#barnardo

The Ghost:

Ragged School Museum

Thomas Barnardo arrived in London in 1866, seeking to train as a doctor before heading to China on missionary work: he never got there. Instead, after seeing the devastating effects of a cholera epidemic in the East End, he left his medical practice, and devoted his efforts to helping the less fortunate. In 1867, he opened the first ‘ragged school’, so called as many of those who attended were dressed only in rags. The ragged schools provided a free education, though perhaps their biggest draw to some children was the free hot meals.

The ragged school on Copperfield Road opened in 1877, formed from the joining together of three warehouses originally used for storing the goods transported along the neighbouring Regent’s Canal. 

It is reckoned that over the 31 years it operated, tens of thousands of children attended, and were given the opportunity to have a better chance at finding gainful employment.

After the school closed in 1908, the buildings returned to industrial uses until they were scheduled for demolition in the 1980s. Realising that the warehouses were the only surviving buildings to have housed a Barnardo’s ragged school, local people formed the Ragged School Museum Trust to preserve them. Today, the museum houses a replica classroom, a Victorian kitchen, and an exhibition on the history of ragged schools and the local Tower Hamlets area.

Photos from the Middleville Museum NameNora ArchibaldGenderFemaleRacial or Tribal OriginEnglishNationalityCanadianMarital StatusSingleAge10Birth Date29 May 1890Birth PlaceEnglandResidence Date1901ProvinceOntarioResidence PlaceCanadaRelation to Head of HouseAdopted ChildImmigration Year1893ReligionPresbyterianMonths at School7Can ReadYCan WriteYCan Speak EnglishYDistrictLanark…