ABSTRACT
The Foundling Hospital, granted a Royal Charter in 1739, was founded by Captain Thomas Coram, a shipwright and sailor who made his fortune in the colonies, in response to the numbers of abandoned and dead infants in the metropolis. The Hospital provided shelter and education for the ‘exposed and deserted young’ after the fashion of similar institutions in Paris, Rome and Lisbon. Coram’s name remains tied to the Hospital as its founder but within two years of the Charter, the board of governors expelled Coram after he criticized some of their policies publicly. By 1800, the scramble for places in the Hospital led to a tightening of admission standards and by 1801, only illegitimate children were admitted. The admissions procedure was rigorous and intended to meet criticism that such institutions encouraged vice: mothers had to demonstrate good character, supported by references, and convince the board that their pregnancy was the product of seduction and betrayal.
