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The Foreign Banks and Affiliates Association was founded in 1947 with twelve members. Membership had increased to 108 by 1981, almost a third of all the foreign banks (including the British overseas and Commonwealth banks) in the City. In 1983 three regional committees: EEC (countries of the European Economic Community), Europe (countries of Eastern and Western Europe which were not members of the EEC committee) and World were set up. Later in the same year, functional committees were established: Accounting and Statistics; Banking Supervision; CHAPS (the clearing banks' proposals for an automated payment clearing system) and LondonClear; Export Finance; Fiscal; Foreign Exchange; Operations; and Securities. In 1979 the organisation's name was changed to the Foreign Banks Association, in 1989 to the Foreign Banks and Securities Houses Association, and in 2003 to the Association of Foreign Banks.

The Association was based at 4 Bishopsgate (1947-73), 16 St Helen's Place (1974-1977), 1-3 Abchurch Yard (1977-1981), 4 Bishopsgate (1981-1989), 68 Lombard Street (1989-1990) and 5 Lawrence Pountney Lane (1991-).

Airborne leaflets dropped by the Allied forces during World War II (1939-1945), formed part of a propaganda campaign by the Allied forces to spread pro-Allied information throughout Europe and Asia. The leaflets were collected by the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office.

Forest Gate Hospital was established in 1913 by the West Ham Board of Guardians, as the Forest Gate Sick Home. Accommodation was provided for the chronic sick, together with 50 mentally handicapped adults and 25 mentally handicapped children, including epileptics. Some maternity patients were also admitted and their numbers grew steadily. The buildings originally housed an Industrial School established by the Guardians of the Poor of the Whitechapel Union in 1854. In 1869, management of the School was transferred to the Board of Management of the Forest Gate Schools District (comprising Hackney, Poplar and Whitechapel Unions). A disastrous fire in 1890 caused the deaths of 20 of the 84 resident boys. Poplar Union took over management of the School in 1897, and it continued as an industrial training school until its closure in 1906. In 1908 it reopened as a branch workhouse for the Poplar Union, but closed again in 1911.

The buildings were purchased in 1912 by the West Ham Board of Guardians, and the Forest Gate Sick Home opened in 1913. Under the Local Government Act, 1929, the Sick Home was transferred in 1930 to the County Borough of West Ham Public Assistance Committee. By 1930, the Hospital had 550 beds for chronic sick and mentally handicapped patients, including a Maternity Unit which was opened with 64 lying-in beds. In 1931 temporary buildings were erected to provide an additional 200 beds for chronic sick patients transferred from the Central Homes, bringing the bed complement up to 723. During the Second World War, patients were evacuated to the South Ockendon Colony, Essex. Much of the accommodation for non-maternity patients at the Hospital was destroyed by bombing, including 2 direct hits which necessitated the demolition of 5 wards. In view of this and the unsuitability of some of the accommodation, the bed compliment was reduced to 201. In 1944 management of the Hospital was transferred to the Public Health Committee of West Ham County Borough. By 1945, accommodation for 128 residents patients had reopened and the building of a new Maternity Unit with 102 beds began in 1947.

The Hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948, and management was transferred to the Regional Hospitals Board. The Maternity Unit was expanded into a number of existing wards. In 1974, the Hospital, which by now had 116 beds and was called Newham Maternity Hospital, became part of Newham Health District under the City and East London Area Health Authority (Teaching). With the opening in 1985 of Phase 2 of Newham General Hospital, which included Maternity beds and a Special Care Baby Unit, the Hospital was closed by Newham Health Authority.

The 1834 Poor Law Act led to improvements in the arrangements made for the education of pauper children. Poor Law Unions, and parishes regulated by local acts, were persuaded to establish schools and to appoint schoolmasters. The policy of separating the children from their parents (who were generally considered to be a bad influence on their children) and sending them, if possible, to the country was continued and in 1866 several Middlesex metropolitan authorities were sending children to schools outside London. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1844 made possible a further development in this field which was of significance for the metropolitan area. Unions and parishes were empowered to unite and to form a School District which then set up a large separate school for the education of all the indoor pauper children of the constituents of the district. These were usually industrial schools where both boys and girls were taught the basics of a useful trade which, it was hoped, would provide them with better prospects in future.

Forest Gate School District was formed in 1868, made up of the Hackney, Poplar and Whitechapel Poor Law Unions. The Hackney Union left in 1877.

The School District purchased an existing industrial school in Forest Gate, as well as the Training Ship Goliath, used to prepare pauper boys for a career in the Navy. The Goliath was destroyed by fire in 1875, after which the School District used the Training Ship Exmouth, managed by the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

The School District was disbanded in 1897 and the Poplar Union took over management of the school.

Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.

Whitbread and Company bought Forest Hill Brewery, located at 61 Perry Vale, Forest Hill, in 1923 as a reaction to the competition for retail outlets created by the 1921 Licensing Act limiting licensing hours and also the continued erosion of licenses in general by previous legislation.

Forest Hill Brewery had been established in 1885 by the Morgan brothers but the owner at the time of Whitbread's interest was Edward Venner who offered the sale. Through Edward Venner, Forest Hill Brewery Company had also gone into partnership with J.H. Hull in a company known as Hull and Venner which had joint ownership of The Railway Tavern in Liverpool Street. Whitbread gained an interest in The Railway Tavern through its purchase of the Forest Hill Brewery Company.

Forest Hill had built up a reputation for trade in 'bright' beer which was matured and filtered before being bottling in contrast to Whitbread's current method of maturation in the bottle that ultimately led to the collection of sediment. The sale therefore appealed to Whitbread managing director Sir Sydney Nevile from a technical perspective. After the takeover, the brewery in South London was closed and the bottling moved to the redundant Gray's Inn Road bottling depot.

Forest Hill Brewery became Whitbread Properties Limited in June 1929.

The Forest School Camps were formed in the tradition of the original Forest School which dated from 1929 until World War Two. Ernest Westlake, co-founder of the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry, has purchased a site on which to build a Quaker-influence Forest School in Godshill, Hampshire. When he died before he could realise his plans, his son, Aubrey, set up the school, though his first attempt at running the school in 1929 was disastrous as all four of the pupils contracted scarlet fever and the school was forced to close. A year later Aubrey appointed Cuthbert Rutter as Headmaster and the school re-opened.

The Forest School was a progressive school in which children went on summer holiday camping hikes and learnt about survival skills and the environment. In due course the school moved to Whitwell Hall, Norfolk, in 1938 but the Hall was requisitioned by the military in 1940 and, despite attempts, was never reopened.

The talks about reopening the school led to a reunion camp at the Hall, organised by Arthur Cobb and run by John Glaister. This camp had around 30 children and proved to be such a success that further camps were organised in 1948 and 1949. The ensuing two-week camps had 'lodges' accommodating 60 children between the ages of 6.5 and 17. Although sleeping arrangements and activities were age appropriate, eating, the morning rally and evening entertainments were done as a single unit. Children learned many skills including cooking, and woodwork, and, were taught 'to know the world, to submit to the world and to change the world' (Cobb, c 1953). The attainment of independence was the most important achievement. Over time the Forest School Camps became a Registered Charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee whose purpose is the promotion of holidays and outdoor activities for children and young people.

