15/12/2025
The Barnardo Plot: Consecrated 754.
The Undercliffe record book documents the “Grant of Freehold Grave in favour of Thomas J Barnardo, Doctor of Medicine, 18 Stepney Causeway, London”. Entry number 43518 dated June 16th 1899 records the first burial, that of Arthur Westwood, age 6, infant, took place on that date at 3 o’clock and it was conducted by Rev E Richards.
This grave, previously misidentified, with its modest marker stone, was purchased by Dr. Barnardo for the burial of children resident at his ‘Home for Little Incurables’, situated at 2 Parkfield Road, Manningham, Bradford (still in existence, see recent photo in article).
The grave, which is in the consecrated part of the cemetery, is recorded as full and contains the following 15 burials:
16.06.1899 - Arthur Westwood age 6
15.02.1900 - James Alfred Elton age 15
23.08.1900 - Samuel Martin Winns age 15
27.08.1900 - Joseph Frederick Tunley age 16
22.01.1901 - Arthur Ayling age 11
01.03.1901 - Robert James Denny age 14
26.08.1902 - George Francis Brown age 3
17.10.1902 - Horace Russell Everett age 16
24.07.1903 - Thomas Michael Varley age 17
27.07.1903 - Walter Alec Percy Goddard age 9
18.09.1903 - Kate Mason age 14
18.12.1903 - George Hague age 12
28.04.1904 - Richard Saunders age 13
31.12.1904 - Florence Edith Jane Pegler age 18
03.09.1906 - Benjamin Lestrille age 11
The Barnardo archive library card for the Bradford Home classifies it as being for children suffering from ‘rickets and paralysis’, a Victorian conception of some common incurable conditions. Given that these ‘incurable’ children came from the ‘orphan’ or ‘waif’ classes, their health would have been generally poor and they would have likely been severely malnourished. Of the 6 children that we were able to obtain cause of death for, 4 had tuberculosis in some form. Two had the exact same description on their death certificates, ‘spinal caries, general tuberculosis, asthenia’. ‘Spinal caries’ is an obsolete term for Pott’s disease and ‘asthenia’ denotes general weakness. Another child had ‘tuberculosis’, whilst the 4th child died of ‘caries (tubercular) of the spine, psoas abscess’. A psoas abscess is a collection of pus in the iliopsoas muscle compartment (hip region). Of the other 2 children, one had ‘chronic mitral disease, pericarditis’ and the other ‘malnutrition, hydrocephalus’.
In the late Victorian era (1880s–1900s), Bradford, a booming wool textile centre, suffered severely from tuberculosis (TB), known as "consumption" or the "white plague." Industrial pollution from mills created smog-filled air, while overcrowded slums and poor sanitation fostered the spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Children were especially vulnerable. Pulmonary TB caused persistent coughing, weight loss, fever, and often fatal lung damage. Extrapulmonary forms were common in the young: scrofula swelled neck glands into disfiguring sores, while bovine TB from unpasteurished milk led to abdominal or meningeal infections, frequently proving deadly.
Malnutrition and crowded homes amplified risks, making TB a leading cause of child mortality (estimated 1 in 4 deaths) in industrial cities like Bradford. The Bradford ‘Home for Little Incurables’ was one of many dotted around the country that were set up by Dr. Barnardo, the one in Bradford was designed to accommodate up to 23 patients.
With a view to restoring this historic grave and being aware of its place in Bradford’s often grim Victorian past, It was our mission to finally locate the correct grave, and it was certainly no easy task. Situated in an overgrown, old and poorly marked area of the cemetery it took a team of our ground volunteers about half an hour to find. As is common with plots containing multiple burials, this one had sunk by about two feet and only an inch of the very tip of the marker stone was visible, the entire grave being surrounded and hidden by overgrown grass.
We will of course keep you informed of our progress. Watch this space.
I would like to thank one of the cemetery’s researchers, Christine Eddison, for her amazing work in bringing this story to our attention, this is a massively abridged version of the original fascinating article.
