Dame Gillian Mary Millicent WagnerDBE (néeGraham; 25 October 1927 – 31 December 2025) was a British writer, philanthropist and social administrator, who was the first woman chair of the children’s charity Barnardo's, the Thomas Coram Foundation and the Carnegie Trust. She published biographical and historical works, as well as reports on social care.
Early life and education
Gillian Mary Millicent Graham was born in London on 25 October 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. Her doctoral thesis was titled Dr Barnardo and the Charity Organisation Society: A reassessment of the Arbitration Case of 1877 (OCLC500584755).
Works and themes
Her 1979 biography of Thomas Barnardo was described in a Medical History review as the "first frank account of [his] character and career"; while a reviewer in Seventeenth-Century News called her book Thomas Coram, Gent. "a much-needed biography of this early pioneer of children’s charity". Her book, Miss Palmer's Diary (LCCN2018-411229) was a biography of her ancestor, Ellen Palmer.
Death
Wagner died on 31 December 2025, at the age of 98.
Publications
The Camera and Dr Barnardo (with Valerie Lloyd), 1974, National Portrait Gallery Publications, ISBN0904017125
Barnardo, 1979, Littlehampton Book Services, ISBN0297775618
Children of the Empire, 1982, Littlehampton Book Services, ISBN0297780476
The Chocolate Conscience, 1987, Chatto & Windus, ISBN070112475X
Thomas Coram, Gent.: 1668–1751, 2015, Boydell Press, ISBN9781783270606
