Barnardo's Homes Photo Archives Opened

Thomas Barnardo started giving orphaned and destitute children a home in the UK in 1866. His homes, known as Barnardo's Homes, spread across the UK in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

Between 1869 and 1920 over 100,000 children from Barnardo's were sent to Canada in the belief they would have a better life in that new country. After arriving in Canada they were sent to receiving homes then to farmers who had expressed a wish to take one. Some suffered abuse and were treated as nothing more than free labour but others found loving homes.
 
Now Barnardo's Homes has released many of the photos in their archives. Read more about the opening of the photo archives at Barnardo's archive photos reveal first foster children

Dating back to 1874, the archive contains 500,000 images and 300 films of the visual history of the organisation, including their work overseas in Canada and Australia.

Information about access to the photo archives can be found at Barnardo's Photo Archives

Photo on left is Albert Finch (1890-1976) is my husband's great-grand-uncle. The photo was taken while he was in Barnardo's Homes.

Albert was admitted to Barnardos Homes as an orphan on 16 February 1899 age 8 years. He spent one night at the Receiving H0use in Stepney East London and in February 1899 he was transferred to Sheppard House in Bow, East London. In May 1899 Albert was boarded out with foster parents in Romsey Hampshire where he remained for two years before returning to East London to Leopold House in March 1901. On 21 March 1901 he was sent to Canada on the SS Tunisian. 

More About the 10M Irish Catholic Parish Registers Coming in March

Drumgooland Parish Baptisms 1833

Ancestry.com will be launching the Ireland Catholic Parish Registers online in March of this year. With more than 10 million Catholic Parish records, this launch will help create the largest collection of Irish registers available online.

Here's some facts to keep us all anticipating this debut!

The collection means that Ancestry.com will have over 55 million Irish records and will provide the largest collection of Irish Catholic parish records available online.

The collection is made up of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records from over 1,000 Catholic parishes across the whole of the island of Ireland - both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Baptism and Marriage records make up the majority of the collection and Burial records can be found primarily for parishes in the northern regions.      


Ancestry.com has indexed records from over 3,500 parish registers. This is the first time that the collection has been indexed with the images linked online.

10 Million Irish Catholic Parish Records Coming Online!

More than 10 million Catholic Parish records from Ireland are to be published online by Ancestry.com, the world’s largest family history resource. The collection means that Ancestry will have over 55 million Irish records and will provide the largest collection of Irish Catholic parish records available online.

The collection is made up of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records from over 1,000 Catholic parishes across the whole of the island of Ireland - both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Baptism and Marriage records make up the majority of the collection and Burial records can be found primarily for parishes in the northern regions.

Ancestry has indexed records from over 3,500 parish registers. This is the first time that the collection has been indexed with the images linked online.

John Slyne, VP, International Operations at Ancestry comments: “The Ireland Catholic Parish Registers is the single most important collection needed to trace Roman Catholic ancestors in Ireland in the 1800s and we are delighted to make it available through Ancestry.  Providing the very best Irish records to our members is important to us and this collection helps us do that, taking the total number of Irish records to over 55 million.  It also means we continue to provide the largest online collection of Irish Catholic parish records available anywhere which is good for those in Ireland and also those across the World with Irish roots.

The collection is set to go live on Ancestry.com in March 2016.