The Foundling Hospital was established by the philanthropist Thomas Coram to care for babies either abandoned or given up by destitute mothers. There were few options for women unable to care for their babies and about a thousand babies a year were abandoned on the streets of London. Coram had campaigned for year After years of campaigning, Thomas Coram received a Royal Charter from King George II in 1739 which allowed him to to establish the Foundling Hospital.
The artist William Hogarth encouraged artists to donate work and the composer George Frideric Handel, donated an organ and conducted annual benefit concerts of Messiah in the Hospital’s chapel and helped make the Hospital into one of the most fashionable venues of the time.
The Foundling Hospital, J. P. Neale - Framed Antique Print
Image Number: 1023
Title: The Foundling HospitalArtist: J. P. Neale
Engraver: Elizabeth Byrne
Date: 1816
Medium: Steel engraving on paper with later hand colour
Publisher: Published in The Beauties of England & Wales. London: John Harris, St Paul's Chuchyard
Framed size (h x w): 290 x 337mm