The Foundling Hospital in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, was founded in 1739 by the
philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "
hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is in the 21st century, simply indicating the institution's "hospitality" to those less fortunate. Nevertheless, one of the top priorities of the committee at the Foundling Hospital was children's health, as they combated
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
,
fever
Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...
s,
consumption,
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
and even infections from everyday activities like teething that drove up mortality rates and risked epidemics. With their energies focused on maintaining a disinfected environment, providing simple clothing and fare, the committee paid less attention to and spent less on developing children's education. As a result, financial problems would hound the institution for years to come, despite the growing "fashionableness" of charities like the hospital.
Early history
Foundation
Thomas Coram presented his first petition for the establishment of a Foundling Hospital to
King George II in 1735. The petition was
signed by 21 prominent women from
aristocratic families, whose names not only lent respectability to his project, but made Coram's cause "one of the most fashionable charities of the day". Two further petitions, with male signatories from the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
, professional classes,
gentry
Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past.
Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies
''Gentry'', in its widest c ...
, and
judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
, were presented in 1737. The Royal Founding Charter, signed by
King George II, was presented by Coram at a distinguished gathering at 'Old'
Somerset House to the
Duke of Bedford in 1739.
[Godfrey, Walter H.; Marcham, W. McB. (eds.) (1952)]
'The Foundling Hospital', in ''Survey of London: Volume 24, the Parish of St Pancras Part 4: King's Cross Neighbourhood''
London: London County Council, pp. 10–24. Retrieved 19 December 2015. It contains the aims and rules of the hospital and the long list of founding Governors and Guardians: this includes 17
duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...
s, 29
earl
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant " chieftain", particu ...
s, 6
viscounts, 20
baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...
s, 20
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
s, 7
Privy Councillors, the
Lord Mayor and 8
aldermen of the City of London; and many more besides. The building was constructed between 1742 and 1752 by
John Deval
John Deval (1701–1774) was an 18th-century British sculptor and Master Mason, as was his namesake son (1728–1794). He was Chief Mason to the Crown and was the mason for the Tower of London and Royal Mews.
Life
He was born in Eynsham in Oxf ...
, the King's Master Mason.
The first children were admitted to the Foundling Hospital on 25 March 1741, into a temporary house located in
Hatton Garden. At first, no questions were asked about child or parent, but a note was made of any 'particular writing, or other distinguishing mark or token' which might later be used to identify a child if reclaimed. These were often marked coins, trinkets, pieces of fabric or ribbon, playing cards, as well as verses and notes written on scraps of paper. On 16 December 1758, the Hospital Governors decided to provide receipts to anyone leaving a child making the identifying tokens unnecessary. Despite this, the admission records show that tokens continued to be left. Clothes were carefully recorded as another means to identify a claimed child. One entry in the record reads, "Paper on the breast, clout on the head." The applications became too numerous, and a system of balloting with red, white and black balls was adopted. Records show that between 1 January 1750 and December 1755, 2523 children were brought for admission, but only 783 taken in. Private funding was insufficient to meet public demand. Between 1 June 1756 and 25 March 1760, and with financial support from parliament, the Hospital adopted a period of unrestricted entry. Admission rates soared to highs of 4000 per year. By 1763 admission was by petition, requiring applicants to provide their name and circumstances. Children were seldom taken after they were 12 months old, except for war orphans.
On reception, children were sent to
wet nurses in the countryside, where they stayed until they were about four or five years old. Due to the fact that many of these nurses lived outside of London it was necessary to involve a network of voluntary inspectors, who were the hospital's representatives. Although the Hospital Governors had no specific plan for who these inspectors were, in practice it was often local clergy or gentry who performed this role.
At the age of 16, girls were generally
apprenticed as
servants for four years; at 14, boys were apprenticed into a variety of occupations, typically for seven years. There was a small benevolent fund for adults.
The London hospital was preceded by the
Foundling Hospital, Dublin, founded 1704, and the
Foundling Hospital, Cork, founded 1737, both funded by government.
