JDA Magazine Paperturn Sept 2024 - Flipbook - Page 34
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The Fascinating Foundling Museum
Irene Spielsinger writes
Seventeen JDA members, with carers and JDA
sta昀昀, visited the Foundling Museum to gain some
knowledge about its history.
Alan Murray MBE was our excellent BSL tour
guide. He took us around the museum showing us
photographs, paintings and items and explaining
their history.
Originally, this was the Foundling Hospital, which
was founded by Thomas Coram. It was not a
hospital - it was like a home to care for babies who
would otherwise have been abandoned by their
mothers. Thomas Coram was a philanthropist
who visited America and discovered the children
there were well looked after and decided to open
the Foundling Hospital in London.
It took him 17 years of campaigning before
getting a Royal Charter from King George II and he
opened the hospital in 1739. It was established to
care for and educate babies and children whose
mothers were unable to keep them due to poverty
or illegitimacy.
Some mothers left other tokens locked away,
like bracelets, coins and rings and, when they
returned, they had to prove their identity by
describing the token they had left. It was recorded
that only 1–3% of mothers claimed their children
back!
We were taken into a room to view the tokens and
I spotted a coin with King George II on it, among
other items.
The Foundling Hospital ran for over 200 years and
looked after 25,000 children.
The Museum is situated in the grounds of the old
hospital.
Alan Murray MBE gave us a very clear picture and
great commentary. A big thank you to him for a
very interesting tour.
There were far more children than the hospital could
take. So, only some could be accepted. When the
mothers brought their children to the hospital, they
were asked to pick a ball from a bag. If the mother
was unlucky enough to pick a black ball, both she
and her child were dismissed. If she picked a white
ball, the child had a chance of admission. If she
picked a red ball, her child would be taken into the
home and cared for. It was like a lottery.
Each mother was given a token — it might be a
piece of cloth from the child’s garment — and the
garment would be safely locked away for years.
If the mother wanted to claim her child back, she
had to produce her piece of the cloth as a proof of
her identity.
28
JDATogether — Issue 48 — September 2024
▲ Our excellent BSL Tour Guide, Alan
Murray MBE with Irene Spielsinger
