Background
Thomas Coram was born c. 1668 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. His father is believed to have been a master mariner.
Thomas Coram was born c. 1668 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. His father is believed to have been a master mariner.
Coram, a successful sea-captain, was an active philanthropist in the Walpole period, supporting the foundation of the colony of Georgia in America as a haven for debtors.
Hogarth, who painted a fine portrait of Coram, gave his support and Handel conducted performances of Messiah to raise funds.
His acquaintance with the destitute East End of London, and the miserable condition of the children there, inspired him with the idea of providing a refuge for such of them as had no legal protector; and after seventeen years of unwearied exertion, he obtained in 1739 a royal charter authorizing the establishment of his hospital for foundling infants (see Foundling Hospitals).
Children were brought, however, in such numbers, and so few (not one-third, it is said) survived infancy, that the grant was stopped, and the charity, which had been removed to Guilford Street, was from that time only administered under careful restrictions.
For fifteen years it was supported by voluntary contributions; but in 1756.
it was endowed with a parliamentary grant of £10, 000 for the support of all that might be sent to it.
Though the hospital was demolished in 1928, the entrance lodges still stand in front of Coram's Fields, largely given over to children's playgrounds.
He died on the 29th of March 1751.
They were married in 1700 and had a happy marriage lasting until her death 40 years later. Despite Coram’s dedication to the children of the Foundling Hospital, they did not have any children of their own.