The new Hospital
In September 1742, the stone of the new Hospital was laid on land acquired from the
Earl of Salisbury on
Lamb's Conduit Field Lamb's Conduit Field, also known as Lamb's Conduit Fields was an open area in what is now the London Borough of Camden. The fields lay north of the Lamb's Conduit water feature that gave it its name, and lay mostly in the parish of St Pancras. It ...
in
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest ...
, an undeveloped area lying north of
Great Ormond Street and west of
Gray's Inn Lane
Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross a ...
. The hospital was designed by Theodore Jacobsen as a plain brick building with two wings and a
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...
, built around an open
courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...
. The western wing was finished in October 1745. An eastern wing was added in 1752 "in order that the girls might be kept separate from the boys". The new Hospital was described as "the most imposing single monument erected by eighteenth century benevolence".
In 1756, the
House of Commons resolved that all children offered should be received, that local receiving places should be appointed all over the country, and that the funds should be publicly guaranteed. A basket was accordingly hung outside the hospital; the maximum age for admission was raised from two months to 12, and a flood of children poured in from
country workhouses. In less than four years 14,934 children were presented, and a vile trade grew up among
vagrants, who sometimes became known as "Coram Men", of promising to carry children from the country to the hospital, an undertaking which they often did not perform or performed with great cruelty. Of these 15,000, only 4,400 survived to be apprenticed out. The total expense was about £500,000, which alarmed the House of Commons. After throwing out a
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Pla ...
which proposed to raise the necessary funds by fees from a general system of
parochial Parochial is an adjective which may refer to:
* Parishes, in religion
** Parish churches, also called parochial churches
* Parochial schools, primary or secondary schools affiliated to a religious organisation
* Parochialism
Parochialism is the ...
registration, they came to the conclusion that the indiscriminate admission should be discontinued. The hospital, being thus thrown on its own resources, adopted a system of receiving children only with considerable sums (e.g., £100), which sometimes led to the children being reclaimed by the parent. This practice was finally stopped in 1801; and it henceforth became a fundamental rule that no money was to be received. The committee of inquiry had to be satisfied of the previous good character and present necessity of the mother, and that the father of the child had deserted both mother and child, and that the reception of the child would probably replace the mother in the course of virtue and in the way of an honest livelihood. At that time,
illegitimacy carried deep stigma, especially for the mother but also for the child. All the children at the Foundling Hospital were those of unmarried women, and they were all first children of their mothers. The principle was in fact that laid down by
Henry Fielding in ''
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', often known simply as ''Tom Jones'', is a comic novel by English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It is a ''Bildungsroman'' and a picaresque novel. It was first published on 28 February 1749 in ...
'': "Too true I am afraid it is that many women have become abandoned and have sunk to the last degree of vice
.e._prostitution.html" ;"title="prostitution.html" ;"title=".e. prostitution">.e. prostitution">prostitution.html" ;"title=".e. prostitution">.e. prostitutionby being unable to retrieve the first slip."
There were some unfortunate incidents, such as the case of Elizabeth Brownrigg (1720–1767), a severely abusive Fetter Lane midwifery, midwife who mercilessly whipped and otherwise maltreated her adolescent female apprentice domestic servants, leading to the death of one, Mary Clifford, from her injuries, neglect and infected wounds. After the Foundling Hospital authorities investigated, Brownrigg was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang at
Tyburn
Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone.
The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and sout ...
. Thereafter, the Foundling Hospital instituted more thorough investigation of its prospective apprentice masters and mistresses.
Music and art
The Foundling Hospital grew to become a very fashionable charity, and it was supported by many noted figures of the day in high society and the arts. Its benefactors included a number of renowned artists, thanks to one of its most influential governors, the portrait painter and
cartoonist William Hogarth.
Art
Hogarth, who was childless, had a long association with the hospital and was a founding governor. He designed the children's uniforms and the
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
, and he and his wife Jane fostered foundling children. Hogarth also decided to set up a permanent art exhibition in the new buildings, encouraging other artists to produce work for the hospital. By creating a public attraction, Hogarth turned the Hospital into one of London's most fashionable charities as visitors flocked to view works of art and make donations. At this time, art galleries were unknown in Britain, and Hogarth's fundraising initiative is considered to have established Britain's first ever public
art gallery.