Forest School, and the subsequent camps, were directly based on the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry, established after World War One. Woodcraft aimed to 'create a Forest School where children might have a continuous education in natural surroundings', and, Forest School emulated this. Furthermore, at Forest School the children were organised into the same Woodcraft age-groups, referred to as 'Elves, Woodlings, Trackers and Pathfinders' and subjected to Woodcraft tests and trials.

Forest School was also heavily influenced by progressive education. At the Forest School each child was treated individually and adults were there to supervise or provide guidance, rather than as authoritative figures. It operated 'very much as a large family', in which 'the children were guided by the group feeling of the school as a whole' (Hedger, 1963), and was organised by typically progressive 'democratic form of government' (Hedger, 1963). Later, the same ethos was applied to the camps.

The organisation gained huge strength in the 1950s when a number of left-wing people joined the staff and many teachers were also recruited. The basis of the camps is still the standing camps or lodges where children are taught camping and woodcraft skills but there are also a number of adventure-style camps involving canoeing, pot holing and camping abroad.

FSC was an unincorporated body until 1967 when it became a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Charity. In 1997 there were 34 camps advertised in the programme and over 1200 places for children and today the camps continue to be run entirely by volunteers.

Gurs was a major internment camp in France, near Oloron-Sainte-Marie, 80 kilometers from the Spanish border. Established in 1939 to absorb Republican refugees from Spain, Gurs later served as a concentration camp for Jews from France and refugees from other countries. While under the administration of Vichy France (1940-1942) most non-Jewish prisoners were released and approximately 2000 Jews were permitted to emigrate. In 1941 Gurs held some 15,000 prisoners. The camp was controlled by the Germans from 1942 to 1944, during which time several thousand inmates were deported to extermination camps in Poland. An unknown number succeeded in escaping and reaching Spain or hiding in Southern France. Gurs was liberated in the summer of 1944.

This collection contains papers relating to Hans Schwarz, founder of the organisation Komitee Ehemaliger Politischer Gefangener, and general secretary of its successor, Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes.

Hans Schwarz was born in Vienna in 1904. He had already been imprisoned well before 1933 along with Bruno Kreisky and other Austrian Marxists. He was a political prisoner in Dachau from 1934-1944 and from October 1944 to April 1945 in Neuengamme. A committed opponent of the Nazis, he was a member of illegal prisoner organisations in both concentration camps. He died in 1970.

Leonard William Forster: Born London 30 Mar 1913; Educated at Marlborough College, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, (BA 1934, MA 1938)) and University of Basle (PhD 1938); English Lektor, University of Leipzig, 1934, University of Konigsberg, 1935-1936, and University of Basle, 1936-1938; Fellow of Selwyn College Cambridge, 1937-1950, 1961-1997; during World War Two worked on codebreaking at Bletchley Park, with rank of Lt Cdr RNVR; Professor of German, University College London, 1950-1961; Schröder Professor of German, University of Cambridge, 1961-1979; President of the International Association for Germanic Studies, 1970-1975; Died Cambridge 18 Apr 1997.

Born, Glasgow, 1858; educated at Liverpool College; Trinity College Cambridge; Fellow of Trinity College, 1881-1910; Professor of Mathematics, University College, Liverpool, 1882-1883; Lecturer and Assistant Tutor, Trinity College Cambridge; Lecturer in Mathematics, Cambridge University 1884-1895; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1886; member of the Council, Senate of Cambridge University, 1890-1910; member of the Council, Royal Society, 1893-1895; Sadlerian Professor of Pure Mathematics, Cambridge, 1895-1910; Royal Medallist, 1897; President, Section A of the British Association (Toronto), 1897, (South Africa), 1905; President of the Mathematical Association, 1903-1904, 1936; member, Treasury Committee on the Scottish Universities, 1909; Professor of Mathematics, Imperial College, 1913-1923; Emeritus Professor, Imperial College; died, 1942.

Publications: include: A treatise on differential equations (Macmillan & Co, London, Cambridge printed, 1885); Theory of Differential Equations 6 vol (University Press, Cambridge, 1890-1906); Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable (University Press, Cambridge, 1893); Lectures on the Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces (University Press, Cambridge, 1912); Calculus of Variations (University Press, Cambridge, 1927); Geometry of Four Dimensions 2 vol (University Press, Cambridge, 1930); Intrinsic Geometry of Ideal Space 2 vol (Macmillan & Co, London, 1935).

Forsyth was born at Old Meldrum, Aberdeen in 1737 and died on the 25 July 1804 in his home in Kensington, London. During his career he worked as a head gardener at Syon House, Brentford from 1763 until 1771 when he became head gardener of the Chelsea Physic Garden; where he continued to work until 1784. The rest of his life was spent working as superintendent of the royal gardens of the Palaces of St James' and Kensington. Whilst working in the royal gardens, Forsyth also developed and promoted his own 'plaister', which was a paste that he claimed would bind together old wood and help new wood to grow.

Forsyth also wrote two volumes OBSERVATIONS ON DISEASES, DEFECTS AND INJURIES IN ALL KINDS OF FRUIT AND FOREST TREES (1791) and TREATISE ON CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT-TREES (1802). Later editions of his treatise were created following his death, with the later being the seventh edition published in 1824. He was a Fellow of both the Linnean Society and the Society of Antiquaries and was also involved with the creation of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Born in Britstown, Cape Colony, 1906; educated: South African Collegiate High School at Cape Town; MA in English and psychology at the University of Cape Town, 1926; postgraduate student in psychology at University College, London, 1930; Ratan Tata research studentship at the London School of Economics, 1930; Fellow of the International African Institute, 1934-1938; carried out fieldwork among the Tallensi of the northern territories of the Gold Coast, 1933-1934; temporary lectureship at the London School of Economics, 1938-1939; research lectureship, Oxford, 1939-1940; carried out research in Nigeria under a project organized by Margery Perham, 1941-1942; remained in west Africa to carry out intelligence work; head of the sociological department in the West African Institute, Accra, 1944; directed the Asante social survey, 1945-1946; returned to Britain, 1946; reader in social anthropology, Oxford; William Wyse chair at Cambridge, 1950-1973; died, 1983.

Publications: The Dynamics of Clanship among the Tallensi(1945)

The Web of Kinship among the Tallensi (1949)

Kinship and the Social Order (1969)

Oedipus and Job in West African Religion (1959),

Religion, Morality and the Person (1987)

The Forth Bridge Railway Company was set up in 1873 with the aim of building a bridge across the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, thereby extending the Scottish railway system north from Edinburgh. The Forth Bridge Railway Company (though it was part of the LNER network) legally survived in name until it was absorbed by the British Transport Commission in 1948 in the aftermath of the nationalisation of the railways.

