The Foundling Museum

The Foundling Museum Explore compelling stories of love, loss and care through art and objects. Visit us Tuesday-Sunday. We’re free for 21 & under.

We present the story of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s first children’s charity and public art gallery. Founded in 1739 by the campaigner Thomas Coram, it was an innovative home for children whose mothers couldn’t care for them, supported by some of the leading artists of the day including William Hogarth, George Frideric Handel and Charles Dickens. Their compassion and generosity show that art

transforms lives. Inspired by our 300-year history of social change, today we work with outstanding contemporary artists, writers and musicians to deliver ambitious projects for young people and marginalised groups. With a focus on local communities, early years and care-experienced young people, our pioneering work delivers positive and lasting outcomes. Across the four floors of the Museum we present this relevant historic story through our art and objects. Discover objects and records from the original Foundling Hospital, extraordinary works of art and furnishings, thought-provoking exhibitions plus a programme of concerts, talks and children’s workshops. You can visit us Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, and Sunday 11am-5pm. Plus, we’re free for age 21 and under.

09/06/2026

Take a break from scrolling and listen in... 🐕 

This print shows a view of the Foundling Hospital in the mid 18th century, shortly after its establishment and before the London that we know today rose up around it. When the Hospital was first built, the surrounding area was made up of fields. Far in the distance the villages of Highgate and Hampstead can be seen sitting on tree-covered hills.  

This print was published in 1794 but is an edited version of a print from the 1750s. The structures in front of the Hospital (including the colonnades and the gates) have been added in; the original had the Hospital surrounded by cattle pasture. Only the main buildings and the people in the foreground are as they were. If you’re up on your 18th-century fashion history, that’s why the huge skirts on some of the women are several decades out of date!  
 
🔍 Nathaniel Parr after Louis-Philippe Boitard, ‘View of the Foundling Hospital’, printed 1794

On this day in 1756 a baby girl was born. Her parents named her Elizabeth Harris. At 22 days old, Elizabeth was brought ...
06/06/2026

On this day in 1756 a baby girl was born. Her parents named her Elizabeth Harris. At 22 days old, Elizabeth was brought to the Foundling Hospital, and left with this token.

This is a shilling coin from the reign of James II which has been rubbed completely smooth on one side and carefully engraved with Elizabeth's the name and date of birth, and a tiny cherub in the centre.

Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Elizabeth (or Mary) Harris. Five months before Elizabeth’s birth, her father had been tried at the Old Bailey for stealing one bushel of coal. He was sentenced to transportation, to serve seven years’ hard labour in North America.

John Harris would not have been given a ticket back to England when his sentence was up, but would have had to find the money to pay his own way home. We don’t know if he was ever able to return to his wife.

Elizabeth’s mother, unable to care for her child alone, turned to the Foundling Hospital for help.

Elizabeth, then known as Anne, survived her early childhood which was spent with wet nurses in Surrey. Tragically, three days after her twelfth birthday, Elizabeth died of measles.

03/06/2026

‘He who neglects me loses me’

Historian Janette Bright shares the story of this ruby ring token, which a mother left with her baby when putting them in the care of the Foundling Hospital.

The heart-shaped stone has a golden key on one side and a padlock on the other. A token filled with symbols and love ❣️

30/05/2026

This painting shows a major event in the life of a foundling child - which very few ever got to experience.

🔍 Emma Brownlow, ‘The Foundling Restored to its Mother’, 1858

Beethoven allegedly called him ‘the greatest composer who ever lived’.He composed the most famous work of Western choral...
27/05/2026

Beethoven allegedly called him ‘the greatest composer who ever lived’.

He composed the most famous work of Western choral music ever written.

What was George Frideric Handel doing in the Foundling Hospital’s chapel?

On this day in 1749, Handel held the first of many benefit concerts to raise money for the Foundling Hospital, then a recently opened children's charity which counted some of the biggest artists of the day—including William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough—among its supporters.

This first concert was a huge success, and the Hospital's governors invited Handel back the next year. This time, he pulled from the shelf a work that had found success in Dublin but floundered in London: Messiah.

Messiah’s London debut had failed to make a splash, and threatened to relegate the work to obscurity. Audiences were unsure about a sacred subject being performed in a theatre, and a theatre in London’s Covent Garden no less. The Hospital’s Chapel, as yet unconsecrated, was an ideal venue.

For two decades performances of Messiah at the Foundling Hospital were a sell-out success. Handel became a Hospital governor, and the oratorio Messiah’s future as the most popular piece of choral music ever written was set in motion.

🎶 This week is your last chance to discover the enduring magic of Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus' in our current exhibition 'A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music', closing 31 May.

🔍 First slide: George Frideric Handel by Louis Francois Roubiliac, c. 1739

Be sure to grab your sunhat this Bank Holiday ☀️👒📷 Archival photo of Foundling Hospital pupils on summer camp, early 20t...
25/05/2026

Be sure to grab your sunhat this Bank Holiday ☀️👒

📷 Archival photo of Foundling Hospital pupils on summer camp, early 20th century

23/05/2026

How can music bring us together?🎵

🎙️ Listen to our curator Lucy Shanahan describe what the power of music means to her.

Discover for yourself how music connects us, transforms us, and enriches our lives. Visit our current exhibition ‘A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music’, open until 31 May 🎶

Featuring We Are Together Because…, 2025, by Mikhail Karikis, commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is part of the CAM Gulbenkian Collection ()

In the final decade of the Founding Hospital's life as a place of institutional care for children, it underwent some rad...
21/05/2026

In the final decade of the Founding Hospital's life as a place of institutional care for children, it underwent some radical - and much-needed - changes. Former pupil Lorna Brown describes what it was like:

'[There was a] headmaster of the boys, and a headmistress over us, and they were both ghastly people. Very unlovable, very strict.

'[After the war] when we came back all these people had gone and we had a new headmaster, and then also with him came all these lovely teachers. These people were kind, they were normal, they were loving.

'I mean they would actually give you a hug or put an arm around you, because before that nobody had even put their hand on your arm as a gesture. I mean, if anyone got near it was really to give you a whack, you know.

'So life was totally different, and life began to be wonderful.'

Hear Lorna in her own voice as part of our oral history project. Just search 'Foundling Voices' on our website.

📷 Lorna as young girl outside the Hospital.
📷 Lorna on her wedding day.
📷 Lorna in her 70s.

Happy ! Here at the Foundling Museum, we celebrate people who have been in care, and all those who care for them ❤️We’r...
18/05/2026

Happy ! Here at the Foundling Museum, we celebrate people who have been in care, and all those who care for them ❤️

We’re a contemporary museum with over 300 years’ worth of art, music, writing and emotive objects. Our story begins with the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s first children’s charity and public art gallery, founded by Thomas Coram and supported by leading 18th-century artists and musicians like William Hogarth and George Frideric Handel.

The Foundling Museum’s mission is to inspire change through the power of the arts and the stories that connect us.

Come and discover compelling stories of love, loss and care. Learn more and book your visit via the link the comments.

15/05/2026

When the Foundling Hospital was established in 1739, it was often accused of encouraging promiscuity, as the Hospital took in children born out of wedlock.

The 18th-century ballad ‘Joyful News to Batchelors and Maids’ made fun of the Hospital, saying women could pass as ‘maids’ after going there.

Author and historian Julie Peakman reflects on these judgements women faced, and wider attitudes around women and s*x in the 18th century.

Address

40 Brunswick Square
London
WC1N1AZ

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+442078413600

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Foundling Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organisation

Send a message to The Foundling Museum:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share