The insights into Dr Barnado himself were perhaps more revealing. What the paper called one of Barnardo's "more canny moves" was to set up a photography department at his Stepney Boys' Home. For 30 years from 1874, every child who entered the homes had a before and after photograph taken. "The pictures were turned into cards which were sold for sixpence each."
The cards were not exactly legal, decent, honest and truthful. Many of the so-called vagrant children came to the homes well-dressed and were changed into rags.
Barnardo's high profile "began to irk rival evangelists and charity workers", says The Independent. In 1877, the Charity Organisation Society accused him of "financial malpractice, cruelty to children, falsely claiming to be a doctor and even immorality".
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