Foundling Hospital facts for kids
1753 engraving of the Foundling Hospital building, now demolished
|
|
.jpg)
1889 map of Bloomsbury, showing the Foundling Hospital
|
|
| Successor | Thomas Coram Foundation for Children; Ashlyns School |
|---|---|
| Formation | 25 March 1741 |
| Founder | Thomas Coram |
| Founded at | London, Great Britain |
| Dissolved | 1951 |
| Type | Orphanage |
| Legal status | Closed |
| Purpose | "The education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children" |
| Location |
|
|
Founding Governor
|
William Hogarth |
|
Governor
|
George Frederic Handel |
The Foundling Hospital was a special home for children in London, England. It was started in 1739 by a kind sea captain named Thomas Coram. The hospital's main goal was to care for and educate young children who had been left without parents.
Back then, the word "hospital" didn't just mean a place for sick people. It also meant a place that offered "hospitality" or care to those in need. The Foundling Hospital focused a lot on keeping children healthy. They worked hard to prevent illnesses like smallpox and fevers. They also tried to keep the building very clean.
Contents
Founding the Hospital
How it Started
Thomas Coram worked for many years to open the Foundling Hospital. In 1735, he asked King George II for permission. Many important women and men, including members of the nobility, supported his idea. Their support made the hospital a very popular charity.
The King officially approved the hospital in 1739. A long list of important people became its first governors and guardians. These included dukes, earls, and the Lord Mayor of London. The main building was constructed between 1742 and 1752.
Admitting Children
The first children arrived at the Foundling Hospital on March 25, 1741. They stayed in a temporary house in Hatton Garden. At first, the hospital didn't ask many questions about the children or their parents. Instead, parents often left a special item, like a coin or a piece of ribbon. These "tokens" could be used later if a parent wanted to reclaim their child.
As more and more children needed help, the hospital couldn't take everyone. They started using a system where they drew balls to decide who got in. Between 1750 and 1755, over 2,500 children were brought to the hospital, but only about 780 could be admitted.
For a few years, from 1756 to 1760, the government gave the hospital money. This allowed them to accept more children. However, this also led to problems. Some people would offer to bring children from the countryside to the hospital but would treat them badly. Many children did not survive the journey.
After this period, the hospital changed its rules again. They started asking for more information about the mothers and their situations. They wanted to make sure the mother was in need and that the father had left them. Children were usually not accepted if they were older than 12 months, unless they were war orphans.
Life at the Hospital
When children were admitted, they were first sent to wet nurses in the countryside. They stayed there until they were about four or five years old. Local clergy or important people would check on them.
When they returned to the hospital, girls were often trained to be servants at age 16. Boys, at age 14, were trained for various jobs, like working in trades. The hospital also had a small fund to help them when they became adults.
The New Hospital Building
In 1742, a new, larger hospital building began to be built. It was located in Bloomsbury, an undeveloped area north of Great Ormond Street. The building was designed by Theodore Jacobsen. It was a simple brick building with two wings and a chapel, built around an open courtyard. The western wing was finished in 1745, and the eastern wing was added in 1752. This was so boys and girls could be kept separate.
The new Foundling Hospital was seen as a very impressive building. It showed how much people cared about helping others in the 18th century.
Art and Music at the Hospital
The Foundling Hospital became a very popular charity. Many famous artists and musicians supported it. This was partly thanks to one of its important governors, the painter William Hogarth.
Art Collection
William Hogarth was a founding governor of the hospital. He helped design the children's uniforms and the hospital's coat of arms. He and his wife even fostered some of the foundling children.
Hogarth had an idea to create a permanent art exhibition at the hospital. He encouraged other artists to donate their work. By doing this, he made the hospital a popular place for people to visit. Visitors would come to see the art and also make donations. This idea is thought to have created Britain's first public art gallery.
Many famous English artists donated their paintings to the hospital. These included Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and Richard Wilson. Hogarth himself painted a portrait of Thomas Coram. He also donated his painting Moses Brought Before Pharaoh's Daughter.
The hospital also owned a bust of Handel by Louis-François Roubiliac. There were also paintings by Emma Brownlow that showed what life was like inside the hospital. The art collection from the Foundling Hospital can now be seen at the Foundling Museum.
Musical Performances
.jpg)
In May 1749, the famous composer George Frederic Handel held a special concert in the hospital's chapel. He performed his new piece, the Foundling Hospital Anthem. This work included the famous "Hallelujah" chorus from his oratorio, Messiah.
On May 1, 1750, Handel led another performance of Messiah to celebrate the gift of an organ to the chapel. This performance was a huge success. Handel was so supportive that he was elected a Governor of the hospital the next day. He continued to perform Messiah there every year, which helped make the piece very popular in Britain. He even left a copy of the music to the hospital in his will.
The hospital also had a successful children's band starting in 1847. Music was found to be very good for the children's education. Many children from the hospital later became musicians in army and navy bands.
Moving to a New Home
In the 1920s, the hospital decided to move to a healthier place in the countryside. The original building in London was sold and later torn down. The children first moved to Redhill, Surrey, and then in 1935 to a new, specially built Foundling Hospital in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
In the 1950s, laws in Britain changed. They started to focus more on placing children in families through adoption or foster care, rather than in large institutions. Because of this, the Foundling Hospital stopped most of its operations. The Berkhamsted buildings were sold and became a school (Ashlyns School). The Foundling Hospital then changed its name to the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, which is now known as Coram.
The Hospital's Legacy Today
Even though the original building is gone, the Foundling Hospital's legacy lives on in London. Seven acres of its original land were bought to be used as a playground for children. This area is now called Coram's Fields. It is run by a charity called Coram's Fields and the Harmsworth Memorial Playground.
The Foundling Hospital charity also bought back some of its original land in 1937. They built a new headquarters and a children's centre there. This new building looks similar to the original hospital. It now houses the Foundling Museum, which is an independent charity. Here, you can see the hospital's amazing art collection. The original charity still exists today as Coram, helping children and families.
In Fiction
The Foundling Hospital has inspired characters and stories in many books.
- The famous author Charles Dickens lived near the Foundling Hospital in the 1840s. He included characters inspired by foundlings in his novels, like Tattycoram in Little Dorrit. He also wrote about two foundlings in his article "Received a Blank Child."
- Jamila Gavin's 2000 novel Coram Boy is set at the Foundling Hospital. It tells a story about some of the problems that happened when people tried to trick desperate parents.
- The hospital also appears in three books by Jacqueline Wilson: Hetty Feather, Sapphire Battersea, and Emerald Star. These books follow the adventures of Hetty Feather, who lives at the Foundling Hospital.
- Stacey Hall's 2020 novel The Foundling (also called The Lost Orphan) features a main character who leaves her daughter at the Foundling Hospital.
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
