Person    | Male  Born 1668  Died 1751

Captain Thomas Coram

Categories: Children, Social Welfare

Countries: USA

Born Lyme Regis, Dorset, where there is now a commemorative tower. Pioneer in the cause of child welfare.

He became a Captain in the Merchant Navy trading between England and America. For several years he lived in America as a shipwright gaining a great reputation as an expert on all matters concerning the Colonies. As a staunch churchman he realised the importance of the spiritual needs of the settlers and left land in trust for the building of a church in Taunton, Massachusetts. He became a Younger Brother of Trinity House and a trustee of the Colony of Georgia and settled in London in 1720. Here, in 1739, appalled at the number of abandoned children on the streets, he obtained a Royal Charter and established the Foundling Hospital, a "hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children". Buried in the Church of Saint Andrew, Holborn.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Captain Thomas Coram

Commemorated ati

Coram bust

The base of the bust is inscribed "D Evans".

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Coram's Fields

These grounds, the site of the Foundling Hospital, established in 1739 by Cap...

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Coram statue

The base of the statue is inscribed "Wm. MacMillan Sc. 1963". The pose is tak...

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Other Subjects

Infants Hospital

Infants Hospital

From the always useful Lost Hospitals of London: "The St Francis Hospital for Infants was founded in a small house in Hampstead {6 Denning Road} in 1903 by Helen Levis, {first} wife of the industri...

Group, Children, Medicine

1 memorial
Abbot Laurence Soper

Abbot Laurence Soper

Searching for a picture we were shocked to find the picture source website where we learn that Soper was, in September 2012, wanted by the police " in connection with allegations of {historic} sexu...

Person, Children, Religion, Tragedy

1 memorial
Landsbergs boy scouts

Landsbergs boy scouts

"Toynbee Hall (Routledge Revivals): The First Hundred Years" 1984, Asa Briggs and Anne Macartney provides: "Already in the 1890s, there had been increasing interest in what would now be called yout...

Group, Children, Community / Clubs

1 memorial
F. C. Murton

F. C. Murton

Young enough to be a 'Master' in 1883, so probably under about 15. Associated with the Wesleyan Schools, Leswin Road, 1883, a pupil, we'd guess.

Person, Children

1 memorial
P. L. Travers

P. L. Travers

Author. Born Helen Lyndon Goff in Maryborough, Queensland. She emigrated to England at the age of 25 and adopted the name Pamela Lyndon Travers whilst writing the Mary Poppins novels for which she ...

Person, Children, Literature, Australia

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Kindersley Workshop

Kindersley Workshop

From the Workshop's website: "David Kindersley {1915–1995}, lettercutter, sculptor and inventor, started his workshop near Cambridge in 1946, having been apprenticed to Eric Gill. He was joined in ...

Group, Commerce, Craft / Design

1 memorial