Thomas Coram
Memorial window to Captain Thomas Coram, who was born in Lyme Regis in 1668.
From: www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/foundling_01.shtml
Captain Thomas Coram retired to Rotherhithe in 1719 after achieving success in the New World, establishing a shipwright's business in Boston, and later in Taunton, Massachusetts... On his frequent walks through the City on winter mornings, Coram was appalled at the sight of dead and dying babies abandoned on the streets. This tragedy spurred him into action. He was 54 years old. The enterprise would turn him grey during 17 long years of pleading on the foundlings' behalf.
His idea was to petition the king for a charter to create a non-profit-making organisation [to care for foundlings] supported by subscriptions, but at first this met with no success. He found it impossible to gain the support of anyone influential enough to approach the king and there continued to be great opposition to the idea of a Foundling Hospital, partly because it was considered to encourage wantonness and prostitution.
In 1727 George I died and George II took over the throne. His wife, Queen Caroline, was sympathetic to the rescue of foundlings even to the extent of writing a pamphlet on the Hospital for Foundlings in Paris, published after her death. Coram decided to enlist the support of noble and fashionable ladies after discovering the important role of women in the Paris hospital.
At last by 1739 - after presenting the King with numerous petitions which emphasised not only Coram's compassion for the children but also concern for their subsequent education into useful citizens - subscriptions poured in and on 17 October 1739 the King signed a Royal Charter. The Governors and Guardians of this new enterprise met to receive the Charter on 20th November 1739 at Somerset House. The group included many of the important figures of the day. The aristocracy was represented by dukes and earls; magnates and merchant bankers represented the financial world and men of standing included Dr Richard Mead (the foremost physician), the artist William Hogarth and Captain Coram himself. Thus the Foundling Hospital was established for the 'education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children'.
According to the guide to Lyme Regis church, "After using all his own fortune on the venture, Coram himself finally ended life as a pauper."