Podcasts about Foundling hospital

(2/2) We find out what life inside the Foundling Hospital was like as we complete the heartbreaking and heartwarming history of London's first orphanage. We discover a building that contained so many stories, so much of London's life in all its rich complexity.Maddy tells Anthony the story this week.Mixed and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior producer is Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 MediaAfter Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Today Anthony and Maddy look into the heartbreaking history of the Foundling Hospital, now London's saddest museum. Starting in the 18th century, hear the story of Thomas Coram, the hospital's founder, and the tragic circumstances that led to the establishment of this institution. From the brutal streets of Georgian London, to the moments desperate mothers tried to admit their children; the history of the Foundling Hospital will stay with you for a long time.Thanks to: Coram and the Foundling Hospital.This episode was mixed by Tomos Delargy, and produced by Freddy Chick. The senior producer is Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 MediaAfter Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

"Dorothy" was the name that the institution assigned to this new born baby girl that had been dropped off at this facility by the unmarried biological mother. At this time, there was unprecedented prejudice against illegitimate children and unwed mothers. This facility was government run and theoretically a highly regarded home for foundlings from the ages of 5 to 12 years old. At which point they were to have trained the children who were not returned to their families, with skills in order for them to be placed in homes as house maids, servants, etc. The environment that shaped Dorothy was brutal. Justine shares stories of her mom's experience of being pushed in the pool and held under the water before she even knew how to swim. Often her mother and other children were locked up in cupboards or closets, in the dark with no food or water for days on end. Physical, emotional and psychological abuse certainly took a toll on this young girls life. One that she never was fully able to recover from.Justine, shares the stories of her experience growing up in California with her mother and father. Dorothy presented as sophisticated, upper class, a well educated woman. All that Justine knew was that her mother was of British Royalty. My guest grew up taking lessons for this and that, and yet never once met any of her so called "English Royalty" relatives. Her home was absolutely beautiful, the finest of everything imaginable, except perhaps, happiness.On Justine's journey to retrace her mother's steps and visiting the institution, which now exists as a museum, she was able to see all the letters that her maternal grandmother had been writing on a regular basis, to the institution inquiring about her beautiful baby girl.  In response, the administration would  respond with a non committal letter with very little information.Dorothy suffered tremendously from the abuse she had  endured all those years. It's so unfortunate that it was kept a secret until after her death."The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames" is a brilliant memoir, one of which should help us use this experience in order to help others struggling with emotional and mental illness.Justine had to distance herself from her mom and all the years of living with someone with mental illness, before she could read her mother's life story. "By reading my grandmother's letters, I realized that there was a trait that my mother had, my mother had and that I have and that's tenacity, " says Cowan proudly. "Plowing through difficulties and not giving up." Social Media for Justing Cowan:WEBSITE: https://www.justinecowan.com/IG:justinecowanauthorTWITTER: @_JustineCowanFB: JUSTINE COWAN "Should Have Listened To My Mother" is an ongoing conversation about mothers/female role models and the roles they play in our lives. Jackie's guests were open and honest and answer the question, are you who you are today because of, or in spite of, your mother and so much more. You'll be amazed at what the responses are.Gina Kunadian wrote this 5 Star review on Apple Podcast:SHLTMM TESTIMONIAL GINA KUNADIAN JUNE 18, 2024“A Heartfelt and Insightful Exploration of Maternal Love”Jackie Tantillo's “Should Have Listened To My Mother” Podcast is a treasure and it's clear why it's a 2023 People's Choice Podcast Award Nominee. This show delves into the profound impact mother and maternal role models have on our lives through personal stories and reflections.Each episode offers a chance to learn how different individuals have been shaped by their mothers' actions and words. Jackie skillfully guides these conversations, revealing why guests with similar backgrounds have forged different paths.This podcast is a collection of timeless stories that highlight the powerful role of maternal figures in our society. Whether your mother influenced you positively or you thrived despite challenges, this show resonates deeply.I highly recommend “Should Have Listened To My Mother” Podcast for its insightful, heartfelt and enriching content.Gina Kunadian"Should Have Listened To My Mother" would not be possible without the generosity, sincerity and insight from my guests. In 2018/2019, in getting ready to launch my podcast, so many were willing to give their time and share their personal stories of their relationship with their mother, for better or worse and what they learned from that maternal relationship. My guests and I Some of my guests include Nationally and Internationally recognized authors, Journalists, Columbia University Professors, Health Practitioners, Scientists, Artists, Attorneys, Baritone Singer, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist, Activists, Freighter Sea Captain, Film Production Manager, Professor of Writing Montclair State University, Attorney and family advocate @CUNY Law; NYC First Responder/NYC Firefighter, Child and Adult Special Needs Activist, Property Manager, Chefs, Self Help Advocates, therapists and so many more talented and insightful women and men.Jackie has worked in the broadcasting industry for over four decades. She has interviewed many fascinating people including musicians, celebrities, authors, activists, entrepreneurs, politicians and more.A big thank you goes to Ricky Soto, NYC based Graphic Designer, who created the logo for "Should Have Listened To My Mother".Check out our website for more background information: https://www.jackietantillo.com/Or more demos of what's to come at https://soundcloud.com/jackie-tantilloLink to website and show notes: https://shltmm.simplecast.com/Or Find SHLTMM Website here: https://shltmm.simplecast.com/Listen wherever you find podcasts: https://www.facebook.com/ShouldHaveListenedToMyMotherhttps://www.facebook.com/jackietantilloInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/shouldhavelistenedtomymother/https://www.instagram.com/jackietantillo7/LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-tantillo/YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@ShouldHaveListenedToMyMother

Christian Historical Fiction Talk is listener supported. When you buy things through this site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Become a patron and enjoy special perks and bonus content.Carrie Turansky is our very special guest this week, here to talk about her book, A Token of Love. We discuss how she crafted this dual time novel, what she loves most about London, and what's her favorite thing to bake. Patrons will hear about whether she likes the East Coast or the West Coast better.A Token of Love  by Carrie TuranskySeparated by centuries, the lives of two women intertwine through their shared pursuit of love, truth, and justice.In 1885 London, Lillian Freemont embarks on a treacherous journey to reunite with her long-lost niece, Alice, who was abandoned at the Foundling Hospital eight years ago. Fueled by her sister's plea and armed with the gold token that identifies her niece, Lillian teams up with investigative reporter Matthew McGivern to expose the grim reality of the shadowed streets of London. As Lillian and Matthew unravel the mystery of Alice's disappearance, their partnership blossoms into one of shared purpose and undeniable attraction.In present-day London, Janelle Spencer finds herself unexpectedly running the Foundling Museum. When filmmaker Jonas Conrad arrives to document the museum's history, their collaboration takes a surprising turn as they uncover articles from the past that shed light on a haunting connection to the present. As Janelle becomes caught between exposing the truth and protecting the museum's reputation, she must decide if she can risk everything for what she believes.Get your copy of A Toke of Love  by Carrie Turansky.Carrie Turansky has loved reading since she first visited the library as a young child and checked out a tall stack of picture books. Her love for writing began when she penned her first novel at age twelve. She is now the award-winning author of more than twenty inspirational novels and novellas. Carrie has won the ACFW Carol Award, the International Digital Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Scott. They have five grown children and twelve grandchildren. When she's not writing, you'll find her walking around the lake near her home, working in her flower gardens, cooking healthy meals for family and friends, or leading women's ministry at her church. Carrie loves to connect with reading friends on social media and through her website: http://carrieturansky.comCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