Douglas John Foskett was born on 27 June 1918. He was educated at Queen Mary College, London, (BA 1939) and Birkbeck College, London (MA 1954). Foskett held positions at municipal and academic libraries, Ilford Municipal Libraries 1940-1948, Librarian of the University of London Institute of Education 1957-1978 and Director of Central Library Services and Goldsmith's Librarian at the University of London, 1978-1983. He was Chairman of the Library Association in 1962, Vice President, 1966 to 1973 and President in 1976. He also served on many library committees including, Honorary Library Adviser to the Royal National Institute for the Deaf 1965 to 1990; member of the Advance Committee on Science and Technical Information 1969 to 1973; a Committee member for UNISIST/UNESCO and EUDISED/Council of Europe Projects. Foskett was a visiting Professor at the Universities of Michigan, 1964; Ghana, 1967; Ibadan 1967; Brazilian Institute for Bibliography and Documentation, 1971 and the University of Iceland 1974. He published widely on information services. Publications include Assistance to Readers in Lending Libraries, 1952, Reader in Comparative Librarianship, 1977, as well as contributions to many professional journals.

Douglas John Foskett was born on 27 June 1918. He was educated at Queen Mary College, London, (BA 1939) and Birkbeck College, London (MA 1954). Foskett held positions at municipal and academic libraries, Ilford Municipal Libraries 1940-1948, Librarian of the University of London Institute of Education 1957-1978 and Director of Central Library Services and Goldsmith's Librarian at the University of London, 1978-1983. He was Chairman of the Library Association in 1962, Vice President, 1966 to 1973 and President in 1976. He also served on many library committees including, Honorary Library Adviser to the Royal National Institute for the Deaf 1965 to 1990; member of the Advance Committee on Science and Technical Information 1969 to 1973; a Committee member for UNISIST/UNESCO and EUDISED/Council of Europe Projects. Foskett was a visiting Professor at the Universities of Michigan, 1964; Ghana, 1967; Ibadan 1967; Brazilian Institute for Bibliography and Documentation, 1971 and the University of Iceland 1974. He has published widely on information services. Publications include Assistance to Readers in Lending Libraries, 1952, Reader in Comparative Librarianship, 1977, as well as contributions to many professional journals.

Ivor L Foster was a Welsh baritone, active in the period 1905-1925, who studied at the Royal College of Music.

Born in Dorchester, 1847; trained with Messrs Agnew, Fine Art Publishers, c.1866-c.1875; purchased the London Art Business of Messrs Dickinson, New Bond Street, c.1875; Honorary Secretary of the Folk-lore Society, 1885-1892; became interested in the art of miniature painting and visted a large number of collections in Britain and abroad; Member of the British Committee International Exhibition of Miniatures, 1912; produced a large number of publications relating to the History of Art, and miniature paintings in particular; published Wessex Worthies, biographies of notable Wessex personages, 1920; continued his research for a dictionary of miniature painters, published posthumously by his daughter; died 1923.
Publications: Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Miniatures and Enamels [Compiled by J J Foster]([London,] 1880); British Miniature Painters and their works (Sampson, Low & Co, London, 1898); The Stuarts, 2 vols (Dickinsons, London; E P Dutton & Co, New York, 1902); Miniature Painters, British and Foreign, with some account of those who practised in America in the eighteenth century, 2 vols (Dickinsons, London; E P Dutton & Co, New York, 1903); The Life of George Morland, with remarks on his works with an introduction and notes by J J Foster (Dickinsons, London, 1904) [Reprint of: The Life of George Morland by Vernor, Hood, & Sharpe (J Walker, London, 1807)]; Concerning the True Portraiture of Mary, Queen of Scots (Dickinsons, London, 1904); French Art from Watteau to Prud'hon Edited by J J Foster (Dickinsons, London, 1905-1907); Chats on Old Miniatures (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1908); Samuel Cooper and the English miniature painters of the XVII Century, with supplement: A List, alphabetically arranged, of works of English miniature painters of the XVII century, with a description of the same, names of the owners and remarks, 2 vols (Dickinsons, London, 1914-1916); Wessex Worthies - Dorset (Dickinsons, London, 1920); A Dictionary of Painters of Miniatures, 1525-1850 edited by Ethel M Foster (P Allan & Co, London, 1926).

Sir Charles Duncombe (born 1648) was a successful banker and royal financier, as well as a Member of Parliament and the Lord Mayor of London. He was not married, but from around 1689 he set about establishing landed estates for his nephews as if they were his own sons; the land he purchased to this end included the property at Teddington. The house had ceilings painted by Verrio and carvings by Grinling Gibbons. Duncombe died at the Teddington house in 1711. The house was later known as Teddington Place, and stood just south of the present Saint Alban's church. It appears to have been pulled down in 1940.

Born, 10 June 1866; educated at University College School and University College London (UCL); graduated with honours in English Language and Literature, 1888; awarded the degree of PhD by Strasburg University for a thesis on the old English poem 'Judith', which was also published, 1892; taught in the English department at UCL as Quain student, 1894-1899; also Professor of English Language and Literature at Bedford College for Women, London, 1897-1900; Assistant Professor at UCL, 1900-1904; appointed Secretary to UCL, 1900; elected Principal, 1904; the title was changed to Provost, 1907; knighted, 1917; Vice-Chancellor of London University, 1928-1930; created a baronet, 1930; died in London, 24 September 1931.

This firm of stockbrokers was founded in 1825 by James Foster and Richard Janson as Foster and Janson. Janson died in 1830 and James Foster was joined by Isaac Braithwaite and the firm was renamed Foster and Braithwaite in 1833. James Foster retired in 1855 and died in 1861. Isaac Braithwaite became head of the firm and in 1867 a new deed of partnership established the family dominance of the firm for the next century: only in 1968 was a partner nominated from outside the Braithwaite family. A new deed of partnership was drawn up in 1971. The firm was based at 27 Austin Friars from 1863-1970; from 1971-75 it was based at 1 Throgmorton Avenue and from 1976-88 at 22 Austin Friars; from 1989 its offices were at 27 Finsbury Square.

The Fothergill Club was named after the eminent gynaecologist, William Edward Fothergill (1865-1926). WE Fothergill himself had been a teacher and Professor of Obstetrics at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, after completing his medical degree at Edinburgh in 1893. He modified Archibald Donald's operation for uterine prolapse, which became known as the Fothergill operation.

Fothergill firmly believed that gynaecologists should have some obstetrical training and tried to bring greater logic into the classifications used in gynaecology. He was against the anatomical classification of diseases used in books and lectures, as the same disease process could occur anywhere in the body, and the fact that symptoms were often made into diseases. He recommended an alternative pathological classification instead and promoted his own classification in his book Manual of Diseases of Women, in 1920. In the introduction to this book, he wrote his opinion that 'no one who has not in one way or another become a good obstetrician can ever hope to understand the diseases of women'.

