Get you up to speed: Century-old grave of 15 orphans from ‘Home for Little Incurables’ discovered
Volunteers uncovered a long-lost gravesite for 15 orphans from Dr Barnardo’s Home for Little Incurables in Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford, after over a century of its obscurity.
Nadine Good of Barnardo’s stated that volunteers honour the memories of the 15 orphans as they work to restore the newly discovered graves in Undercliffe Cemetery.
Volunteers, led by Irene Lofthouse of Undercliffe Cemetery Charity, are actively restoring the long-lost graves of 15 orphans discovered in Bradford’s Undercliffe Cemetery.
What we know so far
A long-lost gravesite of 15 orphans has been uncovered in Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford, following extensive research by volunteers. The children, aged between three and 18 years, were residents of Dr Barnardo’s Home for Little Incurables from 1898 until 1911.
The care home provided specialised support for youngsters suffering from terminal or life-limiting illnesses. The burial site had been forgotten for over a century after the home relocated to a larger facility in Harrogate in 1911. Volunteers dedicated five years to examining 12,500 burial records, eventually locating a headstone referencing Dr Barnardo, the founder of the charity.
Many of the children faced serious health challenges, including rickets and tuberculosis. Irene Lofthouse, a volunteer with Undercliffe Cemetery Charity, expressed excitement over the discovery, highlighting the importance of acknowledging both Bradford’s history and Barnardo’s significant contributions. The volunteers are now focused on restoring the graves, which had sunk several feet underground, to properly commemorate the lives of these young orphans.
Nadine Good, north regional director for Barnardo’s, affirmed that the ongoing restoration work serves to honour the memories of the children. The community’s collective efforts are essential for ensuring that this chapter of history is recognised and respected.
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Long-lost grave of 15 orphans from ‘Home for Little Incurables’ found a century later
A long-lost gravesite of 15 orphans has been discovered in a sunken cemetery in Bradford.
The children, aged between three and 18, lived at a former Barnados’ children’s home in Manningham between 1898 and 1911.
The orphanage, then known as Dr Barnardo’s Home for Little Incurables, supported youngsters with terminal or life-altering illnesses.
Yet the care home’s graveyard in Undercliffe Cemetery has been lost for more than a century after the orphans were relocated to another site.
Volunteers spent five years rummaging through 12,5000 burial records to find a headstone emarked ‘Dr Baranado’, referring to the charity’s founder.
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Many of the youngsters who called the facility home were orphans or from low-income families.
Some suffered from rickets, a disease in which bones soften and become deformed, or the now preventable and curable disease, tuberculosis.
Irene Lofthouse, a volunteer and trustee at Undercliffe Cemetery Charity, said: ‘It was a revelation to find out that Bradford had been a location for “Dr Barnardo’s Home for Little Incurables” and we and our research volunteers were excited by the discovery.
‘As the database record gives the grave number, groundwork volunteers were then able to locate it and assess what needed to be done to restore it, enabling the Cemetery to commemorate both Barnardo’s work and the children buried there.
‘Each time we uncover a record and a grave, it adds and acknowledges not only to Bradford’s history, but also national achievements – of which Barnardo’s is a part.’
Lofthouse and other volunteers are working to restore the graves, which had sunk several feet below the ground.
Nadine Good, north regional director for Barnardo’s, said the volunteers are ‘honouring the memories of these children’.
Names of the children and when they died
Arthur Westwood, age six – June 16, 1899
James Alfred Elton, age 15 – February 15, 1900
Samuel Martin Minns, age 15 – August 23, 1900
Joseph Frederick Sunley, age 16 – August 27, 1900
Arthur Ayling, age 11 – January 22, 1901
Robert James Denny, age 14 – March 1, 1901
George Francis Brown, age three – August 26, 1902
Horace Russell Everett, age 16 – October 17, 1902
Thomas Michael Varley, age 17 – July 24, 1903
Walter Aleck Percy Goddard, age nine – July 27, 1903
Esther (Kate) Mason, age 14 – September 18, 1903
George Hague, age 12 – December 18, 1903
Richard Saunders, age 13 – April 28, 1904
Florence Edith Jane Pegler, age 18 – December 31, 1904
Benjamin Lestrille, age 11 – September 3, 1906
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