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Thomas Coram (c. 1668-1751) was a ship-builder who had made his money in the American colonies, where young lives were valued. When he came back to England, he was shocked at the terrible fate of abandoned babies and set his heart on establishing a place where they could be properly cared for. It took him 17 years of campaigning, but in 1739, he was granted a royal charter to set up the first-ever foundling hospital, in Lambs Conduit Fields in London.
Coram had his critics. Some people said that providing for illegitimate children would promote wickedness and discourage marriage. But he also had support from the most fashionable people of the day. The artist William Hogarth donated paintings, designed the children's uniforms and persuaded other leading painters, such as Gainsborough and Reynolds, to support the hospital. Composer George Frideric Handel performed benefit concerts that raised the status of the hospital as well as thousands of pounds – the 18th-century equivalent of Live Aid.