Fabric swatches from the 18th Century tell stories of mothers and babies parting

14 October 2010 – 6 March 2011

A new and highly emotive exhibition entitled ‘Threads of Feeling’ is opening at the London’s Foundling Museum, thanks to funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The exhibition will showcase fabrics never shown before to illustrate the moment of parting as mothers left their babies at the original Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram.

In the cases of more than 4,000 babies left between 1741 and 1760, a small object or token, usually a piece of fabric, was kept as an identifying record. The fabric was either provided by the mother or cut from the child’s clothing by the hospital's nurses. Attached to registration forms and bound up into ledgers, theses pieces of fabric form the largest collection of everyday textiles surviving in Britain from the 18th Century.

A selection of the textiles forms the focus of the Threads of Feeling exhibition, along with examples of the kinds of garments made from them, and the stories they tell us about individual babies, their mothers and their lives.

John Styles research professor of history at the University of Hertfordshire received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to curate the exhibition. John comments: “The process of giving over a baby to the hospital was anonymous. It was a form of adoption, whereby the hospital became the infant’s parent and its previous identity was effaced. The mother’s name was not recorded, but many left personal notes or letters exhorting the hospital to care for their child. Occasionally children were reclaimed. The pieces of fabric in the ledgers were kept, with the expectation that they could be used to identify the child if it was returned to its mother. 

The textiles are both beautiful and poignant, embedded in a rich social history. Each swatch reflects the life of a single infant child. But the textiles also tell us about the clothes their mothers wore, because baby clothes were usually made up from worn-out adult clothing. The fabrics reveal how working women struggled to be fashionable in the 18th Century.

Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent, Coram Director of Operations comments:
 
“The exhibition so vividly illustrates how the separation of a mother from her child is never an easy act and the depth of feelings involved are the same. Coram remains a charity, which works with children parted from their parents, including those in state care, to enable the parents and children involved to deal with their emotions. Even today, an object can be a reminder and comfort when someone is parted from a parent.” The exhibition will include representations, curated by Renuka, from children, young people and families Coram works with today.
     

ENDS

Images: Top image: Linen or cotton printed with dots and red flowers. Foundling number 8959. A girl admitted 19 June 1758. The note says: ‘Florella Burney Born june the 19: 1758: In The Parish off St Anns SoHo. not Baptize’d, pray Let partiuclare Care be Taken’en off this Child, As it will be call’d for Again; .....’

Bottom image: A bunch of 4 ribbons narrow – Yellow, Blue, Green, & Pink’. Silk ribbons tied in a bunch with a knot. Foundling number 170. A girl admitted 9 December 1743. Given the name Pamela Townley by the Foundling Hospital. Died 1 September 1746.

Notes to editors: Media Contact: Emi Spinner, AHRC Communications Officer; T: 01793 416 020 E: e.spinner@ahrc.ac.uk

The Foundling Museum is at
40 Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1AZ
Tel: 020 7841 3600
Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm and Sunday 11am – 5pm, closed on Mondays
Admission: £7.50, concessions £5, children free
Underground stations: Russell Square (2 min) and King’s Cross St Pancras (10 min)

The Museum tells the story of The Foundling Hospital, London’s first home for abandoned children, which until the 1920s stood on the site that is now the Coram Fields children’s playground. It houses the Hospital’s fine collection of mainly eighteenth century art. The Museum also contains a gallery and research library dedicated to Handel, who was a major benefactor of the Hospital.

As well as the eighteenth-century interiors, and the art collection given by benefactors including Hogarth, Gainsborough and Reynolds, the Foundling Museum contains material relating to the personal histories of the thousands of children cared for in the hospital between the 1740s and 1950s, including oral histories, photographs, archival material and artefacts.

Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £112 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

Prof. John Styles MA (Cantab) is a historian who specializes in the history of eighteenth-century England, with a particular interest in the history of everyday things used by the common people. John is currently Research Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire. He has previously worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where he developed the historical storyline for the British Galleries, 1500-1900. John’s most recent publication is The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England (Yale University Press, 2007). It investigates what ordinary English men and women wore during the century when the Industrial Revolution began.

Coram has been creating better chances for children since 1739. Established by Thomas Coram as the Foundling Hospital, as a home for abandoned children dying on London’s streets, Coram has developed a range of programmes that tackle separation and loss and restore hope for the children of tomorrow. The work of Coram addresses what matters most to children: to feel loved; to feel safe; to feel confident enough to make choices; to believe that hope exists.

Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent is Director of Operations/Deputy CEO at Coram. She is a qualified teacher and educational psychologist and was formerly Director of NCH-The Bridge. Renuka has worked with the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering as their first black issues consultant.

AHRC Knowledge Transfer: The Knowledge Transfer Fellowship Scheme is designed to support academics to undertake a programme of knowledge transfer activity. The knowledge transfer project should be planned around an existing piece of arts or humanities research which has the potential to make a significant difference beyond the world of academia. Knowledge Transfer Fellows may work either on their own or as part of an academic team, to collaborate with, and bring tangible benefits to non-academic organisations through a process of knowledge exchange. These benefits may be economic, social or cultural in nature.

Press Enquiries:

The Foundling Museum:
Gemma Colgan T: 020 7841 3614 E: gemma@foundlingmuseum.org.uk  
Richmond Towers Communications
Janita Amriwala T: 020 7388 7421 E: Janita@rt-com.com