The Fothergill Club, inspired to some extent by this reputation, was founded by Theodore Redman (1916-2004), former Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St James's Hospital, Leeds, with two of his colleagues. The idea for such a society arose at a meeting of the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society in 1957, when a group of members who had also been together at St Mary's, Manchester, like WE Fothergill, felt that there was a place for a new gynaecological club which would exist mainly to visit other centres of excellence in Britain and overseas, and to combine study of the specialty with what the club termed the 'Art of Living'. It was also recognised by Theodore Redman that other similar societies were very full at that time.

The inaugural meetings were held on the 8th and 9th May 1958 in Plymouth, after initial discussions on the 26th July 1957, in Manchester. The Club's founding members, apart from Theodore Redman, were Sir John (Jack) Dewhurst, later President of the RCOG from 1975-1978 ,Tiger Bevis, Howard Rowley, Frank Da Cunha, Tom Fitzgerald, Tubby Lawton, Gordon Napier and Alan Robson. At the club meetings in May and November 1958, it was decided that membership should be restricted to twenty people at any one time, (although this was later increased and allowed for the inclusion of inactive and honorary members) and that nominations should only be put forward at the next meeting after the one at which first contact with a potential member had been made. It was also agreed that prospective members' Cvs should be circulated to all current members, so that any reservations about a nomination could be expressed.

The Fothergill club had a varied annual programme of academic and cultural activities, combining business and scientific meetings with visits to places of interest, which allowed members' spouses and partners to travel with the club on most occasions and participate in these cultural aspects. From 1958 onwards, the Club became a successful travelling group that visited specialists in many European cities and in the United States. Visits were made in the UK and abroad in alternate years amd meetings were usually held twice a year in May/June and October/November. Theodore Redman produced a history of the Club for circulation to all members, in 2000.

Not known

Siegmund Heinrich Foulkes, FRCPsych (1898-1976), was a psychoanalyst, a pioneer of group analytic psychotherapy and founder of the Group-Analytic Society (London). Elizabeth Therese Fanny Foulkes (née Marx) was his third wife and also a relative. She was a co-founder of the Group-Analytic Society (London) and deeply involved in group analytic psychotherapy. They were both German Jews who emigrated to England in the 1930s.

The Foundling Hospital was established by Royal Charter on 17 October 1739 by Thomas Coram as a refuge for abandoned, illegitimate children. The Hospital was laid in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, an as yet undeveloped area beyond the city. Admission to the Hospital was initially restricted because of the lack of funds. Infants were to be less than two months old and in good health to qualify for entry, and admissions were made on a first come first served basis. Once a child had been accepted he or she was baptised and thereby given a new name. The child was then boarded out to a dry or wet nurse in the country. These nurses were mostly in the Home Counties but could be as far away as West Yorkshire or Shropshire. The nurses were monitored by voluntary inspectors. On reaching 3 years of age, the child was returned to the Hospital to receive basic schooling and he or she would remain there until apprenticed out to trades or service, or enlisted in the armed forces.

From 1760 a new system was adopted which involved mothers submitting written petitions to the Hospital which were then assessed by committee. This petition system formed the basis of all subsequent admissions to the Hospital and the survival of these petitions in the collection provides a valuable insight into the backgrounds and circumstances of the mothers.

Consultation of the Hospital records held at LMA (reference A/FH) reveals the story of Mary Green's admission. According to the petition document (A/FH/A/08/001/002/023) her mother, Ann Moore of 26 Salsbury Street, Bermondsey, was an unmarried 19 year old. She had been working as a housemaid at the house of Mr Morgan, a surgeon, where she was seduced by his assistant Thomas Parkin, who "talked of marriage but never promised her". Before the pregnancy was revealed Mr Morgan fired Parkin for "disorderly conduct" and his mounting debts; while Ann was made redundant along with all the other servants in an attempt to solve disagreements among the staff. She was given a good character reference and found a new position with Mrs Sarah Peacock. On the 14 September 1814 she was "delivered of a female child". The father could not be traced. Mrs Peacock sponsored her petition to the Foundling Hospital, describing her as honest, sober, obliging and clean.

The baby was admitted to the Hospital on 12 November 1814, aged 2 months, and given the name Mary Green (general register, A/FH/A/09/002/005). She was sent into the country to a wet nurse, and was confirmed in June 1829. Mary was apprenticed in December 1829 to merchant Louis Perrottet of No 4 North Crescent, Bedford Square, "to be instructed in household business" (apprenticeship register, A/FH/A/12/003/002). Jane Taunton, another foundling who was admitted only a few days before Mary was also apprenticed to Perrottet. Their apprenticeship indentures expired in September 1835.

The Foundling Hospital was established by Royal Charter on 17 October 1739 by Thomas Coram as a refuge for abandoned children. Its creation in the eighteenth century was unique, and even 120 years later the Hospital was the only institution for the admission of illegitimate children listed in a 1863 charities directory for London.

Returning to Britain in 1719 after establishing a shipwright's business in America, Coram was appalled at the numbers of dead and dying babies he saw in the streets of London, and the failure of the establishment to care for these children. Foundling (i.e. illegitimate) children had been cared for at Christ's Hospital from its foundation in 1552, but a decision to admit only legitimate orphans was taken in 1676. From this date onwards, therefore, the only option for illegitimate children was to be placed in a parish poorhouse, where extremely high mortality rates prevailed and childcare facilities were non-existent. Coram campaigned for twenty years in order to gain support for his scheme. A major difficulty was overcoming widespread prejudice towards illegitimacy, but he managed to enlist the support of many leading members of the aristocracy, the city, the arts and the sciences by a series of petitions to which they signed their names.

The first temporary location of the Hospital was a house in Hatton Gardens, children being admitted there from March 1741 onwards. The following year the foundation stone of the new Hospital was laid on land acquired from the Earl of Salisbury in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, an as yet undeveloped area beyond the city. The Hospital was designed by Theodore Jacobsen as a plain brick building with two wings and a chapel, built around an open courtyard. By 1747 work had begun on the Chapel. Although not completed until 1753, it was in use before that date, most notably on 1 May 1750 when George Frederick Handel, a patron of the Hospital, directed a performance of the Oratorio 'Messiah' to mark the presentation of the organ to the Chapel. The Hospital received a great deal of patronage from the arts. The painter William Hogarth, a governor of the Hospital, decided to set up an art exhibition in the court room of the new buildings, encouraging other artists to produce work for the Hospital. As a consequence, by the late eighteenth Century the Hospital had become a fashionable place to visit.

