The London Foundling Hospital and its Significance as a Child-Saving Institution

Abstract

This article explores the Foundling Hospital's ideology as a child-rescue institution, particularly in terms of the actualisation of the Lockeian ideal of a working school. Consideration is given to the development of the institution's ‘useful’ curriculum; the building's design as a part of a system of surveillance and control; its use as an experimental laboratory for radical pediatrics; and its particular methods of institutionalised child socialisation, all of which were widely imitated elsewhere. It is argued that the Foundling became a showcase of approved childhood to satisfy the interests and curiosity of the English ruling classes. The relationship between particular cultural interests and the institution as a charity are explored, as well as its administrative structure as an example for other later child-saving institutions in the English-speaking world, including Australia. The lasting and continuing impact of this seminal children's institution on Australian child welfare thought and practice is delineated.