Faye Sharpe
Thomas Coram – Philanthropist and Campaigner for Children
Imagine – Walking from Home to Business. Rotherhithe to London. Every day. Eight miles, there and back.
Imagine – Stepping over the Bodies of Dead and Dying Babies, stripped Naked to hasten Death. By Exposure.
Imagine – Sunny days. Rainy days. Snowy days. Every day. So many Small Steps.
Imagine – Childless, Public-Spirited Thomas Coram, Shipbuilder, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, taking those Steps.
Imagine – 1722 when Foundling equals Bastard. Bastard equals Disgrace. Disgrace justifies Infanticide.
Think – Royal Charter. Granted by The Monarch.
Think – Who opens the doors to the Privy Council? Traders. Profiteers. Who knows The King? Their Lordships. His Grace.
Endure – Seventeen Years of Opposition. Not for Charity, the Purview of The Church and The Kingdom of God.
Take a Leap – of Understanding. The Nature of Company Men is where the Cause and Solution lies; Never Reprimand the Cause, but give Value to the Result.
Take a Leap – of Perspective. A legitimate Channel. A Funnel of Society’s Tokens of Benevolence; its Money.
Take a Leap – of Innovation. A not-for-profit Company. Legal and Self-Governing.
Take a Leap – of Connection. What links Creativity, Philanthropy and Children’s Welfare?
Take a Leap – of Faith. In The Ladies who pull their Lordships’ purse-strings. Her, Disgraced.
Take a Leap – into an Age of Reason. Arts. Music. Enterprise. Hogarth. Handel. Coram.
Regard! – Charity made Fashionable. All Profits to The Foundling Children.
Take a Leap – of Transformation. From Bastard into Foundling; Disgrace into Grace. And Shame into Pride.
The London Foundling Hospital. Then: An Innovation. Now: Proudly, Simply Coram.