Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bernard, Thomas (1750-1818)
BERNARD, Sir THOMAS (1750–1818), philanthropist, was born at Lincoln 27 April 1750. He was the son of Sir Francis Bernard [see Bernard, Sir Francis], by Amelia, daughter of Stephen Offley, of Norton Hall, Derbyshire. He was educated at a private school in New Jersey and at Harvard University, where, however, his studies were interrupted by his father being obliged to employ him as confidential secretary during the disturbed condition of political affairs. Shortly afterwards he accompanied his father to England, and obtained the situation of commissary of musters. At the same time, having entered the Middle Temple, he prosecuted his studies in law, and was called to the bar in 1780; but on account of an impediment in his speech he devoted himself to the business of conveyancing. Having through his marriage in May 1782 to Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Patrick Adair, and his rapid success in business, acquired a considerable fortune, he retired from the law, and occupied his subsequent life in the promotion of plans for the welfare of the poorer classes. It is impossible to admire too highly his enthusiastic and ceaseless energy, his remarkable insight into practical details, or his readiness to make the best use he could of the suggestions and proposals of others. The proximity of the residence of Bernard in Bloomsbury Square to the Foundling Hospital led him to take an active interest in that institution, even when he was in full practice in his profession. After he had been for several years one of the governors, he was, in 1796, elected treasurer, and for eleven years he was constantly in attendance on its concerns, until ill-health compelled him to resign office in December 1806, after which he became a vice-president. By the erection of streets on the hospital estates he greatly increased the revenues of the institution, and in the internal management he was equally successful, his adoption of Count Rumford's plans in regard to food and fuel being found so profitable that the system was introduced into all the workhouses and parishes of the kingdom. He published in 1799 a pamphlet entitled 'An Account of the Foundling Hospital, London.' In 1796, along with the Bishop of Durham, Mr. Wilberforce, and others, he established the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor. Among the immediate results of his recommendations was the formation, in 1800, of a school for the indigent blind, and in 1801 of the Fever Institution. He also exerted himself in promoting vaccination, and in the furthering of measures for protecting children in cotton mills and the apprentices of chimneysweeps. In 1797 he published 'A Short Account of Britton Abbot' — a Yorkshire cottager who had enclosed a rood of waste land, on which he had succeeded in maintaining a wife and six children — as an example of the improvement that might be effected in the condition of the poor by allotting them small pieces of ground to reclaim and cultivate. Bernard took a prominent part in the founding of other important institutions. At the suggestion of Count Rumford he, in 1799, set on foot the plan of the Royal Institution, Piccadilly, for which the king's charter was obtained 13. Jan. 1800. With kindred aims in reference to art he, in 1805, succeeded in establishing the British Institution for the Promotion of Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. He was also the originator of the Albert Club, a clubhouse for literature, from which all gaming, drinking, and party politics were to be excluded. Having in 1801 been appointed by the Bishop of Durham chancellor of that diocese, he, in 1808, set on foot at Bishop Auckland a collegiate school for the training of promising scholars as teachers. The school was under the direct superintendence of Dr. Bell; and as at this time no central school of a similar character had been established in the metropolis, there was soon a great demand upon it for a supply of teachers. In explanation of the experiment and of the method of instruction employed, he published in 1809 'The New School,' of which a second edition appeared in 1810, an enlarged edition under the title of 'The Barrington School' in 1812, and another under the same title in 1815. Bernard also endeavoured to set on foot a movement, in which he was only partially successful, for the erection of free chapels, the first of which was opened in West Street, Seven Dials. He took an eager interest in every measure designed to effect the removal of accidental hardships and disabilities affecting the circumstances of the poor. He rendered important assistance in the formation, in 1812, of an 'Association for the Relief of the Manufacturing Poor, as well as, in 1813, of the 'Fish Association for the Benefit of the Community,' and in 1816 he began an active agitation against the salt duties, conceiving them to exercise an injurious influence not only on the fishing industries, but on the manufactures and agriculture of the country. On this subject he, in 1816, addressed a letter and two postscripts to Mr. Vansittart, the chancellor of the exchequer. He also expounded his views in 1817 in a pamphlet 'On the Supply of Employment and Subsistence to the Labouring Classes in Fisheries, Manufactures, and Cultivation of Waste Land,' and in 1818 in a more elaborate work 'On the Case of the Salt Duties, with Notes and Illustrations. The result was that after parliamentary inquiry a bill was brought in for reducing the duty on rock salt for agricultural purposes. The anxiety and labour connected with this agitation seriously affected his already weakened health. A visit to Leamington Spa proved ineffectual in restoring it, and he died 1 July 1818. He was buried in a vault under the Foundling Hospital.
In 1801 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on Bernard the degree of M.A., and the same year he received that of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh. In 1810 he succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his brother. His first wife died 6 June 1813, and on 15 June 1815 he married Charlotte Matilda, youngest daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, Bart., but by neither marriage had he any issue. In addition to the works already mentioned he was the author of 'Observations relating to the Liberty of the Press, 1793; 'An Historical View of Christianity,' 1806; and the 'Comforts of Old Age,' printed privately in 1818 for distribution in the infirmaries of the town, and published in 1816. He was also connected with Dr. Dibdin in the publication of the 'Director,' a weekly periodical, chiefly devoted to notices of lectures at the Royal Institution, and to criticisms of pictures in the British Gallery. A number of manuscripts of Sir Thomas Bernard are in the British Museum, including a 'Letter to the Right Hon. N. Vansittart on Repeal of the Salt Duties' (MS. Add. 29233); 'Letters to W. Hastings' ('MS. Add. 29191 ); and 'Letters to H. Boase (MS. Add. 29281).
[Gent. Mag. lxxxviii. pt. ii. pp. 82-3; Baker's Life of Sir Thomas Bernard (1819); Dr. Dibdin's Reminiscences of a Literary Life (1836), pp. 230-234.]