Carrie Turansky discusses her book 'A Token of Love' and the historical background of the Foundling Hospital in London. The book is a dual time story set in 1885 and present day, exploring themes of love, truth, and justice. Turansky weaves together the stories of a historical heroine searching for her niece who was abandoned at the Foundling Hospital, and a contemporary heroine working at the Foundling Museum who uncovers present-day issues of human trafficking. The book incorporates faith elements and offers a message of hope without being overly dark or heavy.

Today it is my pleasure to host my friend Carrie Turansky on Book Talk. Carrie writes the best books set in England during the Edwardian period. Her most recent book A Token of Love is set in the Foundling Hospital and Foundling Museum. I love the story of how she found the what-if for this book — but you'll have to listen or watch to learn all about it.

Carrie Turansky is back with another fabulous split-time novel, A Token of Love. This time we're looking at a foundling home and a journalist out to uncover well-hidden secrets. Listen in as Carrie talks about her research and get a hint at what isn't coming next! note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.  A total aside here, but aren't bookstores really orphanages for books seeking shelfie families?  History is riddled with the horrifying secrets within different foundling homes and orphanages, but it never ceases to amaze me when I hear of another one. Carrie Turansky described the museum she attended, the questions she asked, and everything needed to ensure this book was exactly what it should be. She even shared a bit about how she writes split-time novels... and why she is taking a break from them, too!   A Token of Love by Carrie Turansky Separated by centuries, the lives of two women intertwine through their shared pursuit of love, truth, and justice. In 1885 London, Lillian Freemont embarks on a treacherous journey to reunite with her long-lost niece, Alice, who was abandoned at the Foundling Hospital eight years ago. Fueled by her sister's plea and armed with the gold token that identifies her niece, Lillian teams up with investigative reporter Matthew McGivern to expose the grim reality of the shadowed streets of London. As Lillian and Matthew unravel the mystery of Alice's disappearance, their partnership blossoms into one of shared purpose and undeniable attraction. In present-day London, Janelle Spencer finds herself unexpectedly running the Foundling Museum. When filmmaker Jonas Conrad arrives to document the museum's history, their collaboration takes a surprising turn as they uncover articles from the past that shed light on a haunting connection to the present. As Janelle becomes caught between exposing the truth and protecting the museum's reputation, she must decide if she can risk everything for what she believes.  You can get it at 40% off through BakerBookHouse.com Learn more about Carrie Turansky on her WEBSITE. Also, follow her on BookBub and GoodReads To find her Facebook Group, go HERE. Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at: Apple  Castbox  Google Play Libsyn  RSS Spotify Amazon and more!

Two boys from the Foundling Hospital are given the same name, with disastrous consequences in adulthood. Two associates, wishing to right the wrong, are commissioned to find a missing heir. Their quest takes them from fungous wine cellars in the City of London to the sunshine of the Mediterranean—across the Alps in winter. Danger and treachery would prevail were it not for the courage of the heroine and the faithful company servant.The story contains crafted descriptions, well-drawn and diverse characters, eerie and exotic backgrounds, mystery, semi-concealed identities, brinkmanship with death, romance, the eventual triumph of Good over Evil, and many other elements expected in classic Dickens.First published in 1867 there are thematic parallels with other books from Dickens' mature writings, including Little Dorrit (1857) and especially Our Mutual Friend (1865). The Listener will decide if this story yields insights into The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished 1870).Wilkie Collins collaborated with Charles Dickens to produce this ‘Christmas' book and the stage play of the same name. In the book Collins assisted in Act 1 and Act 4; Collins scripted most of the stage play with Dickens' assistance. If this book were released today it would be splashed "THE BOOK OF THE FILM".Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Two boys from the Foundling Hospital are given the same name, with disastrous consequences in adulthood. Two associates, wishing to right the wrong, are commissioned to find a missing heir. Their quest takes them from fungous wine cellars in the City of London to the sunshine of the Mediterranean—across the Alps in winter. Danger and treachery would prevail were it not for the courage of the heroine and the faithful company servant.The story contains crafted descriptions, well-drawn and diverse characters, eerie and exotic backgrounds, mystery, semi-concealed identities, brinkmanship with death, romance, the eventual triumph of Good over Evil, and many other elements expected in classic Dickens.First published in 1867 there are thematic parallels with other books from Dickens' mature writings, including Little Dorrit (1857) and especially Our Mutual Friend (1865). The Listener will decide if this story yields insights into The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished 1870).Wilkie Collins collaborated with Charles Dickens to produce this ‘Christmas' book and the stage play of the same name. In the book Collins assisted in Act 1 and Act 4; Collins scripted most of the stage play with Dickens' assistance. If this book were released today it would be splashed "THE BOOK OF THE FILM".Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Two boys from the Foundling Hospital are given the same name, with disastrous consequences in adulthood. Two associates, wishing to right the wrong, are commissioned to find a missing heir. Their quest takes them from fungous wine cellars in the City of London to the sunshine of the Mediterranean—across the Alps in winter. Danger and treachery would prevail were it not for the courage of the heroine and the faithful company servant.The story contains crafted descriptions, well-drawn and diverse characters, eerie and exotic backgrounds, mystery, semi-concealed identities, brinkmanship with death, romance, the eventual triumph of Good over Evil, and many other elements expected in classic Dickens.First published in 1867 there are thematic parallels with other books from Dickens' mature writings, including Little Dorrit (1857) and especially Our Mutual Friend (1865). The Listener will decide if this story yields insights into The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished 1870).Wilkie Collins collaborated with Charles Dickens to produce this ‘Christmas' book and the stage play of the same name. In the book Collins assisted in Act 1 and Act 4; Collins scripted most of the stage play with Dickens' assistance. If this book were released today it would be splashed "THE BOOK OF THE FILM".Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Two boys from the Foundling Hospital are given the same name, with disastrous consequences in adulthood. Two associates, wishing to right the wrong, are commissioned to find a missing heir. Their quest takes them from fungous wine cellars in the City of London to the sunshine of the Mediterranean—across the Alps in winter. Danger and treachery would prevail were it not for the courage of the heroine and the faithful company servant.The story contains crafted descriptions, well-drawn and diverse characters, eerie and exotic backgrounds, mystery, semi-concealed identities, brinkmanship with death, romance, the eventual triumph of Good over Evil, and many other elements expected in classic Dickens.First published in 1867 there are thematic parallels with other books from Dickens' mature writings, including Little Dorrit (1857) and especially Our Mutual Friend (1865). The Listener will decide if this story yields insights into The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished 1870).Wilkie Collins collaborated with Charles Dickens to produce this ‘Christmas' book and the stage play of the same name. In the book Collins assisted in Act 1 and Act 4; Collins scripted most of the stage play with Dickens' assistance. If this book were released today it would be splashed "THE BOOK OF THE FILM".Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Yep, this one gets even sadder than I thought it would. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/southern-fried-storytime/support