Several contemporary English artists adorned the walls of the hospital with their works, including
Sir Joshua Reynolds,
Thomas Gainsborough,
Richard Wilson and
Francis Hayman. Hogarth himself painted a portrait of Thomas Coram for the hospital, and he also donated his ''Moses Brought Before Pharaoh's Daughter''. His painting ''March of the Guards to Finchley'' was also obtained by the hospital after Hogarth donated lottery tickets for a sale of his works, and the hospital won it. Another noteworthy piece is
Roubiliac's bust of Handel. The hospital also owned several paintings illustrating life in the institution by
Emma Brownlow
Emma Brownlow (1832–1905) was a Victorian era artist who is best known for her paintings depicting scenes from life at the Foundling Hospital in London.
Life
Emma was the daughter of John Brownlow, a foundling who had been brought up in the ...
, daughter of the hospital's administrator. In the chapel, the
altarpiece was originally ''Adoration of the Magi'' by
Casali, but this was deemed to look
too Catholic by the hospital's
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
governors, and it was replaced by
Benjamin West's picture of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
presenting a little child. William Hallett, cabinet maker to nobility, produced all the wood panelling with ornate carving, for the court room.
Exhibitions of pictures at the Foundling Hospital, which were organised by the
Dilettante Society
The Society of Dilettanti (founded 1734) is a British society of noblemen and scholars that sponsors the study of ancient Greek and Roman art, and the creation of new work in the style.
History
Though the exact date is unknown, the Society is b ...
, led to the formation of the
Royal Academy in 1768. The Foundling Hospital art collection can today be seen at the
Foundling Museum.
Music
In May 1749, the composer
George Frederic Handel held a
benefit concert in the Hospital chapel to raise funds for the charity, performing his specially composed
choral piece, the ''
Foundling Hospital Anthem
The ''Foundling Hospital Anthem'' ( HWV 268), also known by its longer title ''"Blessed are they that considereth the poor"'', is a choral anthem composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749. It was written for the Foundling Hospital in London and ...
''. The work included the "Hallelujah" chorus from recently composed
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
, ''
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
'', which had premiered in Dublin in 1742. On 1 May 1750 Handel directed a performance of ''Messiah'' to mark the presentation of the
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
to the chapel. That first performance was a great success and Handel was elected a Governor of the hospital on the following day. Handel subsequently put on an annual performance of ''Messiah'' there, which helped to popularise the piece among British audiences. He bequeathed to the hospital a fair copy (full score) of the work.
The musical service, which was originally sung by the blind children only, was made fashionable by the generosity of Handel. In 1774,
Dr Charles Burney and a Signor
Giardini made an unsuccessful attempt to form in connection with the hospital a public music school, in imitation of the
Pio Ospedale della Pietà in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. In 1847, however, a successful juvenile band was started. The educational effects of music were found excellent, and the hospital supplied many musicians to the best
army and navy bands.
Relocation
In the 1920s, the Hospital decided to move to a healthier location in the countryside. A proposal to turn the buildings over for university use fell through, and they were eventually sold to a
property developer called James White in 1926. He hoped to transfer
Covent Garden Market to the site, but the local residents successfully opposed that plan. In the end, the original Hospital building was demolished. The children were moved to
Redhill, Surrey, where an old convent was used to lodge them, and then in 1935 to the new purpose-built Foundling Hospital in
Berkhamsted
Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new to ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
. When, in the 1950s, British law moved away from
institutionalisation of children toward more family-oriented solutions, such as
adoption and
foster care, the Foundling Hospital ceased most of its operations. The Berkhamsted buildings were sold to
Hertfordshire County Council for use as a school (
Ashlyns School
Ashlyns School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The school was established in 1935 as the final location of the Foundling Hospital, a children's charity founded in London in 1739. The Be ...
) and the Foundling Hospital changed its name to the
Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and currently uses the working name Coram.
