Thomas Coram and The Foundling Hospital

Captain Thomas Coram (1668 - 1751) was a successful shipwright and sailor who returned to England to retire after a life’s work in the New World of America. He was appalled by the discarded and dying children in the streets of London and spent seventeen years campaigning for the establishment of a Foundling Hospital. William Hogarth was a founder governor, donating paintings to the Hospital and George Frideric Handel conducted benefit concerts in the Hospital Chapel.

The Foundling Hospital charity continues today and is known as Coram, still delivering services which transform children's lives from the same historic site. The original site also contains a children's play area, Coram's Fields, which refuses entry to adults unaccompanied by children.

I took this photograph during a guided walk around the area which my partner Tony, who writes and lectures about Dickens, led for our Local Meeting.