b. 4 July 1845; d. 19 September 1905
Thomas Barnardo's name does not often feature amongst the names of early photographers, but perhaps deserves to. The founder of the famous Dr. Barnardo's Homes, in 1870 he employed a photographer to make a photographic record of every child admitted. The photographs were kept in albums and case-history sheets. There are over fifty thousand of these. He then developed an interesting collection of "then and now" pictures, printed on a carte-de-visite, of the boys at the homes; these then went on sale to raise money, and also proved to be effective publicity.
Then a rival accused him of deception: "Barnardo's method is to take the children as they are supposed to enter the Home, and then after they have been in the Home for some time. He...tears their clothes so as to make them appear worse than they really are...they are also taken in purely fictional poses..."
Barnardo sued, but he was ruled guilty of "artistic fiction" in respect of one photograph, which somewhat damaged his reputation. The arbitrators, pronouncing their verdict (1877), stated: "This use of artistic fiction to represent actual facts is, in our opinion, not only morally wrong as thus employed, but might, in the absence of a very strict control grow into a system of deception dangerous to the cause on behalf of which it is practised. Nor has evidence been wanting in this inquiry, that in one or two cases it has been applied to an extent that we....strongly reprobate."
Barnardo conceded that the photographs might appear false, but strongly defended this on the grounds that the pictures which caused the problem were not intended to represent the actual boy or girl in the picture, but rather a class of children of whom many had been rescued. In addition, most of the pictures were kept for internal use, only a few being used for publicity and fund-raising. The evidence would suggest that Barnardo, a man of impeccable integrity, was not deliberately trying to fake a situation, but that was the way that it was read.
Subsequent photographs which were taken, straight "mug-shots", tell their story in just as dramatic a manner as did the contrived pictures.
© Robert Leggat, 1999.