Note 1089 — FOUNDLING HOSPITALS.
William Johnston translation
[The foundling hospital of London was founded in the year 1739, by charter of king George II., on the petition of captain Thomas Coram, and the memorial of sundry persons of quality and distinction. It maintains and educates 500 children, from extreme infancy to a period of life when they are capable of being placed out in the world. Illegitimate children are the objects of this hospital. The child must be under twelve months old when offered for admission, and the committee require to be satisfied of the previous good character and present necessity of the mother, and that the father has deserted both mother and infant; and that the reception of the infant will, in all probability, be the means of replacing the mother in the course of virtue and the way of an honest livelihood.]