Today – in the final episode of this series – historians Helen Berry and John Styles trace connections between babies left at the Foundling Hospital and global forces of war, trade and empire. Presented by Kathleen Palmer, former Curator of Exhibitions and Displays at London's Foundling Museum. Written and produced by Minnie Scott with Louis Mealing. Music by Ben Jacob. Audio production by Will Jacob. Interviewees: Helen Berry, Professor of History in the Department of Archaeology and History at the University of Exeter. View the token Helen chose ⁠here⁠⁠. John Styles, Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Hertfordshire and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. –– The tokens are your passport to Georgian London in our online exhibition, ⁠⁠Tokens of History⁠⁠. Discover different facets of eighteenth-century society, guided by nine historians, including Helen Berry and John Styles, who you heard on this episode. –– You can see Helen and John's tokens, along with many others, on display at the Foundling Museum ⁠⁠40 Brunswick Square London, WC1N 1AZ⁠⁠  Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm Sunday 11am – 5pm Follow us on ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠ Take this Token and Tokens of History are supported by the Woven Foundation, previously the Artisa Foundation, and the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation.

Today we're looking at one of the most powerful impulses for anyone leaving their child in someone else's care: protection. Presented by Kathleen Palmer, former Curator of Exhibitions and Displays at London's Foundling Museum. Written and produced by Minnie Scott with Louis Mealing. Music by Ben Jacob. Audio production by Will Jacob. Interviewees: Indika, a trainee on the Foundling Museum's Tracing Our Tales programme for care-experienced young people aged 18-29. View the token Indika chose here. Owen Davies, a British historian who specialises in the history of magic, witchcraft, ghosts and popular medicine. Lydia Carmichael, a former residential pupil at the Foundling Hospital. View the token Owen and Lydia chose here. –– The tokens are your passport to Georgian London in our online exhibition, Tokens of History. Discover different facets of eighteenth-century society, guided by nine historians – including Owen Davies who you heard in this week's episode. –– You can see Indika, Owen and Lydia's tokens, along with many others, on display at the Foundling Museum 40 Brunswick Square London, WC1N 1AZ  Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm Sunday 11am – 5pm Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to our newsletter Take this Token and Tokens of History are supported by the Woven Foundation, previously the Artisa Foundation, and the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation.

Jamila Gavin talks about the Foundling Hospital supported by Handel. Alan Sorensen tells us to lighten up! Clare Balding goes for a ramble on Iona. Mary Haddow tells us about a remarkable Scots woman called Jane Haining. MUSIC 1. Cathedral Singers - Christ is the world in which we move. 2. Sheffield Celebration Choir - Make me a channel of your peace. 3. Wild Goose Collective - I will sing a song of love. 4. Graham Kendrick - For this I have Jesus.

Sex, birth, scandal and possibly death...

Past Matters podcast host Ploy Radford interviews Hannah Dennett, Curator of the 'Tiny Traces: African & Asian Children at London's Foundling Hospital', about the stories of these children, uncovered for the first time for this vital and interesting exhibition at the Foundling Museum. Listen to learn more about the lives of foundlings and the complex views on race in 18th century Britain. You can view images of the discussed objects on Past Matters' social media channels and www.ployradford.com.

Richard and Judy are joined in this episode by Ashley Bruce, Senior Buyer for Adult Books at WHSmith, to take a peek behind the curtains at the Richard and Judy Book Club and discuss this week's Book Club pick ‘Lily' by Rose Tremain. Lily, a historical fiction novel, is this week's Book Club pick. Set in Victorian England, this is a story of murder and revenge. A baby is abandoned at the gates of a park only to be saved by a young policeman and taken to the Foundling Hospital. After suffering years of brutal hardship at the Hospital, Lily is released into the world of Victorian London. But she's hiding a dreadful secret... Richard and Judy also chat with Ashley about behind the scenes of each season's Book Club selections, from the moment publishers submit their books for consideration, to the huge group of people who read and begin to whittle the list down, to what Richard and Judy are looking for when they select their final six for each collection.

Bring the tissues - it's a weepy one this week. Meet Thomas Coram and his foundling hospital for abandoned babies - yeah, it's a heartbreaker. We find out about the home for abandoned children set up by Coram on his return from sea, and the 25,000 children the home helped over 2 centuries. We look at what brought a mother to leave her child at the home, and what that meant for the children left there. Visit https://www.ladieswholondon.com for the show notes to each episode. Get in touch! Instagram; @ladieswholondonpodcast Email; ladieswholondon@gmail.com Websites; www.ladieswholondon.com www.guideemily.com and www.alexlacey.com/podcast where you can also book for our virtual and real life walking tours. Thanks to Susie Riddell for our voiceover jingles www.susieriddell.com and our jinglemeister Ben Morales Frost, can be found on www.benfrostmusic.com See you next week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Carol Homden CBE joins Purposely to share her leadership story. Carol is a renowned professional and volunteer charity leader, guiding some of the UK's largest, and most respected nonprofits. Professionally she is the CEO of Coram and voluntarily she is the Chair of The National Autistic Society and Diabetes UK. Carol is a self confessed workaholic, driven by purpose to help children to live healthy, and happy lives. Her purpose is motivated by her upbringing as well as her experience as a parent. Carol's eldest child has severe autism and both Carol and her husband have first hand experience of the challenges this brings. Carol started her career setting up print media enterprises in East Anglia before moving to London as a freelance arts journalist and editor. She then became director of marketing and development at the University of Westminster, later moving to the British Museum in 1999 as its first director of marketing and public affairs. Carol became the commercial director of The Prince's Trust for four years, working on incredible projects such as Party in the Park and Fashion Rocks. She then became CEO of Coram in 2007, revitalising the charity and aligning it to meet the needs of disadvantaged children, young people and their families. Established by Thomas Coram as The Foundling Hospital in 1739, Coram is the UK's oldest children's charity and has been supporting vulnerable children for 280 years. Leaving The Prince's Trust for Coram, Carol wanted to be the boss, to be CEO, and knew the importance of helping children early in their lives, "It is crucial for a child's wellbeing and development that attachments are formed as soon as possible." Carol sheds light on the charitable work of Coram in supporting the rights, welfare and education of children throughout its 280 year history. Carol's super power is her ability to combine commercial acumen and skills with social empathy and knowledge for the greater good. You will hear how she transformed the fortunes of Coram, The Prince's Trust and The British Museum ensuring they could deliver on their charitable missions on a much larger scale. Carol was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her contribution to services for children and families. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mark-longbottom2/message