Admission to the Hospital was initially restricted because of the lack of funds. Infants were to be less than two months old and in good health to qualify for entry, and admissions were made on a first come first served basis. Once a child had been accepted he or she was baptised and thereby given a new name. The child was then boarded out to a dry or wet nurse in the country. These nurses were mostly in the Home Counties but could be as far away as West Yorkshire or Shropshire. The nurses were monitored by voluntary inspectors. On reaching 3 years of age, the child was returned to the Hospital to receive basic schooling and he or she would remain there until apprenticed out to trades or service, or enlisted in the armed forces.

In 1742 the numbers of mothers bringing children to the Hospital was so great and the admissions procedure so disorderly that it was decided to adopt a ballot system to decide which children were admitted. By 1756 the Hospital was forced to ask Parliament for funds. As a consquence for the next four years the Hospital functioned as a quasi-public body receiving government support. In return for that support, however, the Governors were obliged to accept every child presented to them. A number of branch hospitals were established to cope with the large number of children received during this period of 'indiscriminate admission' (1756-1760). These were in Aylesbury, Barnet, Westerham, Ackworth, Chester and Shrewsbury and records survive in the collections for these hospitals, particularly Ackworth Hospital.

In 1760 the period of indiscriminate admission was ended when Parliament withdrew its support and the Hospital was forced to temporarily stop admitting children. When admissions resumed a new system was adopted which involved mothers submitting written petitions to the Hospital which were then assessed by committee. This petition system formed the basis of all subsequent admissions to the Hospital and the survival of these petitions in the collection provides a valuable insight into the backgrounds and circumstances of the mothers. Although the Hospital had been set up primarily for the care of illegitimate children, the Governors also began to accept children of soldiers killed in war.

The administration of the Hospital remained largely unchanged until 1926 when the buildings and surrounding estate were sold for £1,650,000. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the area around the Hospital had been transformed. In 1780s the Hospital had decided to lease out its land to developers who proceeded to build squares, streets, and town houses (the rent from which provided the Hospital with much needed regular income). By 1920s, and in keeping with the trend to move schools and institutions outside of central London to healthier environments, it was felt that the proceeds of selling the estate would secure financially the continued work of the Hospital. Accordingly the estate was sold, the Hospital buildings were pulled down and the children moved to temporary premises at Saint Anne's Schools, Redhill, Surrey, until a new site was found for them at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. When the new school opened in 1935, the Governors decided that it should be named Thomas Coram School, and the title Foundling Hospital was dropped.

The Hospital did not lose its connection with the Bloomsbury site for long, however. The site had been bought by a property speculator, James White, who intended to transfer Covent Garden Market there. He was forced to abandoned this plan due to strong local opposition, and with the assistance of Lord Rothermere, three-quarters of the site was purchased from him to form a children's playground for the locality. This became known as Coram's Fields. The remaining quarter was re-purchased by the Foundling Hospital and became their headquarters at 40 Brunswick Square. Some of the internal fittings saved from the old Hospital buildings were transferred to the new offices, as were the Foundling art collections.

It soon became evident that the income from investing the proceeds of the sale was surplus to the requirements of the Hospital and decisions were made to broaden the work of the charity by assisting kindred voluntary organisations, most notably the Cross Road Club (a home for mothers and babies), the Foundling Site Nurseries (residential and day care centres) and Saint Leonards Nursery School. Records relating to these institutions can be found in the collection.

In 1954 the Governors, influenced by trends towards non-institutional forms of caring for children, disposed of the school at Berkhamsted (now known as Ashlyn's School), transferring it to Hertfordshire County Council, and returned children to their foster homes. It was felt that the children would benefit from a more conventional home life, attending local schools and mixing with other children. In 1953 the organisation changed its name to the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, reflecting these developments. More recently the charity has been renamed Coram Family. It is still dedicated to working with deprived and disadvantaged children, providing adoption and foster care services, and promoting research into child welfare.

A new hospital was built in Tooting by the Metropolitan Asylums Board after a resurgence of Scarlet Fever in 1893. This was the 400 bed Fountain Fever Hospital, designed by Thomas W Aldwinckle, and built in nine weeks.

Most of the buildings were single-storey structures with timber frames, covered with boarding, felt and corrugated iron. On the inside, the walls were lined with boarding and asbestos on plaster. A porter's lodge stood at the west of the site at the entrance on Tooting Grove. It contained a gate office, waiting room, and lavatory, with discharging rooms and bathrooms to the rear. There were separate entrances at each side - the 'infected' one leading to the receiving wards, and the 'non-infected' one leading to the administration buildings and stores.

There were 8 ward blocks, arranged in two rows of 4, and all linked by a central covered way. Each block contained 24 beds, plus a scullery, attendant's bedroom and staff WC, linen room, and patients' bathroom. Two further isolation blocks were situated at the north-west edge of the site. The 'temporary' ward blocks were still in use in 1930. There was also accommodation for nursing staff, domestic staff and male servants, as well as workshops and a mortuary.

In 1911-1912, the hospital was redesignated as a mental hospital and became used for the accommodation of the lowest grade of severely subnormal children, becoming the Fountain Mental Hospital. In 1930, the administration of the hospital passed to the London County Council who retained it as a hospital for mentally defective children. From 1948 the hospital was known as the Fountain Hospital. It was demolished in 1963 and the site is now occupied by St George's Hospital.

Thomas Brushfield was a surgeon, and formerly the Senior Medical Officer at the Fountain Mental Hospital. This collection was compiled during his work there between 1914-1927, and is also known as the Brushfield Amentia Collection.

Pierre Eloyr Fouquier obtained his MD at the École de Medecine, Paris, in 1802, and was professor of medicine at the Faculté de Médecine, Paris, as well as a member of the Académie de Médecine in 1820. In 1840 he was physician to King Louis Philippe and President of the Academie.

The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company was a philanthropic model dwellings company, formed in London in 1885, during the Victorian era. In 1952, it was renamed the Industrial Dwellings Society (1885) Ltd. and is today known as IDS. The IDS manages over 1,400 properties in the London Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Redbridge and Barnet. Its president is Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, a descendent of the banker Nathan Mayer Rothschild, who founded the Society.

The author obtained his M.D. at Montpellier, and later became physician to the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris. He was towards the end of his career Inspecteur des Eaux minérales de France.

Born 1887; educated at St. Pauls School and at New College, Oxford; student interpreter at the British Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, 1913; appointed second assistant in Seoul, Korea, 1915; became acting Vice Consul in Kobe, Japan 1915; Vice Consul in Kobe, 1919; 1924-25 was the acting Consul in Dairen (Dalian, China); retired from the consular service in 1928; died 1940.

Hilda Fowlds (1891-1931) became a teacher after graduating from London University. She was appointed headmistress of William Gibbs' School Faversham, Kent in 1921. She made several visits to Eastern Europe particularly Hungary where she made a number of friends. It was while visiting Hungary in September 1931 that she became one of some thirty people killed in the Biastorbagy railway disaster when the Budapest-Paris Express was derailed by a bomb.

