Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1829-1837 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
0.01 linear metres.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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.
Repository
Archival history
GB 0074 ACC/2790 1829-1837 Collection 0.01 linear metres. Foundling Hospital
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.
Records donated by Pinner Local History Society on 30 January 1990, formerly property of Miss L Hill of Hatch End.
Records relating to Mary Green, comprising apprenticeship indenture; instructions to Mary Green at time of her apprenticeship directing her to good behaviour and industry; certificate from Foundling Hospital of satisfactory completion of apprenticeship by Mary Green; printed advice and guidance for her future life presented to Mary Green by Foundling Hospital.
Documents in chronological order.
Available for general access.
Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.
English
Fit
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
See reference A/FH for the records of the Foundling Hospital.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Records prepared May to September 2011. Apprenticeship records Apprenticeship indenture Disadvantaged groups Disadvantaged children Law Legal systems Civil law Illegitimacy Students Out of school youth Apprentices Documents Information sources Apprenticeship Training methods Child welfare Social welfare Foundling Hospital
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Records donated by Pinner Local History Society on 30 January 1990, formerly property of Miss L Hill of Hatch End.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Records relating to Mary Green, comprising apprenticeship indenture; instructions to Mary Green at time of her apprenticeship directing her to good behaviour and industry; certificate from Foundling Hospital of satisfactory completion of apprenticeship by Mary Green; printed advice and guidance for her future life presented to Mary Green by Foundling Hospital.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Documents in chronological order.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
See reference A/FH for the records of the Foundling Hospital.
Finding aids
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English