Orphaned, abandoned and gone too soon – these chilling images reveal the Victorian children buried in unmarked graves
Hundreds of Victorian children died young through poverty and sickness but research has finally shed light on their tragically short lives
THESE tragic photos show the orphaned and abandoned Victorian children buried in unmarked graves and forgotten by history - until now.
Researchers have finally uncovered the identities of over 500 children who ended up in the care of kids' charity Barnardo's to mark its .
Children who had been orphaned or abandoned by parents who could no longer afford to care for them, ended up with the charity.
Once they had been washed, fed and dressed, they would have their photo taken and their name and age noted down.
Tragically, despite the care of the organisation, many of the children still died young and were buried in unmarked graves.
With the help of the researchers at the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery, we can now learn a bit more about just 13 of the kids who didn't make it to adulthood.
Henry Lyford was born in 1874 and admitted to Barnardo's after his mother lost a job as a servant.
She left him and his sister with the charity while looking for work but never returned. He died in 1880 from an inflammation in the kidneys.
William R. Howard, seven, a hermaphrodite (a person who has male and female sex organs), was admitted to the charity after his mother died in 1892.
He was eventually fostered but died in 1897 of an unknown illness.
Margaret Care, 14, was thought to have been born in 1885 or 1886.
She was admitted after both parents died from consumption.
She spent time at a home for older girls in Hackney, London, before contracting pulmonary tuberculosis.
She died in 1901.
John Mills, nine, was taken in by the charity after his seamstress mother fell ill with heart disease in 1875.
His labourer father died years before.
After a year in care, John died. His funeral was attended by Thomas Barnardo.
Mary J Peacock, 14, was born in 1890 and admitted in 1904 after suffering from a condition that restricted blood flow to her fingers and toes.
She was taken to hospital in 1905 with pleurisy and pneumonia. She died in 1906.
Joseph Harley, seven, was a son of a sailors’ boarding house worker and an African seaman.
He was admitted in 1892 after having surgery for weak legs.
He was still with the charity aged 18 when he contracted tuberculosis. He died 1903.
Violet A. Beckett, six, and her sisters had a comfortable start in life but, after their shop-owner father died of pneumonia in 1906 and the subsequent death of their mother, they were taken in by Barnardo’s in 1909.
Violet died that year from an unknown illness.
Lilian E Brown, 15, was admitted to Barnardo’s in 1914 after the deaths of her mother in 1908 and father in 1913.
She suffered from rickets, curvature of the spine and deafness.
She was moved to hospital while suffering from an ear infection. She died in 1915.
Pedro Bismask, 16, was born in Africa and came to England three years before being taken in by the charity in 1887.
He was employed as a house boy in a vicarage but struggled with work due to health problems.
He moved to an infirmary after suffering from pneumonia. He died in 1888.
Annie Dorothy Waterman, six, was admitted in 1903 after her father died from consumption and her mother failed to cope after the birth of another child.
She suffered from ulcers in her eyes. She spent time at Barnardo’s Home in East London.
She died in 1910 from tuberculosis, aged 12.
Harriet Trembath, four, was born in 1887. Harriet came from a broken home and, in 1891, was admitted to Barnardo’s with her sister, Elizabeth.
She spent several years boarding with a family in Acton, London, before her death in July 1901 of tubercular peritonitis.
Agnes Coburn, six, had Down’s syndrome and suffered with severe conjunctivitis.
She was admitted in 1905 with two sisters after an uncle, who had taken them in following the death of their mother from consumption, also died.
Agnes died in 1917 from pulmonary tuberculosis.
William F. Long, aged ten. William and his brother were admitted in 1912 when their mother’s illness prevented her from looking after them when their father drowned on the Titanic.
William was struck down with an unknown illness and died three years later.
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To commemorate the work of the organisation, a memorial sculpture of a pair of hands releasing a cockney sparrow will be unveiled in Tower Hamlets Cemetery on Monday 5th December by Thomas Barnardo’s great-great-nephew Dr David Barnardo.
Jean Clark, 69, from Birmingham, is the "amazing woman" who single-handedly raised the £10,000 to pay for the memorial.