTE CHILD EVER REFUSED ADMISSION read the sign above the entrance to the Barnardo Home.  Started by the evangelical Christian Dr. Barnardo in 1866, Stepney House, located at 18 Stepney Causeway, provided shelter for London's poor and orphaned children.  The doctor, who hailed from Ireland, had worked in London's East End Hospital where he cared for cholera victims.  He had toured the rooftops of Whitechapel with orphan Jim Jarvis where he had seen street children living in filth.  The short figure had stood on a chair in the East End and ministered to the crowds about Jesus.  But when words failed to bring about change, he acted, opening Stepney House to shelter London's "waifs".

http://the-east-end.co.uk/doctor-barnardo/

 

The Barnardo Home was leased for 99 years at 57 pounds per year.  It included five bedrooms which housed 60 boys.  In 1871, Stepney House was full and Dr. Barnardo was forced to turn away a red-haired boy, John Somers, nicknamed "Carrots".  Here is the doctor's account:

"When first I visited the Shades by midnight, or rather early morn, "Carrots" was there, and when by the offer of a halfpenny to each, I succeeded in counting out 73 destitute lads from the various shelters of old barrels, crates and packages in which they had been ensconced.  I thought I had seldom seen a more unpleasant specimen of boy life than he exhibited.  Having out of this number selected five poor lads to fill an equal number of beds in our Home, my memory vividly recalls the earnestness with which Carrots pleaded to be taken also, but alas, it could not be; we were already filled, and the five lads I then selected were as many as the funds in my hands warranted receiving.  A few mornings later, as some porters were moving a large sugar hogshead...they disturbed a sleeping boy...the porter took the form of the lad in his arms...only then did he perceive that "Carrots" was dead!" (http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/JohnSomers/)

http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/stepney-causeway.html

From then on, the evangelical vowed to never turn anyone else away.  The Home's slogan became "No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission".    In 1874, Dr. Barnardo opened 10 Stepney Causeway, the first open all hours shelter.  Two years later, Dr. Barnardo expanded the Home to include numbers 19 to 26.  By 1900, he added numbers 8 and 6.  By 1908, the Home offered a general education and trade training for the children.  The children who stayed in these Homes, were labelled Home Children.

Tinsmiths Shop courtesy http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/stepney-causeway.html.

While Stepney Causeway housed primarily boys, a second Home was opened for girls in Barkingside, outside of London, in 1876.  More Homes would follow but Dr. Barnardo could not keep up with the influx of destitute children.  For the next sixty years, 100,000 British home children, including my great-grandma, would immigrate to Canada as child labour.  The slogan at 18 Stepney Causeway, however, remained in practice.

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Barnardos/Barnardos5.jpg

To Sir With Love Character Based on British Guiana Engineer

E. R. Braithwaite, circa 1959, the year the his book To Sir With Love was published courtesy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2417081/QUENTIN-LETTS-First-night-review-To-Sir-With-Love.html.

To Sir With Love is a 1967 movie starring Sidney Poitier, a black teacher who is charged with teaching in a rough London high school during the swinging sixties.  Despite racist attitudes and despite the students' lack of motivation, Poitier's character is determined to stick it out  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Sir,_with_Love).

To Sir With Love is based on the book of the same name, published in 1959 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Sir,_With_Love_(novel).  The author, E. R. Braithwaite, was a British Guiana Engineer who came to Britain during the Second World War and signed on with the RAF.  At the war's end, he looked for work, but failed to find a job due to the anti-black attitudes of the time period.

A friend recommended that Braithwaite apply to a high school in London's East End, a rough neighbourhood.  The war veteran soon found out that the students were semi-literate and lacked the motivation to learn.  They tried everything in their power to make their new teacher's job difficult. Braithwaite pointed out that they were almost adults, and that they needed to be prepared for the outside world.  He set new ground rules:  he would let them decide the topics of study but in exchange they were to give him the respect that he deserved.  Braithwaite went above and beyond the call of duty, taking them on several field trips to museums, an experience they had never had before.  The students responded in kind; his enthusiasm was infectious.

A young teacher, Gillian Blanchard , accompanied them on their field trips.  Gradually, she and Braithwaite started to fall in love.  However, given that Gillian was white and Braithwaite was black, her parents did not approve of their interracial relationship.  Despite their misgivings, they realized that they must trust their daughter's judgement.

After a decade, Braithwaite decided to change careers.  His students ordered monogrammed cigarettes for their teacher, wrapped them and wrote on the gift, "To Sir With Love".  Not a smoker, Braithwaite kept the cigarettes as a momento of his cherished time at the East End London school.

http://www.starstills.com/ss2294214-cast-to-sir-with-love-movie-photo/