Hi, Cynthia, You asked > Would anyone know if there was a Dr. Bernardo (Barnado) Home for Children in > the Preston Area during the 1880-1990? My recollections from the period 1940 - 1950 is that there were three main orphanages in Preston, the Harris Orphanage in Fulwood (an Anglican home, founded by Rev Harris, a Rector of Preston), St. Vincent's Boys Home and Moorfields Girls Home (RC foundations). In addition there was a small RC girls orphanage in Theatre Street. I do not remember a Dr. Barnado's Home. Tony mentions Shepherd Street Mission. My understanding was that this was a Non-Conformist Mission that provided for the poor and needy, but did not have a children's home. I could be wrong. I remember the annual appeals in the Lancashire Daily Post and the lists of what people had donated. With regard to Dr. Barnado's, I had a look on Google - I am getting more confident about using Google! - and found a site http://www.institutions.org.uk/orphanages/info/doctor_barnardo_homes.htm that had an advert for Dr. Barnado's from ca 1900 that sets out how the Society works and appealed for help. This suggested I Google for 'Open-Door Homes' and this produced the relevant part of the Dr. Barnado's official site - http://www.barnardos.org.uk/whoweare/history/pasthomes/northwest/index.jsp This includes a list of the Dr. Barnado's Homes in the north west of England and brief details of their history. It does not list any Dr. Barnado's Home in Preston. Dr. Barnado's was not the only society that organised the emigration of children to the New World. The basic philosophy seems to have been that these children came from backgrounds that were very difficult and so the best way of helping these children was to give them a new start. These societies believed that a new start would be more effective if the old was abandoned completely and the child had no links backwards in time. This concept is quite alien to modern thinking but for almost a hundred years it was accepted as the best way forward. Reading the papers recently suggests that we may have a different system but all the problems of the 1800s still remain. One of the other sites I came across whilst I was searching was http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tweetybirdgenealogy/homechild.html and this has links to many sites dealing with the care of children in need, including their emigration to Canada, and looks at all aspects of the system. The main page of the site that had the advert for Dr Barnado's - http://www.institutions.org.uk - has a great deal of information about all the various types of institution that were in existence in earlier times. Hope this helps Jim Lancaster (Bury, Lancs.) ----- Original Message ----- From: <Cynvogel@aol.com> To: <ENG-LANCS-PRESTON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 3:25 AM Subject: Dr. Barnado Home