Foundlings
The Foundling Hospital in London was established by Royal Charter in 1739, and continues today as the children's charity Coram. It was established after seventeen years of campaigning by the shipwright and sailor, Thomas Coram (1668-1751). The hospital was intended to provide "Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children", who were often abandoned to die in London's filthy streets.
By the 1750s, more children were being admitted than the hospital was able to accommodate. This led to some being boarded out into the country. At the age of six they were returned to the hospital in London. Registers reveal that a number of children "from the Foundling Hospital" were buried in Meppershall, suggesting that a number of these children were accommodated here [P 29/1/7]. Between 1757 and 1760, seven children from the Foundling Hospital appear to have been buried in Meppershall.
- 1757, November 23: Ann Rider
- 1758, July 30: Rose Pike
- 1759, April 17: Bridget Fox
- 1759 October 22: Elizabeth Fillman
- 1759, October 31: Andrew Bell
- 1760,January 12: Sarah Dixon
- 1760, March 5: Robert Lark
Children boarded out of the Foundling Hospital in this way were placed within a short distance of a local person acting as agent. We do not know who the agent was for the Meppershall area, where the children stayed, or whether any of them reached six years of age, and returned to London.