Thomas Coram | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by William Hogarth, 1740. | |
| Born | c. 1668 |
| Died | 29 March 1751 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation(s) | Shipwright, sea captain, philanthropist |
| Spouse | Eunice Waite |
Captain Thomas Coram (c. 1668 – 29 March 1751) was an English sea captain and philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, to look after abandoned children on the streets of London. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity.
Thomas Coram was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. His father is believed to have been a master mariner. [1] He was sent to sea at age 11. As such, he never received a proper education. [2] [3] [lower-alpha 1] In 1694, he was settled in what is now Dighton, Massachusetts, then part of Taunton. [4] Coram lived in Dighton for ten years, founding a shipyard there. [4]
By a deed dated 8 December 1703, he gave 59 acres (24 ha) of land at Taunton to be used for a schoolhouse, whenever the people should desire the establishment of the Church of England. In the deed, he is described as "of Boston, sometimes residing in Taunton", [5] and he seems to have been a shipwright. [5] He gave some books to form a library at St. Thomas' Church, Taunton, one of which, a Book of Common Prayer given to him by Speaker Onslow, is preserved in the church. [5] [6]
In 1704, [7] at the age of 36, [3] he returned to London [5] and helped to obtain an act of Parliament giving a bounty on the importation of tar from the colonies. He carried on business for some time. [5] During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), he commanded a merchant ship and acquired the epithet of captain. In 1712, he obtained a role in Trinity House, Deptford, a private corporation that combined public responsibilities with charitable purposes. [7] In 1717, he unsuccessfully promoted the idea of founding a colony to be called 'Georgia' in what is today Maine as a philanthropic venture. [7] In 1719, he was stranded off Cuxhaven, when sailing for Hamburg in the Sea Flower, and the ship was plundered by the neighbouring inhabitants. [5]
He became known for his public spirit. Old Horace Walpole (afterwards Lord Walpole) called him (18 April 1735) "the honestest, most disinterested, most knowing person about the plantations he had ever talked with". [8] He obtained an act of parliament taking off the prohibition upon deal from Germany and the Netherlands. In 1732, he was appointed one of the trustees for Georgia Colony, then founded through James Oglethorpe's exertions. [5]
In 1735, he brought forward a scheme for settling unemployed English artisans in Nova Scotia. The plan was approved by the board of trade and, after being dropped for a time, was carried out before Coram's death. Brocklesby also states that on some occasion, he obtained a change in the colonial regulations in the interest of English hatters, and refused to take any reward from his clients except a hat. [5]
While living in Rotherhithe and regularly travelling into London to engage in his business interests (a journey of about 4 miles (6.4 km)), Coram was frequently shocked by the sight of infants exposed in the streets, often in a dying state. He began to agitate for the foundation of a foundling hospital. This institution was to be a children's home for children and orphans who could not be properly cared for. He laboured for seventeen years, and he induced many ladies of rank to sign a memorial. [9] A charter, signed by King George II, was at last obtained for the Foundling Hospital in 1739 and considerable sums were subscribed. The first meeting of the guardians was held at Somerset House on 20 November 1739.
At a later court, a vote of thanks was presented to Coram, who requested that thanks should also be given to the ladies interested. Some houses were first taken in Hatton Garden, where children were first admitted in 1741. A piece of land was bought for £7,000 in Bloomsbury. Lord Salisbury, the owner, insisted that the whole of his ground "as far as Gray's Inn Lane" should be taken; but he subscribed £500 himself. [5]
The foundation stone of the hospital was laid on 16 September 1742. In October 1745, the west wing was finished and the children removed from Hatton Garden. Great interest was excited in the undertaking, especially by William Hogarth, who in May 1740 presented his fine portrait of Coram to the hospital. Hogarth also presented a picture of Moses with Pharaoh's daughter, and gave 157 tickets in the lottery for the "March to Finchley", one of which won the prize. In addition, he introduced a portrait of Coram into an engraved power of attorney for receiving subscriptions to the hospital. [10] Handel gave performances at the hospital in 1749 and 1750. [11]
Coram continued to be invested in the hospital. Up until 1742, he continued to be elected to the General Committee. But at the May Day meeting in 1742 he received too few votes to qualify, and as a result no longer had any say in the management of the hospital. The reason why he was pushed out is not entirely clear. He was said to have spread defamatory rumours about two of the governors. Another possible reason is that he expressed criticism toward the way the hospital was run. [12]
In his later years, he advocated a scheme for the education of Native American girls in America. During his time in America, he lived and worked with Native Americans leading to an interest in promoting and supporting their education: specifically the girls. Despite the general view at the time that education was not as important for girls, he was of the opinion that it was just as important for them to receive an education, if not more:
An Evil amongst us here in England is to think Girls having learning given them is not so very Material as for boys to have it. I think and say it is more Material for Girls, when they come to be Mothers, will have the forming of their Children's lives and if their Mothers be good or bad the children Generally take after them, so that giving Girls a vertuous Education is a vast Advantage to their Posterity as well as to the Public.
This theme was also prevalent in his plans for the Foundling Hospital in that girls should also receive an education. [13]
After the loss of his wife, he neglected his private affairs, and fell into difficulties. A subscription was raised for him. He told Brocklesby that as he had never wasted his money in self-indulgence, he was not ashamed to confess that he was poor. [14] On 20 March 1749, an annuity of £161 was assigned to him, the Prince of Wales subscribing £21 annually. The pension was transferred on Coram's death to Richard Leveridge, a retired admired singer.
