I like to search out medical museums when I travel, and so I decided to visit the Foundling Museum on a recent trip to London. The Foundling Museum is an extraordinary place that has its roots in the Foundling Hospital, founded in the mid-18th century by Thomas Coram. It is a few minutes’ walk from Russell Square underground station and a stone’s throw from some of the UK’s most important medical facilities. I have the good fortune to be shown around by tour guide Richard Pusey, a retired orthopedic (or, in this case, orthopaedic) surgeon and Past President of the History of Medicine Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Pusey, a talented and enthusiastic guide, provides the backstory to Coram’s project. Coram, a man with a history of supporting good causes, is shocked by seeing the multitude of abandoned children on his visits to London. Parents who are unable to care for their (mostly out-of-wedlock) babies have few options; as many as a thousand of these children a year are left in the streets. While other European cities have well-established institutions supported by the Catholic Church, many Londoners initially believe that caring for them is tantamount to condoning sin and debauchery. In 1737 Coram petitions the King to support the construction of a “hospital” (not in the contemporary sense of the term, but more like an orphanage). His persistence finally pays off, and he even manages to turn his idea into a fashionable cause that receives the support of London society.
Something that is unique about the Foundling Hospital is that Coram also allies from the start with many of the leading artists of the day. These include artist William Hogarth and composer George Frideric Handel. Hogarth, motivated perhaps by his own impoverished background, becomes a Governor of the Hospital and is active to the extent that he and his wife even foster several foundlings. He executes a portrait of Coram which he donates, and encourages other artists to do the same, so that in due course “the hospital [becomes] England’s first public art gallery and establishe[s] itself as a ‘destination venue’ for fashionable Londoners” (Foundling Museum: An Illustrated Guide, p. 16).
Because I am a classical music fanatic, I cannot wait to see the famous Handel scores and artifacts that the museum is known for. There is a precedent for a composer to ally himself with a charity; Antonio Vivaldi’s career is deeply linked to Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, a convent, orphanage, and music school. Handel becomes involved when he is invited to conduct a benefit concert in 1749 to raise funds for the completion of the Hospital chapel. For the occasion, he composes the Foundling Hospital Anthem, which proves to be his last piece of English church music. The text, adapted from Psalm 41 and the Book of Job, begins “Blessed are they that considereth the poor and needy: the Lord will deliver them in time of trouble, the Lord preserve them and comfort them. They deliver the poor that crieth, the fatherless and him that hath none to help him. The Lord will comfort them.” Since Handel is the most famous composer in England, his name ensures there will be a capacity crowd paying high prices for tickets. The following year, Handel conducts a benefit concert of his Messiah in the chapel. The event is so successful that Handel is made a Governor, and performances of Messiah become annual events. When Handel dies, he bequeaths orchestral parts for Messiah to the Hospital in his will so that the tradition can continue. Handel’s will is now on display in the top floor of the Museum. During the London Blitz, the precious document was removed by the curator’s wife who put it in her purse and left the building. When she returned, the room holding the will had been destroyed by a bomb.
An equally impactful group of artifacts is on display on the first floor of the Museum, along with the following description:
“In the first few decades of admissions parents were instructed to bring a token with their children to act as an identifier. Each child accepted by the Hospital was given a new name; if a relative later claimed a child, the tokens helped prove that the claim was genuine. Tokens include fabric, coins, playing cards, jewellery and medals.They were wrapped in the child’s admission paper – known as a billet – and remained sealed unless a claim was made. These poignant objects speak of the heartbreak of parting; many parents chose to personalise their tokens with inscriptions, embroidery or written messages.”
The Foundling Hospital was relocated outside of the city in the 1920s. The earlier site was eventually turned into a children’s playground called Coram’s Fields. Gradually, as Britain moved away from the institutionalization of children and towards adoption and foster care, the Hospital closed. The Museum occupies a building in the same neighborhood as the 18th-century original and incorporates some of its interiors and architectural details. The magnificent Court Room, where the Governors conducted their business, is one of the best surviving Rococo interiors in the city.
The spirit of the Foundling Hospital endures in the charity now known as Coram, one of the foremost voluntary adoption agencies in the UK. The Hospital’s tradition of receiving support from artists also continues. The Museum’s temporary exhibitions and commissions provide a space for contemporary artists to “enter into a dialogue with their eighteenth and nineteenth-century forebears” (ibid, p.81). Lastly, the establishment of Foundling Fellowships named after Coram, Hogarth and Handel (the recipients of which have included such illustrious artists as Julian Lloyd Webber and Emma Kirkby) ensures that the legacy of the institution will live on.
References:
https://medicalmuseums.org
This site contains a wealth of information about London’s medical museums, including the Foundling Museum, as well as information about Richard Pusey’s medical history tours.
