Foundling Museum

The Foundling Museum stands in Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury, a quiet garden square in the London Borough of Camden. It occupies part of the former Foundling Hospital, Britain’s first home for children at risk of abandonment, established in 1739 by the philanthropist Thomas Coram. After decades of campaigning, Coram secured a Royal charter from King George II in 1741. The museum reopened in 2004 following a major refurbishment by Jestico + Whiles. It holds two nationally important collections: the Foundling Hospital Collection and the Gerald Coke Handel Collection. The building itself incorporates Rococo interiors from the original hospital. The museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram. Artists such as William Hogarth and composer George Frideric Handel played key roles in its history. Hogarth donated paintings and helped organise exhibitions to raise funds. Handel gave performances of Messiah to support the hospital and left a fair copy of the score in his will. The museum also holds tokens left by mothers when they gave up their babies, including coins, buttons and poems. These objects remain among its most moving exhibits. Visitors find reconstructed rooms such as the Committee Room, where mothers were interviewed before leaving their children. The Picture Gallery displays portraits of governors and officials, including Hogarth’s painting of Thomas Coram. The Court Room features a magnificent Rococo plasterwork ceiling and works by Hogarth and Gainsborough. On the top floor, the Gerald Coke Handel Collection includes Handel’s will, manuscripts and a fair copy of Messiah. Four armchairs play nine hours of his music. Nearby, a bronze mitten by Tracey Emin and a painted bronze sculpture referencing a ‘lost mitten’ add modern reflections on childhood.