Orphans of Empire: The Fate of London’s Foundlings

In her account of the origins and nature of the help afforded to orphaned and abandoned children in eighteenth-century England, Berry connects microhistory with global history. Orphans of Empire focuses on the London Founding Hospital established by Thomas Coram in 1741. Coram’s success in bringing to fruition his “darling project,” the establishment of a “Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Expos’d and Deserted Young Children,” was in many ways surprising (27). The need for such an institution was patently obvious in the streets and alleys of the city. Indeed, Coram himself was apparently motivated by the pitiful sight of the small discarded corpses that littered the roadsides on approaches to London. Many other European capitals had already established foundling homes and state orphanages. But to be successful on the requisite scale, Coram had to overcome the apathy and hostility of opponents who suggested that preserving the lives of abandoned...