Synopsis When most people hit 65, they're anticipating their first social security check, but on today's date in 1750, when George Frederick Handel turned 65, he was making out his will. To John Christopher Smith, Handel left, “my large harpsichord, my little house organ, my music books, and 500 pounds sterling.” John Christopher Smith, born Johann Christoph Schmidt, was an old friend of Handel's from his university days in Germany. Handel persuaded Herr Schmidt to give up the wool trade and come to England. As MISTER Smith, he established a famous copyists' shop in London, became Handel's business partner. Seven years later, Handel modified his will, leaving his larger theater organ to John Rich, whose Covent Garden Theater had staged Handel's most recent operas and oratorios. To Charles Jennens, who had arranged the Biblical verses for Handel's “Messiah,” the composer bequeathed some paintings. To the Foundling Hospital, a charitable institute that had performed “Messiah” as a successful fundraiser, Handel left “a fair copy of the score and all parts” for that famous oratorio. Shortly before his death, Handel bequeathed 1000 pounds to the Society for the Support of Decayed Musicians, a charity in aid of musicians' widows and orphans, and directed that 600 pounds be used to erect his own monument in Westminster Abbey. Music Played in Today's Program George Frederic Handel (1685 - 1759) – Air, from Water Music (St. Martin's Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, cond.) EMI 66646

Society tells us that we love our mothers. But what happens when that love isn't there? Justine Cowan felt no love for her mother. No matter how she tried, she couldn't feel that emotion. What Justine felt for her mother started out as fear. Over time the fear turned to anger and the anger turned to hatred. Hatred that held her back from learning a secret that her mother had tried to tell her. A secret that Justine's mother had kept for decades. Justine was in her 50's when her mother died. She had grown up knowing a couple of things about her mother: her mother was illegitimate, and she came from aristocracy. Throughout her life, there was never any discussion about family. Her mother's death changed all that. The woman who was known as Eileen Thompson was in fact Dorothy Soames. For the first 12 years of her life, Dorothy had lived at the Foundling Hospital short for London's Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Established in the 18th century, its mission was to save “bastard” children from death or a life on the streets. In reality, they were treated to a life of physical and emotional abuse. Justine Cowan is the author of The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames – A True Story.

In 18th century London, the secret of your birth could literally hang by a thread. If your mother took you to the Foundling Hospital because she was unable to care for you, you were given a new identity to avoid any shame. But, in case she was later able to reclaim you, she left a token, often a textile cut in two, and she kept the other half as a way of proving she was your mother. Often it was just a scrap of cloth, the only thing that could prove the link between you and your birth mother.   This episode looks at how the system of leaving textile tokens at the Foundling Hospital worked, and also the information that one of the best collections of the clothing worn by the poor in the 1700s gives us into the lives of ordinary people.   The dress of the elite tends to be preserved, but we know very little about the garments of the poor: did they dress in hand-me-downs or homespun, or did they have access to anything fashionable? Two hundred and fifty years after these tokens were first left in desperate circumstances, we can now see them both as a way to tell us about the lives of women in the past and to understand what they wore and how they dressed their babies.   For a full script of this podcast and show-notes please go to www.hapticandhue.com/listen,  where you will also find pictures and links to further information about the people you hear in this episode. 

Justine Cowan, author of 'The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: a Memoir." Cowan had believed for most of her life that her mother was descended from Welsh royalty. It turns out that her mother grew up in London's infamous Foundling Hospital. Cowan embarked on an extraordinary journey to learn as much as she could about the circumstances under which her mother's mother brought her newborn daughter to the Foundling Hospital. The book is also examination of that institution's history and how it treated the illegitimate children entrusted into its care.

Jamila Gavin talks about Handel's support for the Foundling Hospital. Larry Gentis describes Moses chipping away to create the 10 Commandments. Alan sorensen experiences Vuja De! Jeremy Irons reads Psalm 115. MUSIC 1. Kingsway's Voices of Worship - The Servant King (Graham Kendrick) 2. Helen Shapiro - Ride on to Die

Jamila Gavin was born in the foothills of the Himalayas; her Indian father and English mother met as teachers in Iran and married in Mumbai. By the age of 12, she'd lived in an Indian palace in the Punjab, a bungalow in Poona - and a terraced house in Ealing, west London. Ealing was where the family settled in 1953; Jamila went on to study at London's Trinity College of Music, and to become a sound engineer and then a director in television. She didn't start to write until her late thirties, beginning a career distinguished by many awards for her novels, plays and short stories – around 50 books in all. It's a rich world of myths and fairy-tales, orphans and adventures, ranging from 15th-century Venice to the mountains of India. She's best known for Coram Boy, her prize-winning novel, later staged at the National Theatre, about the Foundling Hospital – to which Handel gave the royalties from his Messiah. In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Jamila Gavin reveals the shocking story, which inspired her to write her first book for children. Her books deal with serious themes: particularly slavery, both historic slavery and people-trafficking now. Reading them, you can forget that these are children's books; but, she says, any experiences which children suffer should also be experiences they can read about. Jamila Gavin's playlist includes Handel's Messiah, Tippett's A Child of Our Time, Schubert, Brahms, Stockhausen - and her favourite Night Raga. A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3 Produced by Elizabeth Burke

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Stacey Halls about her novel The Foundling, set in 18th century London. It's the story of Bess, who gives up her new born baby to the Foundling Hospital. When Bess returns six years later to claim her child, she finds that her daughter has been taken by someone else. Stacey answers listener questions about motherhood; her research; the sights and smells of Georgian London and writing from the point of view of two women, who are both fighting for the same child. Our March guest on Bookclub is Sarah Moss, talking about The Tidal Zone. Do read along with us. To find out about future guests click Take Part In A Recording on our website.

