Foundlings at War: Worlds War I

Foundlings at War is a major research project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund examining the Foundling Hospital’s historic links with the military. The Hospital was designed to prevent waste of life and create ‘useful’ citizens, and between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries many foundling boys went directly from the institution into military service. Marking the centenary of the start of World War I, this display considers the effect of the Great War on the Foundling Hospital. It reveals for the first time the stories of both foundlings who fought, and the mothers who were forced to leave their children at the Hospital, as a result of bereavement or abandonment by those serving abroad.

This project will consist of three further displays over two years: Military Bands, Jan - Apr 2015, The Battle of Waterloo, May - Aug 2015 and Through the Ages, Sep 2015 - Jan 2016.