In his own words, Coram said he "descended from virtuous good parentage on both sides." His mother died when he was very young in 1671. [15] There is not much information on his father but he is believed to have been a master mariner. [1] While in Massachusetts, he met and married his wife Eunice Waite. 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. [16]
Coram died on 29 March 1751, aged 83, and was buried on 3 April in the chapel of the Foundling Hospital. An inscription was placed there, and a statue of him by William Calder Marshall was erected in front of the building a hundred years afterwards. Richard Brocklesby describes him as a rather hot-tempered, downright sailorlike man, of unmistakable honesty and sterling goodness of heart. [11]
In 1935, the Foundling Hospital moved from Bloomsbury to new premises in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, and the old Hospital building was demolished. A chapel was erected at the Berkhamsted Hospital with a crypt specially designed to hold Coram's remains. In 1955, the building was sold and Coram's remains were exhumed and moved to the Church of St Andrew, Holborn in London. The chapel still stands today, now part of Ashlyns School. [17] [18] [19]
Hogarth, a personal friend of Coram's, was among the first governors of the Foundling Hospital. He painted a famous portrait of Coram (1740; reproduced in stipple by William Nutter [1754-1802] for R. Cribb in 1796) which can now be viewed at the Foundling Museum in London. [20]
Together with some of his fellow artists, Hogarth decorated the Governors' Court Room, which contains paintings by Francis Hayman, Thomas Gainsborough and Richard Wilson. [21] He contributed paintings for the benefit of the Foundation, and the Foundling Hospital became the first art gallery in London open to the public. [22]
Handel allowed a concert performance of Messiah to benefit the foundation, and donated the manuscript of the Hallelujah Chorus to the hospital. He also composed an anthem specially for a performance at the Hospital, now called the Foundling Hospital Anthem . [23]
The Foundling Hospital charity continues today and is known as Coram. [24] The original site is also home to a seven-acre children's park and play area, Coram's Fields, which refuses entry to adults unaccompanied by children. Coram's Fields is a registered charity and also provides children's and youth services for the local community, including a Youth Centre and free Sports Programme. [25]
In 2000, Jamila Gavin published a children's book called Coram Boy about the Foundling Hospital. The book was adapted into a play by Helen Edmundson, [26] which had its world premiere at the Royal National Theatre in London in November 2005 and subsequently had a brief run on Broadway. [27]
His story and that of the Foundling Hospital lives on at the Foundling Museum in London.
The Thomas Coram Foundation for Children is a large children's charity in London which uses the working name Coram.
The Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square, London tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first home for children at risk of abandonment. The museum houses the nationally important Foundling Hospital Collection as well as the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, an internationally important collection of material relating to Handel and his contemporaries. After a major building refurbishment the museum was reopened to the public in June 2004.
The Foundling Hospital in London, England, was founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is in the 21st century, simply indicating the institution's "hospitality" to those less fortunate. Nevertheless, one of the top priorities of the committee at the Foundling Hospital was children's health, as they combated smallpox, fevers, consumption, dysentery and even infections from everyday activities like teething that drove up mortality rates and risked epidemics. With their energies focused on maintaining a disinfected environment, providing simple clothing and fare, the committee paid less attention to and spent less on developing children's education. As a result, financial problems would hound the institution for years to come, despite the growing "fashionableness" of charities like the hospital.
Coram's Fields is a seven acre urban open space in the Kings Cross area of the London Borough of Camden. Adults are only permitted to enter if accompanied by children.
Ashlyns School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The school was established in 1935 as the final location of the Foundling Hospital, a children's charity founded in London in 1739. The Berkhamsted building converted into a school in 1955. Ashlyns School is noted as an example of neo-Georgian architecture and is a Grade II listed building.
The Church of St Andrew, Holborn, is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without.
Balthazar or Balthasar Nebot, was a painter active in England between 1729 and 1765.
Taylor White was a British jurist, naturalist, and art collector. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he was the patron of several prominent wildlife and botanical artists including Peter Paillou, George Edwards, Benjamin Wilkes, and Georg Dionysius Ehret. He was also a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital in London and served as its treasurer for many years.
The Foundling Hospital Anthem, also known by its longer title "Blessed are they that considereth the poor" [sic], is a choral anthem composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749. It was written for the Foundling Hospital in London and was first performed in the chapel there. Handel wrote two versions, one for choir only and one for choir and soloists. Composed 10 years before his death, it was Handel's last piece of English church music.
Anne Vaughan, Duchess of Bolton, formerly Lady Anne Vaughan, was the wife of Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton. Although her married name was Powlett, she is generally known by her maiden name of Vaughan, under which name she was a signatory to Thomas Coram's petition of 1729, which led to the foundation of the Foundling Hospital.
Isabella Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, formerly Lady Isabella Montagu, was the wife of William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester.
Henrietta Paulet, Duchess of Bolton, was the third wife of Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton.
Theodore Jacobsen was an English merchant in London, known also as an architect.
Elizabeth Onslow was an English aristocrat and social reformer.
Anne Newport, Baroness Torrington was an eighteenth-century aristocrat and social reformer.
Frances Finch, Countess of Winchilsea and Nottingham, was an English aristocrat and social reformer.
Anne Weldon Bernard was an English aristocrat and philanthropist.
Anne King was a Welsh aristocrat and philanthropist.
Frances, Baroness Byron, was the second daughter of William Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley of Stratton, and his wife Frances Temple. She was the third wife of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron and a great-grandmother of the poet Lord Byron.
In 1730 Thomas Coram approached aristocratic women with a petition to support the establishment of a Foundling Hospital, which he would present to King George II.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Coram, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 194–195.
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