Today
The Foundling Hospital still has a legacy on the original site. Seven acres (28,000 m
2) of it were purchased for use as a playground for children with financial support from the newspaper proprietor
Lord Rothermere. This area is now called
Coram's Fields and owned by an independent charity, Coram's Fields and the Harmsworth Memorial Playground. The Foundling Hospital itself bought back 2.5 acres (10,000 m
2) of land in 1937 and built a new headquarters and a children's centre on the site. Although smaller, the building is in a similar style to the original Foundling Hospital and important aspects of the interior architecture were recreated there. It now houses the
Foundling Museum, an independent charity, where the art collection can be seen. The original charity still exists as Coram, registered under the name
Thomas Coram Foundation for Children.
In fiction
In the 1840s
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
lived in Doughty Street, near the Foundling Hospital, and rented a pew in the chapel. The foundlings inspired characters in his novels including the apprentice Tattycoram in ''
Little Dorrit'', and Walter Wilding the foundling in ''
No Thoroughfare
''No Thoroughfare'' is a stage play and novel by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, both released in December 1867.
Background
In 1867 Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins collaborated to produce a stage play titled ''No Thoroughfare: A Drama: In ...
''. In "Received a Blank Child", published in ''
Household Words'' in March 1853, Dickens writes about two foundlings, numbers 20,563 and 20,564, the title referring to the words "received a
lankchild" on the form filled out when a foundling was accepted at the hospital.
The Foundling Hospital is the setting for
Jamila Gavin's 2000 novel ''
Coram Boy
''Coram Boy'' is a 2000 children's novel by Jamila Gavin. It won Gavin a Whitbread Children's Book Award.
Stage adaptation
The book was adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, with music by Adrian Sutton, and played for two runs on the Ol ...
''. The story recounts elements of the problems mentioned above, when "Coram Men" were preying on people desperate for their children.
It appears in three books by
Jacqueline Wilson: ''
Hetty Feather'', ''
Sapphire Battersea'' and ''
Emerald Star''. In the first story, ''
Hetty Feather'', Hetty has just arrived in the hospital, after her time with her foster family. This book tells us about her new life in the Foundling Hospital. In ''
Sapphire Battersea'', Hetty has just left the hospital and speaks ill of it. The Foundling Hospital is mentioned in ''Emerald Star'', although it is mainly about Hetty growing up.
Published in 2020, Stacey Hall's ''The Foundling'' (or ''The Lost Orphan'' in the U.S.) sees the main character, Bess Bright, leave her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital. The book was a ''
Sunday Times'' Best Seller.
See also
*
Blackguard Children
*
Child abandonment
*
List of demolished buildings and structures in London
*
List of organisations with a British royal charter
*
Thomas Coram Foundation for Children
*
Taylor White, a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital and its first Treasurer
References
Bibliography
*''Enlightened Self-interest: The Foundling Hospital and Hogarth'' (exhibition catalogue), Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, London 1997.
*''The Foundling Museum Guide Book.'' The Foundling Museum, London, 2004.
*Gavin, Jamila. ''Coram Boy.'' London: Egmont/Mammoth, 2000: (U.S. Edition: New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001: )
*Jocelyn, Marthe. ''A Home for Foundlings''. Toronto: Tundra Books: 2005:
*McClure, Ruth. ''Coram's Children: The London Foundling Hospital in the Eighteenth Century''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981:
*Nichols, R. H., and F. A. Wray. ''The History of the Foundling Hospital'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1935).
*Oliver, Christine, and Peter Aggleton. ''Coram's Children: Growing Up in the Care of the Foundling Hospital: 1900-1955''. London: Coram Family, 2000:
*Sheetz-Nguyen, Jessica A. ''Unwed Mothers: Victorian Women and the London Foundling Hospital''. London: Continuum, 2012.
*
Zunshine, Lisa. ''Bastards and Foundlings: Illegitimacy in Eighteenth Century England'', Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2005:
*
External links
{{commons category
The Foundling MuseumCoram Story: History of the Foundling Hospital and Thomas CoramOld Coram AssociationThe Foundling Museumsection at the ''
Survey of London'' online
BBC British History: The Foundling Hospital
1739 establishments in England
Buildings and structures completed in 1741
Charities based in London
Children's charities based in England
Children's hospitals in the United Kingdom
Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Camden
Organizations established in 1739
Orphanages in the United Kingdom