FOUNDLINGS IN YOUR ANCESTRY

the Foundling Hospital was established in the eighteenth century when abandoned children were not unusual; they generally relied on the Poor Law to cater for needy families. At the time the only charitable institution that took in foundlings as well as orphans was London’s Christ’s Hospital founded in 1552, although by 1676, illegitimate children were prohibited.

By the early 1700s, the situation for struggling parents was dire. Economic migration from rural areas led to a population explosion in London meaning that the parish-based system was under immense pressure. Mothers unable to care for their illegitimate children had few options, leading to some completely abandoning their babies on doorsteps or outside churches. This was the situation that confronted Thomas Coram when he returned to England from America in 1704.

Thomas Coram, a sea captain and philanthropist, established the Foundling Hospital, as London’s first home for babies whose unmarried or destitute mothers were unable to care for them.

He was shocked at the number of abandoned and dying babies on London’s streets, so he enlisted support from leading members of the aristocracy, the City of London Corporation, the arts and the sciences. His supporters included the composer George Frederic Handel and the artist William Hogarth. Thomas Coram’s vision for abandoned ‘foundling’ children was that they should be cared for and educated so they could ultimately support themselves.

. After seventeen years of intense campaigning, he received a Royal Charter enabling him to establish a Foundling Hospital ‘for the care and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children’.

The first children were admitted on 25 March 1741. Within the Foundling Hospital, mothers were required to hand over their child in person. Between 1756 and 1760, the hospital was required to admit every baby brought to its doors in return for government funding. The numbers of children taken in during this time resulted in soaring mortality rates which gave the hospital a reputation that too many died in their care. It took the hospital several years to recover its reputation. Restrictions were imposed to not overwhelm the hospital, which initially included babies to be under two months old and free from disease.

Rather than abandonment, the mothers took their babies to the Foundling Hospital, but many were hopeful that their circumstances would change so that they could one day reclaim their child. Every child admitted to the Foundling Hospital was baptised and given a new identity. Mothers also left a token that could be used to identify their child if they returned to reclaim them. The Foundling Hospital kept meticulous records of every child who passed through the institution.

Once received, the children were sent to be wet-nursed with foster families in the countryside and they stayed there until they were about five years old. Then they were returned to live and be educated in the Foundling Hospital until around the age of fifteen.

Girls were then generally apprenticed for domestic service and boys were apprenticed into a variety of occupations, usually for seven years.  Many boys were also trained for military service.

During the mid-1700s several Foundling Hospital branches were set up, albeit temporarily, to cope with the large number of children received at the time. These were:

Ackworth Foundling Hospital (1757-1773) - More than 2,600 children came through its doors.

Shrewsbury Foundling Hospital (1758-1772) - was the second largest branch hospital, caring for almost 1,200 children in total. 

Aylesbury Foundling Hospital (1759-1768) - housed 40-100 children at a time

Westerham Foundling Hospital (1760-1769) - Chartwell, the home of British prime minister Winston Churchill, was once the Westerham branch hospital in Kent. The branch cared for 469 children in total.

Barnet Foundling Hospital (1762-1768) - cared for 40 children at a time

Chester Foundling Hospital (1763-1769) - cared for 306 children in total, many of whom lived with nurses in the countryside around Chester.

The Foundling Hospital relocated to Redhill, Surrey in 1926, and a new school was built at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire which opened in 1935.

Each baby in the Foundling Hospital was given a new name to provide anonymity for both mother and child. However, the hospital made it possible for mothers to reclaim their babies if their circumstances changed. In the eighteenth century; the link between mother and child was through tokens.

On the day a child was admitted to the Founding Hospital, staff filled out a billet which recorded information, such as gender, the clothes the child was wearing, and any distinguishing marks on the body. But the billet did not record the child’s name.

Applications by mothers for their babies to be admitted to the Foundling Hospital soon outstripped available places so a lottery system was introduced.

Mothers were asked to draw coloured balls. If they drew a white ball, their child was provisionally admitted; but if they picked a red ball, the child was placed on a waiting list. Occasionally places became available, perhaps if one of the infants already accepted turned out to be ineligible due to an infectious illness. And finally, if the mpther drew a black ball, the child was rejected.

The hospital ensured that mothers left a ‘token’ as a small identifying item; ths could be a ribbon, a rosette, a button, or a coin. The billet sheet was then folded around the token, which was safely stored at the hospital. If the child was ever reclaimed, the billet would be opened and the token used as a method of confirming the identity of the child. The mother could either describe the token or produce a matching part of it. Children who were not reclaimed never knew of a token being left for them.

In 1768, a new petition system was introduced which meant tokens were now unneccessary. In their place, mothers had to write a petition letter to the hospital for the admission of their child. The hospital investigated each case before the child was admitted so the record could be referenced if a child was reclaimed.

In the mid nineteenth century, the hospital opened the billets and the early tokens, where they were made of paper, fabric or ribbon, were attached to the billet sheets. These were then bound into volumes to form an important element of the archive.

So, what about the other tokens which used small objects? These were exhibited at the Foundling Hospital in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today they are on display at the Foundling Museum.