Born, 1868; Member of British Government Eclipse Expeditions, 1893, 1896, 1898, 1900, 1905, 1914; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1910; awarded Valz Prize by the Paris Academy of Sciences, 1913; Bakerian Lecturer, Royal Society, 1914 and 1924; awarded Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1915; awarded Royal Medal of the Royal Society, 1918; Henry Draper Gold Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, 1920; Yarrow Research Professor of the Royal Society, 1923-1934; President, Section A, British Association, 1926; CBE 1935; President, Institute of Physics 1935-1937; Past-President, Royal Astronomical Society; Emeritus Professor of Astro-Physics, Imperial College; late Member of Advisory Council Department of Scientific and Industrial Research; late General Secretary, International Astronomical Union; died, 1940.
Publications: Geometrical Astronomy and Astronomical Instruments (The Concise Knowledge Astronomy [1914]); Popular Telescopic Astronomy. How to make a 2-inch telescope and what to see with it (G Philip & Son, London, 1896); Report on Series in Line Spectra (Physical Society, London, 1922); numerous papers relating to solar and stellar spectra, the spectra of comets, and the structure of spectra in Proceedings of Royal Society and Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society.

Born 1872; Entered Westfield College in 1894 and left to study a Degree Course in Modern Languages at Oxford University; obtained a Doctorate from University of Paris in 1905 with thesis on 'Une source francaise des poèmes de Gower'; served as a nurse for two years in Paris during the First World War; later went on to lecture on art and history at Oxford; committed suicide in old age. Daughter of Sir Robert Nicholas Fowler, first baronet (1828-1891), banker and politician.

William Warde Fowler was born in Somerset in 1847. He was educated at Marlborough College and at New and Lincoln Colleges, Oxford. He became a fellow of Lincoln College in 1872 and continued to work and teach there until his retirement in 1910, holding at various times the positions of dean, librarian and lay sub-rector. His central academic interest was Ancient Rome during the republican period, but he also wrote published works on such diverse subjects as Mozart and bird migration. Fowler was President of the Classical Association in 1920.

Fowler and Sutton, architects, were based at Parliament Mansions, Abbey Orchard Street, SW1.

No biographical information was available at the time of compilation.

Miss Cicely Fox Smith, who had travelled in Canada and Africa, wrote a number of popular books on sailing ships of the last century. She was also a contributor to Punch for many years and well known for her attractive verses.

Born Harold Munro Fuchs in 1889; educated at Brighton College and Caius College, Cambridge University; worked at the Plymouth [Marine Biology] Laboratory, 1911-1912; Lecturer in Zoology, Imperial College, University of London, 1913-1914; served World War One, 1914-1918, with the Army Service Corps in Egypt, Salonika, Greece, the Balkan Peninsula and Palestine; changed name to Fox, 1914; Lecturer in Biology, Government School of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt, 1919-1923; Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, 1920-1928; Balfour Student, Cambridge University, 1924-1927; leader of zoological expedition to study the fauna of the Suez Canal, Egypt, 1924; Editor of Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1926-[1967]; Professor of Zoology, Birmingham University, 1927-1941; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1937; Professor of Zoology, Bedford College, University of London, 1941-1954; Honorary President, London Natural History Society, 1950-; President, International Union of Biological Sciences, 1950-1953; Fullarian Professor of Physiology, Royal Institution, 1953-1956; Emeritus Professor, 1954; Fellow and Research Associate, Queen Mary College, University of London; retired 1954; Président d'Honneur, Zoological Society of France, 1955; Gold Medallist, Linnean Society of London, 1959; Darwin Medallist of the Royal Society, 1966; died 1967.

Publications: Biology: an introduction to the study of life (University Press, Cambridge, 1932); Blue blood in animals, and other essays in biology (Routledge and Sons, London, 1928); Selene, or sex and the moon (Kegan Paul, London, 1928); The personality of animals (Penguin Books, Harmonsworth, New York, 1940); The nature of animal colours (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1960); assisted with the biology sections of Elementary Science (University Press, Cambridge, 1935).

Born Harold Munro Fuchs in Clapham, London, 1889; educated at Brighton College; read the Natural Sciences Tripos, specialising in zoology, at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 1908-1911; worked at the Plymouth Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1911-1912, and the Stazione Zoologica, Naples, 1912; Lecturer in Zoology, Royal College of Science, (Imperial College), London, 1913; changed name to Fox, 1914; enlisted in the Army Service Corps and served in the Balkans, Egypt, Salonika and Palestine, 1914-1918; Lecturer at the Government School of Medicine, Cairo, 1919-1923; Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 1920-1928; Balfour Student, Cambridge University, 1924-1927; lead an expedition to study the fauna of the Suez Canal, 1924-1925; Professor of Zoology, University of Birmingham, 1927-1941; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1937; Professor of Zoology, Bedford College, London, 1941-1954; Fullerian Professor of Physiology, Royal Institution, 1953-1956; Emeritus Professor, Bedford College, London, Research Associate, Queen Mary College, London, 1955-1967; awarded the Darwin Medal 1966; research ranged over many aspects of zoology, but was especially concerned with marine invertebrates and ostracod crustacea; died, 1967.
Publications: Blue Blood in Animals, and other essays in biology (G Routledge & Sons, London, 1928); Selene, or Sex and the Moon (Kegan Paul & Co, London, 1928); Biology. An introduction to the study of life (University Press, Cambridge, 1932); Elementary Science Harold Webb and Mildred Annie Grigg [with the assistance of Fox] (University Press, Cambridge, 1935,1936); Plants & Animals. The biology sections from Elementary Science by Harold Webb and Mildred Annie Grigg, edited by Fox (University Press, Cambridge, 1937); The Personality of Animals (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, New York, 1940); The Nature of Animal Colours ... Illustrated by colour photographs (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1960).

Born, 1773. British politician, nephew of Charles James Fox. He was a member of the Whig opposition party from 1797 and served as Lord Privy Seal in the coalition ministry of 1806-1807. An opponent of the Act of Union with Ireland (1801), he continually advocated its repeal, at the same time working for Catholic Emancipation. Although a loyal and active member he was never personally powerful in the Whig party. When the Whigs returned to power, he served as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1830-1834, 1835-1840). Lord Holland is, perhaps, best known for his influence on literature, politics, and letters through the hospitality that Holland House in London provided for the brilliant and distinguished people of his day. Holland died in 1840, his son, the 4th baron, edited Holland's Foreign Reminiscences (1850) and Memoirs of the Whig Party (1852).

Robert Were Fox was the son of Robert Were Fox, a shipping agent, and Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Tregellen of Falmouth. Educated privately, he showed a special aptitude in mathematics, and was taught to study natural phenomena by his mother. In 1814, during his wedding trip on the continent, he formed lasting friendships with F W H A von Humboldt and other foreign scientists. His researches began in 1812 with Joel Lean, when they performed a series of experiments hoping to improve Watt's engines which were used in Cornish mines. In 1815 Fox began his researches into the internal temperature of the earth, which continued throughout his life. Facilities were provided for this by his lifelong connection with Cornish mines. Fox was the first to prove definitively that heat increased with depth, and that this increase was in diminishing ratio as depth increased. Fox was also interested in magnetic phenomena, especially relating to the earth's magnetism, and constructed a new dipping needle of great sensitivity and accuracy which was later used by Sir James Clark Ross in his voyage to the Antarctic in 1837 and by Captain Nares in the expedition to the North Pole in 1875-1877. Fox was one of the founders of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1833, and was Vice President several times. He died at his house near Falmouth in 1877 and was buried at the Friends' burial ground at Budock.