Written in just 24 days, premiered in Dublin almost 280 years ago, and performed thousands of times since, Handel's ‘Messiah' is one of the most popular choral works of all time. A staple of many amateur and professional festive concert seasons, it's also raised huge amounts of money for charity through the annual Foundling Hospital performances and Scratch Messiahs which now take place all over the world. But what exactly is the 'Messiah'? How and why did Handel write it? And does its familiarity make us take it for granted? Tom Service investigates… Producer: Ruth Thomson

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. This week Jules shares his own views on the care system and the care review.

The records of London's Foundling Hospital provide centuries of information on children's health. Eric Schneider tells Tim Phillips how he used this data to discover surprising information about the link between nutrition and common childhood illnesses.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. This week we are joined by CEP Charlie Spillet who shares her experience with us and tips towards building a better future for the system.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. This week we are joined by @robertmuchamore to talk about some of the techniques authors use in creating a storyline for their novels, as well as how some of the stigmas and perceptions in society inspired him in his work. In this episode Julian and Robert also touch on the importance of novels and literature being relevant and relatable for young audiences, Aswell as educational.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode, Julian is joined by the incredible singer, recording artist and all round amazing person Mo Jamil, about his experiences of both care, leaving it and the power of writing music to process that.

Synopsis Crossword puzzle solvers know the three-letter answer to the clue “Composer Brian” is: E-N-O. But even fans of this British composer, performer, and producer might not know his full name, which is Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. Brian Eno was born in Suffolk, England, on today’s date in 1948. He studied painting and music, and in his early 20s played synthesizer with the glam rock band Roxy Music before embarking on a solo career. In 1978, he released an album entitled “Music for Airports,” which was, quite literally, meant as calming music that could be played in airports, since Eno was so annoyed by the inane, perky muzak he usually heard there. Eno coined the term “ambient music” to describe his album, whose release coincided with the early days of minimalist movement, itself a reaction to music deemed too complex and complicated. “I was quite sick of music that was overstuffed,” said Eno, commenting, “In the late ’60s and early ’70s, recording went from two track to four track to eight track to 16 track to 32 track, and music got more and more grandiose, sometimes with good effect, but quite often not.” Music Played in Today's Program Brian Eno (b. 1948) — Music for Airports (Brian Eno, synthesizers)Polydor 2310 647 On This Day Births 1567 - Baptismal date of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, in Cremona; 1808 - Irish composer Michael William Balfe, in Dublin; 1908 - Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson, in Akarp (near Lund); 1941 - American composer and pianist Richard Wilson, in Cleveland; Premieres 1913 - Debussy: ballet "Jeux" (Games), at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées by the Ballet Russe, Pierre Monteux conducting; 1920 - Stravinsky: ballet "Pulcinella," by Ballet Russe; at the Paris Opéra, with Ernest Ansermet conducting; 1939 - Douglas Moore: opera "The Devil and Daniel Webster," in New York City; 1949 - Hindemith: Concerto for Winds, Harp and Orchestra, in New York; 1949 - Randall Thompson: Symphony No. 3, Columbia University, in New York, Thor Johnson conducting; 1958 - Cage: Piano Concerto, in New York City; 1960 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 7, in Leningrad, by the Beethoven Quartet; 1972 - Rochberg: String Quartet No. 3, at Tully Hall in New York City, by the Concord Quartet; 1992 - Stephen Paulus: "Air on Seurat (The Grand Canal)", for cello and piano, at the National Cello Competition at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Ariz.; 1993 - Steve Reich: opera "The Cave," in Vienna at the Wiener Festspielhaus; Others 1750 - First documented report of an audience standing during the "Hallelujah" chorus of Handel's "Messiah"; On May 1 and 15 in 1750, "Messiah" had been performed as a benefit for the Foundling Hospital charity (Gregorian dates: May 12 and 26, respectively).

Synopsis Crossword puzzle solvers know the three-letter answer to the clue “Composer Brian” is: E-N-O. But even fans of this British composer, performer, and producer might not know his full name, which is Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. Brian Eno was born in Suffolk, England, on today’s date in 1948. He studied painting and music, and in his early 20s played synthesizer with the glam rock band Roxy Music before embarking on a solo career. In 1978, he released an album entitled “Music for Airports,” which was, quite literally, meant as calming music that could be played in airports, since Eno was so annoyed by the inane, perky muzak he usually heard there. Eno coined the term “ambient music” to describe his album, whose release coincided with the early days of minimalist movement, itself a reaction to music deemed too complex and complicated. “I was quite sick of music that was overstuffed,” said Eno, commenting, “In the late ’60s and early ’70s, recording went from two track to four track to eight track to 16 track to 32 track, and music got more and more grandiose, sometimes with good effect, but quite often not.” Music Played in Today's Program Brian Eno (b. 1948) — Music for Airports (Brian Eno, synthesizers)Polydor 2310 647 On This Day Births 1567 - Baptismal date of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, in Cremona; 1808 - Irish composer Michael William Balfe, in Dublin; 1908 - Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson, in Akarp (near Lund); 1941 - American composer and pianist Richard Wilson, in Cleveland; Premieres 1913 - Debussy: ballet "Jeux" (Games), at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées by the Ballet Russe, Pierre Monteux conducting; 1920 - Stravinsky: ballet "Pulcinella," by Ballet Russe; at the Paris Opéra, with Ernest Ansermet conducting; 1939 - Douglas Moore: opera "The Devil and Daniel Webster," in New York City; 1949 - Hindemith: Concerto for Winds, Harp and Orchestra, in New York; 1949 - Randall Thompson: Symphony No. 3, Columbia University, in New York, Thor Johnson conducting; 1958 - Cage: Piano Concerto, in New York City; 1960 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 7, in Leningrad, by the Beethoven Quartet; 1972 - Rochberg: String Quartet No. 3, at Tully Hall in New York City, by the Concord Quartet; 1992 - Stephen Paulus: "Air on Seurat (The Grand Canal)", for cello and piano, at the National Cello Competition at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Ariz.; 1993 - Steve Reich: opera "The Cave," in Vienna at the Wiener Festspielhaus; Others 1750 - First documented report of an audience standing during the "Hallelujah" chorus of Handel's "Messiah"; On May 1 and 15 in 1750, "Messiah" had been performed as a benefit for the Foundling Hospital charity (Gregorian dates: May 12 and 26, respectively).

