He died in 1905 and, in a move unusual for the time, was cremated; his ashes were interred in front of Cairn's House, the original building of his Barkingside children's village.

[4] Barnado died in 1905[5] at his home in Surbiton and, following a funeral attended by very large crowds and a subsequent cremation, his ashes were interred at Barkingside.

[6] The sculpture was undertaken by George Frampton, later famous for his statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens[7] and his memorial to W. S. Gilbert on the Victoria Embankment.

[9] The memorial forms an exedra, with a large, semi-circular, stone seat flanking the central plinth.

[10] The base is inscribed with a quotation from Barnado's will: 'I HOPE TO DIE AS I HAVE LIVED/ IN THE HUMBLE BUT ASSURED FAITH OF/ JESUS CHRIST/ AS/ MY SAVIOUR, MY MASTER AND MY KING'.