See the description of the collection for details of the family history, where it is set out as part of an explanation of how the collection is divided into various sections.

W C Fox served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in India, 1916-1919.

Born 1908; educated, King's College School, Wimbledon, Queens' College Cambridge; BA 1930, 1st Class Hons Natural Science Tripos Pt II, 1931; Assistant in Zoology, University of Glasgow, 1932-1937; MA 1934; Assistant Lecturer and Lecturer in Zoology, University College, Cardiff, 1937-1948; MSc (Wales) 1943; Professor of Biology and Head of Biology Department, Guy's Hospital Medical School, 1948-1972; Reader in Biology, University of London, 1948-1955; Professor of Biology, University of London, 1955-1972; Chairman, British Universal Film Council, 1959-1963, 1967-1969; Emeritus Professor, University of London, 1972-1979; Fellow Cambridge Philosophical Society; Fellow Linnean Society; Fellow, Institute of Biology; Fellow, Zoological Society; died, 1979.
Publications: Report on Stomatopod Larvae, Cumacea and Cladocera [1930]; Stomatopod Larvæ, etc (London, 1939); various scientific papers, mainly dealing with the comparative study of the heart and blood system of vertebrate animals.

The Fox-Strangways family hold the Earldom of Ilchester and their family seat is Melbury House, Dorset. Through Ilchester Estates, the family own and manage many properties in Holland Park, London.

Stephen Fox-Strangways (1704-1776) was given the title Earl of Ilchester in 1756. He was the older brother of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland (1705-1774), who purchased Holland Park Estate in 1768 from William Edwardes (later Baron Kensington).

Holland Park Estate remained under the ownership of successive Barons Holland until 1874, when it passed to their distant relative Henry Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester.

Herbert Somerton Foxwell was born on 17 June 1849 in Somerset, the son of an ironmonger and slate and timber merchant. He received his early educated at the Weslyian Collegiate Institute, Taunton. After passing the London Matriculation examination at the minimum age, he obtained a London External BA Degree at the age of 18. He went to St. John's College, Cambridge in 1868. He was placed senior in the Moral Sciences Tripos in 1870 and was associated with the College for the rest of his life. He was made a Fellow in 1874 and held his College lectureship for sixty years. In the University he was largely responsible for the honours teaching of economics from 1877 to 1908. Foxwell was assistant lecturer to his friend Stanley Jevons who had held the Chair of Economics at University College London from 1868 and then succeeded Jevons as chair in May 1881, holding the post until 1927. At the same time, Foxwell was Newmarch Lecturer in statistics at University College London and a lecturer on currency and banking from 1896 at London Scholl of Economics. In 1907 he became joint Professor of Political Economy in the University of London. In addition to these appointments, Foxwell gave extra-mural lectures for Cambridge University from 1874 and for London from 1876 to 1881 in London, Leeds, Halifax and elsewhere. He also held the following appointments: external examiner for London, Cambridge and other universities; first Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of London; vice-president and president of the Council of the Royal Economic Society; member of the Councils of the Statistical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science; and secretary and later president of the University (Cambridge) Musical Society and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. He also provided a course of lectures at the Institute of Actuaries.

Foxwell was a dedicated book-collector and bibliophile and concentrated on the purchase of economic books printed before 1848. He described his library as a collection of books and tracts intended to serve as the basis for the study of the industrial, commercial, monetary and financial history of the United Kingdom as well a of the gradual development of economic science generally.

Foxwell's library provides the nucleus of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature. When The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths purchased the library of economic literature from Foxwell in 1901 for £10,000 it contained about 30,000 books. The Company also generously provided Foxwell with a series of subventions following the purchase of the Library to enable him to make further acquisitions prior to the gift of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature to the University of London in 1903.

From the sale in 1901, Foxwell kept back duplicates that formed a second collection which he sold to Harvard University for £4,000 in 1929. From the termination of dealings with the Goldsmiths' Company in 1903, he began creating a second major collection. By his death, on 3 August 1936, Foxwell had amassed a further 20,000 volumes that were sold to Harvard University creating the focus for the Kress Library.

Herbert Somerton Foxwell was born on 17 June 1849 in Somerset, the son of an ironmonger and slate and timber merchant. He received his early educated at the Weslyian Collegiate Institute, Taunton. After passing the London Matriculation examination at the minimum age, he obtained a London External BA Degree at the age of 18. He went to St John's College, Cambridge in 1868. He was placed senior in the Moral Sciences Tripos in 1870 and was associated with the College for the rest of his life. He was made a Fellow in 1874 and held his College lectureship for sixty years. In the University he was largely responsible for the honours teaching of economics from 1877 to 1908. Foxwell was assistant lecturer to his friend Stanley Jevons who had held the Chair of Economics at University College London from 1868 and then succeeded Jevons as chair in May 1881, holding the post until 1927. At the same time, Foxwell was Newmarch Lecturer in statistics at University College London and a lecturer on currency and banking from 1896 at the London School of Economics. In 1907 he became joint Professor of Political Economy in the University of London. In addition to these appointments, Foxwell gave extra-mural lectures for Cambridge University from 1874 and for London from 1876 to 1881 in London, Leeds, Halifax and elsewhere. He also held the following appointments: external examiner for London, Cambridge and other universities; first Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of London; vice-president and president of the Council of the Royal Economic Society; member of the Councils of the Statistical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science; and secretary and later president of the University (Cambridge) Musical Society and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. He also provided a course of lectures at the Institute of Actuaries.

Foxwell was a dedicated book-collector and bibliophile and concentrated on the purchase of economic books printed before 1848. He described his library as a collection of books and tracts intended to serve as the basis for the study of the industrial, commercial, monetary and financial history of the United Kingdom as well a of the gradual development of economic science generally.

Foxwell's library provides the nucleus of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature. When The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths purchased the library of economic literature from Foxwell in 1901 for £10,000 it contained about 30,000 books. The Company also generously provided Foxwell with a series of subventions following the purchase of the Library to enable him to make further acquisitions prior to the gift of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature to the University of London in 1903.

From the sale in 1901, Foxwell kept back duplicates that formed a second collection which he sold to Harvard University for £4,000 in 1929. From the termination of dealings with the Goldsmiths' Company in 1903, he began creating a second major collection. By his death, on 3 August 1936, Foxwell had amassed a further 20,000 volumes that were sold to Harvard University creating the focus for the Kress Library.