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode, Julian is joined by author and Charles Dickens' great, great, great granddaughter Lucinda Hawksley and our very own Voices Through Time archivist Jo Blyghton. In a Care Experienced History Month Special.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode, Julian is joined by Debbie Bright who has been a foster carer for over 250 children, for the last 28 years. She as an advocate for those children and young people and has some incredible insights on the journey of a foster carer and becoming one in the first place.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode we will be talking to care-experienced young people to investigate Coram's archives that show the history of care, through to today. As well as, discussing the creative projects that the young people have been working on in response to that archive and even hearing one of them. Thank you to our guest on today's episode Robyn Hughes.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode, Julian is joined by Mandlug's founder Dave Linton. An award-winning bag brand that helps the customer to give dignity to children in care. A high proportion of children in care are given bin bags to transport their belongings from placement to placement, buying a bag from Madlug - gives a bag to a child in care.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode, Julian is joined by a care-experienced young person, who wishes to remain anonymous - and is portrayed by actor Chloe Astleford. They talk about their experiences of the care-system and how they believe media portrayals have influenced the stigma that faces them.

Thomas Coram was shocked walking into 18th Century London at the amount of abandoned children he would come across in the streets.  This is the story of how he set up his famous foundling hospital - the first incorporated charity in Britain.

Foundling: Found is a podcast series, hosted by care-leaver Julian Brown, that investigates the real stories of care, from the Foundling Hospital archives dating back to 1739, right through to the present day. Setting the stigma surrounding those with care experience against those real stories. Over the course of 12 episodes, Julian will be joined by some very special guests as he uncovers the fact and the individuals behind the media and literature fiction. On today's episode we will be talking to care-experienced young people to investigate Coram's archives that show the history of care, through to today. As well as, discussing the creative projects that the young people have been working on in response to that archive and even hearing one of them. Thank you to our guests on today's episode Aaron Cross and Jake Hartley.

James and Sam tackle the humbling history of RIBBONS! From the use of ribbons for commemoration, mourning, decoration and gifting, Sam and James rampage around history of ribbons before settling on the tragic history of the eighteenth-century Foundling Hospital, established by the philanthropist Thomas Coram (c. 1668-1751), the plight of Georgian and Victorian children parted from their mothers, the tokens left to identify the 'foundlings', and the social problems connected with the Industrial Revolution. Who knew? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James and Sam tackle the touching history of Ribbons in this homeschooling history episode! From the fashion, commemoration, funerals, war heroes and causes, Sam and James rampage around history of ribbons before settling on the moving history of the Foundling Hospital, founded by philanthropist Thomas Coram in 1739 on his return to London to care for and educate some of London’s most vulnerable citizens. Ribbons connect to the tokens left by mothers with their babies that they left in the care of the hospital. The episode also looks at the social problems faced in Victorian Britain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James and Sam tackle the touching history of Ribbons in this homeschooling history episode! From the fashion, commemoration, funerals, war heroes and causes, Sam and James rampage around history of ribbons before settling on the moving history of the Foundling Hospital, founded by philanthropist Thomas Coram in 1739 on his return to London to care for and educate some of London’s most vulnerable citizens. Ribbons connect to the tokens left by mothers with their babies that they left in the care of the hospital. The episode also looks at the social problems faced in Victorian Britain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

a cura di Massimiliano SamsaGeorge Frideric Händel - Messiah HWV56, oratorio in 3 partiChristine Schäfer, sopranoAnna Larsson, altoMichael Schade, tenorGerald Finley, bassArnold Schoenberg ChorConcentus Musicus WienNikolaus Harnoncourt, direttoreFu a una svolta della sua vicenda artistica che Georg Friedrich Händel compose il Messiah, l'opera alla quale, emblematicamente, è da allora associato, per antonomasia, il suo nome. L'anno di composizione, il 1741, rappresentò per Händel l'abbandono di una straordinaria e tormentata carriera operistica, nonché della lingua, l'italiano, cui la sua attività di compositore di musica vocale era stata legata sin dagli anni di apprendistato. Come spartiacque tra i due compositori, l'operista «italiano» del 1741 e l'autore di oratori in lingua inglese del 1742, si colloca l'invito ad animare una stagione al di fuori dei riflettori londinesi, nell'appartata Dublino. Da lì il Messiah, terminato nel settembre 1741, intraprende la sua marcia trionfale il 13 aprile 1742, continuando a occupare il suo autore fino all'anno della morte, con una serie notevole di revisioni e rifacimenti per successive produzioni dell'oratorio, nel 1742, '43, '45, '49, '50 (da quest'ultimo anno Handel volle legare l'oratorio al Foundling-Hospital, istituzione per l'infanzia abbandonata cui riservò l'esecuzione dell'opera), e soprattutto imponendosi nell'immaginario collettivo dei paesi anglosassoni come un patrimonio spirituale insostituibile, parte integrante della propria identità culturale.Con quest'opera il compositore si rifà a quel genere di oratorio da concerto in lingua inglese che egli stesso aveva contribuito a sviluppare, forte di una ricca esperienza nel campo della musica sacra corale maturata in tre diverse tradizioni nazionali, legate ad altrettante lingue: la passione luterana, frequentata nella madrepatria (Brockes-Passion, 1716 ca., apprezzata anche da Bach), l'oratorio, conosciuto nel suo lungo soggiorno italiano (Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, 1707, La Resurrezione, 1708) e l'anthem, praticato nella patria d'adozione, l'Inghilterra (Chandos Anthems, Coronation Anthems).Il testo dell'oratorio è tratto interamente dalla Bibbia secondo una sofisticata operazione di montaggio da libri remoti per cronologia e genere letterario. Il complesso collage propone una celebrazione epica della figura del Messia dall'Antico al Nuovo Testamento, evitando completamente, a differenza delle Passioni bachiane, la presenza del personaggio-Cristo: viene operata dunque una rappresentazione «obliqua» della figura di Gesù, per il quale non si evoca nessun riferimento storico preciso, fatta salva la nascita. Al centro del testo si colloca dunque il dramma della redenzione dell'umanità, compiuta da un personaggio mai chiamato col suo nome storico (l'oratorio si intitola infatti Messiah). Autore del libretto è Charles Jennens (1700-73), membro ortodosso della Church of England, di quindici anni più giovane di Händel e suo fervido ammiratore almeno dal 1725.Testo tratto da: https://www.flaminioonline.it/Guide/Handel/Handel-Messiah56.htmlPARTE PRIMA1.Sinfonia: Grave. Allegro moderato2 oboi, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo2.Comfort ye my people - Larghetto e piano (mi maggiore)Recitativo per tenore, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo3.Ev'ry valley shall be exalted (mi maggiore)Aria per tenore, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo4.And the glory of the Lord - Allegro (la maggiore)Coro, 2 oboi, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo5.Thus saith the Lord of Hosts (re minore)Recitativo per basso, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo6.But who may abide the day of His coming - Larghetto. Prestissimo (re minore)Aria per contralto, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo7.a. And He shall purify the sons of Levi (sol minore) Coro, 2 oboi, 2 violini, viola e basso continuob. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive Recitativo per contralto e basso continuo8.a. O thou that tellest good tiding to Zion - Andante (re maggiore) Aria per contralto, 2 violini e basso continuob. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion (re maggiore) Coro, 2 oboi, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo9.For behold, darkness shall cover the earth - Andante larghetto (si minore)Recitativo per basso, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo10.The people that walked in darkness - Larghetto (si minore)Aria per basso, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo11.For unto us a Child is born - Andante allegro (sol maggiore)Coro, 2 oboi, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo12.a. Pifa (sinfonia pastorale) - Larghetto e mezzo piano (do maggiore) 3 violini, viola e basso continuob. There were shepherds abiding in the field Recitativo per soprano e basso continuo13.a. And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them - Andante (fa maggiore) Recitativo per soprano, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo -b. And the Angel said unto them Recitativo per soprano e basso continuo14.And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude - Allegro (re maggiore)Recitativo per soprano, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo15.Glory to God in the highest - Allegro (re maggiore)Coro, 2 oboi, 2 trombe, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo16.a. Rejoice greatly - Allegro (si bemolle maggiore) Aria per soprano, 2 violini e basso continuob. Then shall the eyes of the blind be open'd Recitativo per contralto e basso continuo17.He shall feed His flock like a shepherd - Larghetto e piano (fa maggiore)Duetto per soprano, contralto, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo18.His yoke is easy, His burthen is light - Allegro (si bemolle maggiore)Coro, 2 oboi, 2 violini, viola e basso continuo

