Doctor of the Lost

When Thomas Barnardo arrived in East London in 1866, his plan was to train at the London Hospital before sailing to China to work as a missionary. The conditions he found in the East End stopped him in his tracks. The unemployment, poverty, overcrowding, drinking and disease were bad enough, but seeing thousands of half-starved children living on the streets broke his heart.

Inside a year Dr Barnardo had opened the ragged-school Hope Place and by 1870 the first of his homes was in operation. He faced opposition from jealous rivals and struggled to find the money to provide enough shelter, but following the death of a boy turned away due to a lack of space he determined to never refuse any child again. By the time of his death he had helped 100,000 children and his work continues to this day. Doctor Of The Lost is the fictionalised story of Dr Barnardo’s early years in East London.

When Thomas Barnardo arrived in East London in 1866, his plan was to train at the London Hospital before sailing to China to work as a missionary. The conditions he found in the East End stopped him in his tracks. The unemployment, poverty, overcrowding, drinking and disease were bad enough, but seeing thousands of half-starved children living on the streets broke his heart.

Inside a year Dr Barnardo had opened the ragged-school Hope Place and by 1870 the first of his homes was in operation. He faced opposition from jealous rivals and struggled to find the money to provide enough shelter, but following the death of a boy turned away due to a lack of space he determined to never refuse any child again. By the time of his death he had helped 100,000 children and his work continues to this day. Doctor Of The Lost is the fictionalised story of Dr Barnardo’s early years in East London.

Author Simon Blumenfeld grew up in the same streets, and his cult 1935 novel Jew Boy captures the magic of the Jewish East End of the 1930s. In Doctor Of The Lost (first published in 1938) he sets about recreating the London of Dr Barnardo, drawing on his knowledge of Whitechapel and friendship with Barnardo’s widow. Blumenfeld brings Tom Barnardo vividly to life, showing his inner emotions as well as the battles he faced.

Doctor Of The Lost shows London at a time of rampant industrialisation, when a few became very wealthy at the expense of many, but it was also a period of charity and good works, when idealists such as Dr Barnardo were prepared to stand up and be counted.

Copies of Doctor Of The Lost, published by London Books, will be available on the night.

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