#The Foundling Museum

[princesscatherineblog]

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visiting The Foundling Museum on November 28, 2017 in London, England.

[snailspng]

Foundling token PNGs.

"‘Foundling’ is an historic term applied to children, usually babies, who have been abandoned by parents then discovered and cared for by others. (...) Between the 1740s and 1760s, mothers leaving their babies at the Foundling Hospital would also leave a small object as a means of identification. The hope was that they would one day be able to reclaim their child." — (Foundling Museum)

(1. Crystals, 2. Hazelnut, 3. Halved inscribed medallion, 4. Child's ring, 5. Mother of Pearl pineapple, 6. Key, 7. Thimble, 8. Paper and textile heart, 9. Mother of Pearl inscribed heart, 10. Enamel disc, 11. "Innocence in Safety" inscribed coin, 12. Fish-shaped gambling token, 13. Wooden pot with rouge, 14. Inscribed padlock, 15. "You have my Heart, Tho we must Part" inscribed heart disc.)

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

BARBIECORE™

[duchess-of-lara]

The Princess of Wales arrives at the Foundling Museum to meet those with lived experience of the care system, as well as with foster carers and adoptive parents to hear about their experiences. May 25th, 2023.

[cliozaur]

Today I saw Gavroche. For some reason he was called 'a peasant boy' but nevermind.

[saints-who-never-existed]

In other news, I visited the Foundling Museum last weekend.

It was both very sad and incredibly touching to see the variety of objects and trinkets on display.

These were left behind by desperate parents and guardians who still held out hope that they'd one day be able to return to claim back their precious children, and that such objects would help identify them when that time came.

One thing I actually didn't know beforehand was that each child surrendered at the Foundling Hospital was rechristened under a new name (if indeed their original name was even known in the first place). Pictured above is the font used in the act and just some of the new names they were given.

This was ostensibly done with the noble intent to protect the identity of the child's vulnerable mother/parents but really it just served to cut the child off from their old life and family entirely and often forever.

(I don't want to mix fiction with fact too much here but it is interesting to think that 'David Young' was likely not the name his mother gave him, and that Hickey was not the only one operating under a pseudonym of sorts)

And finally, just a few other interesting tidbits including literal Gruel on the menu (which I know in reality is simply a thin porridge type meal but will nonetheless never feel anything but dire and Dickensian to me) and a shiny cup awarded for 'Self Respect'.

[faradaysketches]

Fire Escape in the Founding Museum, London. March 2024 Drawn to the accompaniment of a piano and violin.

[thewales-family]

The Princess of Wales visits Foundling Museum to meet those with experience of the care system, in London, England -May 25th 2023.

[fionamccall]

Foundling names

At the Foundling Museum they have displays listing some of the new names given to the Foundlings when they arrived.

I was struck by how many of these were literary, historical or fanciful - a projection of the donors' fantasies on children - was this a kind thing to do or treating children a bit like naming a puppy? What did it mean to go through life saddled with the name Oliver Cromwell or William Shakespeare?

Names included:

Historical: Julius Caesar; Edward Plantagenet; Lambert Simnel; Edmund Ironside; Henry Agincourt; Emma Plantagenet

Tudor: Charles Brandon; Catherine Parr; Walter Raleigh; Francis Drake

Civil War: Oliver & Richard Cromwell; Edward Montagu; William Chillingworth

17thc/18th: Gilbert Sheldon; William Orange; Billy Culloden

Admirals: Admiral Benbow and Coram Benbow; Cloudesley Shovel

Literary: Robin Hood; Tom Jones and his love Sophia Western; Geoffrey Chaucer; Phillip Sydney; Alexander Pope; Nahum Tate; Samuel Johnson; William Shakespeare

Artists: Michael Angel; Inigo Jones; William Hogarth (possibly a bit confusing given his association with the hospital?); Anthony Vandyke; Peter Paul Reuben; Christopher Wren; Godfrey Kneller; Mary Addison; Richard Steel; John Dryden

Scientists: Francis Bacon; Edmund Halley

Virtues: Hopegood Helpless (a bit of puritanism coming in there perhaps?); Diana Thrifty; Prudence Friendly

Birds: Mary Dodo; Mary Swallow; Deborah Lark

Interesting to see one John Doe on the list as well - I thought this was a later, American thing.

[kate-royal-style-world]

A Royal Recycling (part 302)

Alexander McQueen

[world-of-wales]

The Princess of Wales visited the Foundling Museum in London | 25 MAY 2023

[princesscatherineblog]

Catherine, Princess of Wales (in her role as Patron) arrives for a visit to the Foundling Museum to meet those with lived experience of the care system, foster carers and adoptive parents to hear about their experiences on May 25, 2023 in London, England.

[vikkates]

May 25, 2023: The Princess of Wales visits the Foundling Museum.

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

The Princess of Wales + the Foundling Museum

[thedeafprophet]

Gonna be thinking about that token ring for the rest of the day now (token items were left with children as they were often renamed, many years would pass, etc. but token items were left with the child so there was a chance of future identification...)

[aprincesadegales]

Visita ao The Foundling Museum, museu do Foundling Hospital, organização de caridade britânica fundada em 1739 com o objetivo de ser o lar para crianças cujas famílias estivessem impossibilitadas de manter e cuidar do menor. O museu fornece treinamento, programas de mentoria e projetos criativos visando transformar a vida das crianças acolhidas. Kate se tornou patrona do museu em 2019 | 19.01.2022