The Foundling Hospital Museum.

An unusual thing that happened to me during the pandemic is that although I live in the UK, I joined a book club in Hawaii. The meetings are held once a month on video conferencing software, Jitsi. As well as discussing the current month’s book, it has been fascinating for me to meet new people and to find out what life has been like in Hawaii during the pandemic. I’ve certainly read books that I’d never have picked up before, and thoroughly enjoyed them.

In May, it’s my choice of book and I’ve chosen ‘The Foundling’ by Stacey Halls.
From Stacey Hall’s website here

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London’s Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst – that Clara has died in care – the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed – by her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl – and why.
Less than a mile from Bess’ lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend – an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital – persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.
Note for readers: in the USA, ‘The Foundling’ is published under the title ‘The Lost Orphan‘

My friends in Hawaii had a bit of trouble finding the book and I’ve only just realised why when I read the final part of the description from Stacey Hall’s blurb. It’s not called ‘The Foundling’ in the US, it’s called ‘The Lost Orphan’! If only we’d all realised that before!

I’ve been fascinated with the history of the Foundling Hospital (find out more here) for some time and when I came across ‘The Foundling’, I couldn’t resist reading it. I wasn’t disappointed and it whetted my appetite for more information. So, a few weeks ago, I went to the Foundling Museum Hospital in London.

I’d once written a story which featured a foundling from the Foundling Hospital which was accepted by Gill James for her anthology ‘Baubles’, available here. I’d become very interested in the tokens that were the method used to identify children placed in the care of the Hospital. On admission, a ‘billet’ or form was completed, recording the gender, clothing, date and hour of admission, appearance of the baby including identifiable marks, and their Hospital number. These were folded into an envelope, and sealed with the token inside. The mother kept the other token and if she was ever able to reclaim her child, she would present her token which would be matched to the one in the Hospital records. In my story written for the ‘Baubles’ anthology, I imagined two Christmas tree baubles being used – one left with the billet and the other remained with the mother.

Real tokens were an eclectic collection as you can see above, from items of jewellery such as rings or bracelets to a hazelnut pierced so it could be threaded on a string, a playing card, an engraved padlock, coins and pieces of fabric. As soon as a baby was left in the Hospital, he or she was given a Hospital admission number which was worn around the baby’s neck at all times. Each child was also given a new name and baptised the following Sunday, then sent to be wet-nursed in the country. The admission number was the only identifying factor linking that child to their billet.

At the age of five, children were taken back from their foster family into the Hospital where they were educated. They learnt to read so they could study the Bible as well as learning practical skills like spinning, weaving and needlework. Initially the children weren’t taught to write as it was considered this might give them ‘ideas above their station’, however, a new, pioneering teacher joined the Hospital and from 1757, the children were taught to write. The founder of the Hospital, Thomas Coram, ensured that girls received a high standard of education, even including book-keeping. By the mid-nineteenth century, boys and girls were taught reading, writing, grammar, mathematics and geography.

At about the age of ten, children were apprenticed, to teach them a trade, although from 1806 apprenticeships began at the age of fourteen. Typically, boys followed careers in the military, maritime services and trade (except public houses). Most of the girls became domestic servants.

In 1926, the children were moved to a purpose-built school in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire and the Hospital was demolished. On the north-west corner of the Hospital’s original site, the London Headquarters were built and opened in 1938. Today, that building houses the museum. Several of the rooms in the museum are accurate reconstructions of some of the original Hospital interiors such as the Committee Room and the Court Room, see photo below of the Court Room and a drawing of the original in the Hospital building.

By 1954, all the children had been found foster homes as more emphasis was placed on family care rather than public provision for children. Today, the charity, Coram, is one of the foremost voluntary adoption agencies in the UK. From its original London site, the Coram group of charities continues to create better chances for children, supporting hundreds of thousands of children and parents every year – find out more here

The museum is well worth a visit if you’re in London, especially if you’re an art lover as there are many paintings on display. The Foundling Hospital benefited greatly from Thomas Coram’s friends and supporters, many of whom were wealthy and well connected as well as some of the leading artists of the day. Principal among those supporters were the painter and engraver, William Hogarth (1697-17641) and the composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759).

Hogarth was an active governor and he donated the first artwork to the Hospital – a portrait of Thomas Coram – and he encouraged all the leading artists of the day to follow suit. The Hospital became England’s first public art gallery.

Have you visited the museum? What did you think?