For many, Handel's Messiah is what people listen to most at Christmastime, but did you know it was originally written for Easter? The scope of this musical masterpiece spans the entirety of Scripture with the central point resting on the birth of our Savior and culminating in God's ultimate victory over sin. On today's episode, Charles Morris returns to two interviews he did in London to learn more about the story behind George Frideric Handel's most famous work. Dr. Ruth Smith, a widely respected Handel historian, and Sarah Bardwell, director of the Handel House Museum in London, discuss the theological purpose of Messiah, the controversy it created, it's first performance at the Foundling Hospital, how Handel wrote the massive score in three weeks, and why it's gone on to have such a lasting legacy today.  To watch the mini-documentary mentioned in the podcast touring Handel's House, visit https://haventoday.org/a-visit-to-handels-house-gsp.php  To see a list of all the lyrics and Scripture references that make up the famous libretto, visit https://haventoday.org/handels-messiah-lyrics-verse-references-gsp.php  And, finally, to get your own copy of the 2-CD set, we'd love to send it to you as our thanks for a donation to Haven Ministries. Learn more (and listen to samples) here: https://haventoday.org/handels-messiah-gsp.php 

Helen Berry gives a lecture on the extraordinary story of an 18th-century foundling, George KingIn a lecture she delivered at our 2019 Chester History Weekend, Helen Berry shares an extraordinary story from her book Orphans of Empire: The Fate of London’s Foundlings – of the 18th-century orphan George King, who was abandoned at London’s Foundling Hospital and went on to a remarkable life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“Historian, author, journalist, professor Jacob Dlamini’s astounding new book, The Terrorist Album (Harvard University Press) takes its title from an album of the same name, containing over 7 000 photographs of apartheid’s enemies from the 1960s to the 1990s. They were secretly sent by the security police to 500 police stations throughout South Africa for purposes of identification, torture and sometimes elimination. “When all the albums were ordered destroyed in the early 1990s, three survived – one in the National Archives in Pretoria. It is that which inspired Jacob to investigate the people behind the mugshots and produce what will become a national treasure. “The Foundling (Manilla Press/ Jonathan Ball) by Stacey Halls, is a heart-pounding thriller about a poor mother, Bess Bright, who leaves her illegitimate daughter for safe care at London’s Foundling Hospital in 1754. Six years later when she returns to claim her, she’s told by the dismayed staff that the little girl has gone – taken by her – Bess. How and why? Stacey Halls who shot to international fame with, The Familiars, captures two mothers’ anguish and Georgian London in equal measure. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/millertimemedia/support

My guest this week is the phenomenal Stacey Halls whose sweeping historical novel The Familiars was the bestselling debut of 2019. She has followed it up with The Foundling, set in 18th Century London and telling the story of a young mother named Bess who attempts to reclaim her daughter from London's Foundling Hospital only to find that someone pretending to be her has already done so. I loved talking to Stacey - despite being a bookworm as a child, she says she never imagined she could have made a career as a writer and so after school became a legal secretary. She was so refreshing and honest about the overwhelming nature of publishing - when her manuscript prompted a bidding war, she knew she should be happy but instead was consumed with anxiety. I also loved hearing about her approach of “tricking” herself into finishing her first drafts by writing 2000 words a day and, of course, finding out what she has been up to in lockdown. Twitter: @aliceazania / @stacey_halls Instagram: @aliceazania / @staceyhallsauthor Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foundling-Stacey-Halls/dp/1838770062 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Charlotte Appleyard is joined by her friend and fellow Art Historian Harriet Bullough who is a new mother. This episode will explore themes of childbirth, breastfeeding and single parenthood from the perspective of the 18th and 19th century and compared to modern day experiences. As well as historic examples such as the story of the Foundling Hospital, the romantic depiction of motherhood in art is analysed through the work of American Impressionist Mary Cassatt. In addition, this episode delves further into the narrative of the fallen women and issues of double standards particularly with unwed mothers and those of a lower class. For reference images please follow us on Instagram @themuseumoffemininity Sourceshttps://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/about/our-history/https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mary-cassatt-painted-domestic-life-way-male-impressionists Images of Modern Motherhood in the Art of Morisot, Cassatt, Modersohn-Becker, Kollwitz Stewart Buettner, Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Autumn, 1986 - Winter, 1987), pp. 14-21https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25629934https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684040/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/20/is-breast-really-best-i-looked-at-all-the-data-to-find-out

It would be very easy to walk by the small, understated self-portrait of Emma Brownlow at the Foundling Museum in London, but it would be a travesty to not pay more attention to someone whose works provide such an interesting insight into life at the UK's first ever children's charity - the Foundling Hospital. The daughter of a former foundling who then became the head of the charity meant Emma grew up with insider knowledge of what the hospital was like. She was also remarkable for being a female artist who supported her family with her work. Guiding us through the life of Emma Brownlow and what her works tell us about Victorian morals and the life of foundlings at the hospital is Kathleen Palmer, Curator of Exhibitions and Displays at the Foundling Museum.