Henry Somerton Foxwell, born 17 June 1849, Somerset, the son of an ironmonger and slate and timber merchant. He received his early educated at the Weslyian Collegiate Institute, Taunton; passed the London Matriculation examination at the minimum age; obtained a London External BA Degree at the age of 18; admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, 1868; placed senior in the Moral Sciences Tripos in 1870 and was associated with the College for the rest of his life; made a Fellow in 1874 and held his College lectureship for sixty years. In the University he was largely responsible for the honours teaching of economics from 1877 to 1908; Foxwell was assistant lecturer to his friend Stanley Jevons who had held the Chair of Economics at University College London from 1868 and then succeeded Jevons as chair in May 1881, holding the post until 1927; at the same time, Foxwell was Newmarch Lecturer in statistics at University College London and a lecturer on currency and banking from 1896 at London School of Economics. In 1907 he became joint Professor of Political Economy in the University of London, and in addition gave extra-mural lectures for Cambridge University from 1874 and for London from 1876 to 1881 in London, Leeds, Halifax and elsewhere. He also held the following appointments: external examiner for London, Cambridge and other universities; first Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of London; vice-president and president of the Council of the Royal Economic Society; member of the Councils of the Statistical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science; and secretary and later president of the University (Cambridge) Musical Society and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. He also provided a course of lectures at the Institute of Actuaries. Foxwell was a dedicated book-collector and bibliophile and concentrated on the purchase of economic books printed before 1848. He described his library as a collection of books and tracts intended to serve as the basis for the study of the industrial, commercial, monetary and financial history of the United Kingdom and the gradual development of economic science generally. Foxwell's library provides the nucleus of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature. When The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths purchased the library of economic literature from Foxwell in 1901 for £10,000 it contained about 30,000 books. The Company also generously provided Foxwell with a series of subventions following the purchase of the Library to enable him to make further acquisitions prior to the gift of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature to the University of London in 1903. From the sale in 1901, Foxwell kept back duplicates that formed a second collection which he sold to Harvard University for £4,000 in 1929. From the termination of dealings with the Goldsmiths' Company in 1903, he began creating a second major collection. By his death, on 3 August 1936, Foxwell had amassed a further 20,000 volumes that were sold to Harvard University creating the focus for the Kress Library.

Herbert Somerton Foxwell was born on 17 June 1849 in Somerset, the son of an ironmonger and slate and timber merchant. He received his early education at the Weslyian Collegiate Institute, Taunton. After passing the London Matriculation examination at the minimum age, he obtained a London External BA Degree at the age of 18. He went to St. John's College, Cambridge in 1868. He was placed senior in the Moral Sciences Tripos in 1870 and was associated with the College for the rest of his life. He was made a Fellow in 1874 and held his College lectureship for sixty years. In the University he was largely responsible for the honours teaching of economics from 1877 to 1908. Foxwell was assistant lecturer to his friend Stanley Jevons who had held the Chair of Economics at University College London from 1868 and then succeeded Jevons as chair in May 1881, holding the post until 1927. At the same time, Foxwell was Newmarch Lecturer in statistics at University College London and a lecturer on currency and banking from 1896 at London School of Economics. In 1907 he became joint Professor of Political Economy in the University of London. In addition to these appointments, Foxwell gave extra-mural lectures for Cambridge University from 1874 and for London from 1876 to 1881 in London, Leeds, Halifax and elsewhere. He also held the following appointments: external examiner for London, Cambridge and other universities; first Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of London; vice-president and president of the Council of the Royal Economic Society; member of the Councils of the Statistical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science; and secretary and later president of the University (Cambridge) Musical Society and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. He also provided a course of lectures at the Institute of Actuaries. Foxwell was a dedicated book-collector and bibliophile and concentrated on the purchase of economic books printed before 1848. He described his library as a collection of books and tracts intended to serve as the basis for the study of the industrial, commercial, monetary and financial history of the United Kingdom as well a of the gradual development of economic science generally. Foxwell's library provides the nucleus of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature. When The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths purchased the library of economic literature from Foxwell in 1901 for £10,000 it contained about 30,000 books. The Company also generously provided Foxwell with a series of subventions following the purchase of the Library to enable him to make further acquisitions prior to the gift of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature to the University of London in 1903. From the sale in 1901, Foxwell kept back duplicates that formed a second collection which he sold to Harvard University for £4,000 in 1929. From the termination of dealings with the Goldsmiths' Company in 1903, he began creating a second major collection. By his death, on 3 August 1936, Foxwell had amassed a further 20,000 volumes that were sold to Harvard University creating the focus for the Kress Library.

Herbert Somerton Foxwell was born on 17 June 1849 in Somerset, the son of an ironmonger and slate and timber merchant. He received his early educated at the Weslyian Collegiate Institute, Taunton. After passing the London Matriculation examination at the minimum age, he obtained a London External BA Degree at the age of 18. He went to St. John's College, Cambridge in 1868. He was placed senior in the Moral Sciences Tripos in 1870 and was associated with the College for the rest of his life. He was made a Fellow in 1874 and held his College lectureship for sixty years. In the University he was largely responsible for the honours teaching of economics from 1877 to 1908. Foxwell was assistant lecturer to his friend Stanley Jevons who had held the Chair of Economics at University College London from 1868 and then succeeded Jevons as chair in May 1881, holding the post until 1927. At the same time, Foxwell was Newmarch Lecturer in statistics at University College London and a lecturer on currency and banking from 1896 at the London School of Economics. In 1907 he became joint Professor of Political Economy in the University of London. In addition to these appointments, Foxwell gave extra-mural lectures for Cambridge University from 1874 and for London from 1876 to 1881 in London, Leeds, Halifax and elsewhere. He also held the following appointments: external examiner for London, Cambridge and other universities; first Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of London; vice-president and president of the Council of the Royal Economic Society; member of the Councils of the Statistical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science; and secretary and later president of the University (Cambridge) Musical Society and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. He also provided a course of lectures at the Institute of Actuaries.

Foxwell was a dedicated book-collector and bibliophile and concentrated on the purchase of economic books printed before 1848. He described his library as a collection of books and tracts intended to serve as the basis for the study of the industrial, commercial, monetary and financial history of the United Kingdom as well a of the gradual development of economic science generally.

Foxwell's library provides the nucleus of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature. When The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths purchased the library of economic literature from Foxwell in 1901 for £10,000 it contained about 30,000 books. The Company also generously provided Foxwell with a series of subventions following the purchase of the Library to enable him to make further acquisitions prior to the gift of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature to the University of London in 1903.

From the sale in 1901, Foxwell kept back duplicates that formed a second collection which he sold to Harvard University for £4,000 in 1929. From the termination of dealings with the Goldsmiths' Company in 1903, he began creating a second major collection. By his death, on 3 August 1936, Foxwell had amassed a further 20,000 volumes that were sold to Harvard University creating the focus for the Kress Library.