Gillian Wagner

Dame Gillian Wagner
Born	Gillian Mary Millicent Graham (1927-10-25) 25 October 1927 London, England
Occupation	Writer and philanthropist
Nationality	British

Dame Gillian Mary Millicent Wagner (née Graham; born 25 October 1927) is a British writer, philanthropist and social administrator, and formerly chair of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, the Thomas Coram Foundation and the Carnegie Trust. She has published biographical and historical works, as well as reports on social care.

Early life and education

Gillian Mary Millicent Graham was born in London in 1927, the daughter of Major Henry Archibald Roger Graham and Hon. Margaret Beatrice Lopes. She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and the University of Geneva, and later did a diploma in social administration at the London School of Economics, and subsequently a Ph.D., Dr Barnardo and the Charity Organisation Society: A reassessment of the Arbitration Case of 1877.

Works and themes

Her 1979 biography of Dr Barnardo was the ‘first frank account of [his] character and career, and Thomas Coram, Gent. has been described as ‘a much-needed biography of this early pioneer of children’s charity.’ The exception to this is her most recent book, Miss Palmer’s Diary, a biography of her ancestor Ellen Palmer.

Publications

• The Camera and Dr Barnardo (with Valerie Lloyd) 1974, National Portrait Gallery Publications, ISBN 0904017125
• Barnardo, 1979, Littlehampton Book Services, ISBN 0297775618
• Children of the Empire, 1982, Littlehampton Book Services, ISBN 0297780476
• The Chocolate Conscience, 1987, Chatto & Windus, ISBN 070112475X
• Thomas Coram, Gent.: 1668–1751, 2015, Boydell Press, ISBN 9781783270606
• Miss Palmer’s Diary, 2017, I.B. Tauris, ISBN 1788310063

Reports

• A Positive Choice (Independent Review of Residential Care): A Guide to the Wagner Report 1988, National Institute for Social Work, ASIN B001NTUWO6
• Residential Care, Vol. 2: The Research Reviewed (with the National Institute for Social Care) 1988, Stationery Office Books, ISBN 0117010634
• Training for Social Care: Achieving Standards for the Undervalued Service, 1998, Policy Studies Institute, ISBN 1900909022