Ground Floor
Coram’s Children exhibition explains the history of the Foundling Hospital. You can listen to three former pupil's tales and can hear Handel’s Foundling Hospital Anthem, 1749 Blessed are they that considereth the poor.
Tokens left by mothers with their children as a unique means of identification, in case they were ever in a position to collect them are on display both on the Ground Floor and on the First Floor in the Picture Gallery. Objects included buttons and a nut. These objects were never given to the children as all possessions were taken away so the children could be equal.
In the Sub-Committee Room you can see The March to Finchley, 1749-50 by William Hogarth. To raise funds for the Foundling Hospital, Hogarth sold lottery tickets to win this painting. He sold 1,843 tickets and gave the rest to the Hospital who won the painting.
There is a watercolor of the Foundling Hospital in Berkhamsted next to the lift, c. 1932.
Lower Ground Floor - Temporary Exhibitions
When I visited in 2007, Hogarth’s Children was the temporary exhibition. I learned about Daniel Lock (1681-1754) - a philosopher who was elected a governor of the Foundling Hospital in March 1749. All children entering the Hospital were renamed and Hogarth named a child after Daniel Lock in 1746. The Lock Hospital was on the site of the Lanesborough Hotel.
There was a painting of William Crotch (aged 10) composing a score. Crotch was influenced by Handel and went on to compose the Westminster Chimes used at the Houses of Parliament.