The Foundlings were children whose mothers were destitute or dead, and they were taken in by various philanthropic institutions. One such place, the Foundling Hospital, was founded in London in 1739 by Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children".Initially, these children were supposed to become foot soldiers of the British Empire, which was desperately short on people willing to travel abroad, but often these men and women lived rich and varied lives. Helen Berry, Professor of British History at Newcastle University, tells Dan about her research into these children and one case study that she uncovered.All of the books discussed in the History Hit podcast are available at History Hit books. We'd love it if you supported what we do by using our affiliate link: https://books.historyhit.com/For ad free versions of our entire podcast archive and hundreds of hours of history documentaries, interviews and films, signup to History Hit TV. Use code 'pod3' at checkout. Producer: Peter Curry See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Foundlings were children whose mothers were destitute or dead, and they were taken in by various philanthropic institutions. One such place, the Foundling Hospital, was founded in London in 1739 by Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children".Initially, these children were supposed to become foot soldiers of the British Empire, which was desperately short on people willing to travel abroad, but often these men and women lived rich and varied lives. Helen Berry, Professor of British History at Newcastle University, tells Dan about her research into these children and one case study that she uncovered.All of the books discussed in the History Hit podcast are available at History Hit books. We'd love it if you supported what we do by using our affiliate link: https://books.historyhit.com/For ad free versions of our entire podcast archive and hundreds of hours of history documentaries, interviews and films, signup to History Hit TV. Use code 'pod3' at checkout. Producer: Peter Curry See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

‘Women Advisers to the Foundling Hospital Governors’ Friday 5 April: ‘A Species of Knowledge’: Women and Medicine 1750-1850 - Janette Bright (Institute of Historical Research, University of London) This an interdisciplinary symposium, examined the ways that women gained, exchanged, and recorded medical knowledge during the period 1750-1850, including through correspondence, manuscript circulation, publication, apprenticeship, and training while considering how women engaged in medical practice in a variety of contexts.

Georgian London was the epicenter of urban pleasure culture. Harlots leveraged their assets, rakes indulged in licentious sex, and brothels, molly-houses, taverns and bawdy houses were scattered all over the city. Behind all this reckless abandon lay a milieu of misery. Between 1756 and 1760, the Foundling Hospital of London admitted 15,000 infants. This amounts to 10% of all the births in London for those years. This week’s episode addresses the trope of seduction, the realities of prostitution, and the ways that rapidly rising illegitimacy ratios stimulated child abandonment in eighteenth-century London. Find show notes and transcripts here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Institutional Childhood: The story of London's Foundling Hospital by Royal College of Surgeons

Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky joined poet Monica Youn to share recent work and exchange ideas, along with moderator Elizabeth Bradfield, local poet and naturalist on June 9, 2018 in the Hawthorne Barn. Robert Pinsky‘s recent book is At the Foundling Hospital, nominated for the Nation Book Critics Award in poetry. As Poet Laureate of the United States (1997-2000), he founded the Favorite Poem Project, featuring the videos at www.favoritepoem.org. His best-selling translation The Inferno of Dante received the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Harold Morton Landon translation prize. His other awards include the Lenore Marshall Prize, the Korean Manhae Prize, the Italian Premio Capri and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pen American Center. He performs with pianist Laurence Hobgood on CDs PoemJazz and House Hour, from Circumstantial Productions. Monica Youn is the author of Blackacre (Graywolf Press 2016), which was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Award, longlisted for the National Book Award, and named one of the best poetry books of 2016 by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, the Paris Review, and BuzzFeed. Her previous book Ignatz(Four Way Books 2010) was a finalist for the National Book Award. A former lawyer, she currently teaches at Princeton University and in the Sarah Lawrence and Columbia University MFA programs. Elizabeth Bradfield is the author of the poetry collections Once Removed, Approaching Ice, Interpretive Work and the forthcoming Toward Antarctica. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, West Branch, Orion and her awards include a Stegner Fellowship and the Audre Lorde Prize. Founder and editor-in-chief of Broadsided Press, she lives on Cape Cod, works as a naturalist locally as well as on ships around the globe, and teaches creative writing at Brandeis University.

The Akin Foundling Hospital was a short-lived, long-forgotten municipal institution located on the west side of Meeting Street in Charleston. Established in 1843 at the bequest of Miss Eliza Akin, the building was intended as a refuge for abandoned infants, but the structure’s poor condition hampered its mission. Today we’ll survey the City of Charleston’s management of the institution and look for its ashes after the fire of 1861.

Anyone who would like to provide adult social care services in Camden should book now to attend a session in September on Camden Council’s new care online website that will connect future providers and users of social care services; Camden People’s Theatre is running a day of free workshops for artists and companies looking for help with professional development; budding writers get craicing! The London Irish centre is looking for entrants for its regular Irish playwrights competition; Found exhibition at the Foundling Hospital is finishing soon- visit this week! Read by Catherine Carroll, Freddy Chick, Marian Larragy amd Mario Camden People's Theatre :: Biscuits for Breakfast :: Found at Foundling Museum :: Book Camden Social Care Online Directory :: Back to homepage :: Follow us on Twitter :: File Download (3:33 min / 4 MB)

Melly Still is a theatre and opera director whose work has been described as inventive, ambitious and magical. She stages the unstageable - mermaids, angels animals, underwater realms - putting whole worlds of myth and magic into the theatre or opera house. She came to fame 10 years ago with Coram Boy at the National - the play about Handel, his Messiah and the Foundling Hospital. Since then she's directed at the Proms and Glyndebourne, and her new production of Cymbeline for the RSC opens later this month. And music is central to her private life too, with two pianists and a DJ in her family. She chooses music by Dvorak, Janacek and Wagner associated with her theatre and opera productions, jazz performed by her partner, and tantalizing music performed on instruments made of ice. Producer: Jane Greenwood A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3.

Anita Anand and Andrea Catherwood are joined by British designer Bruce Oldfield OBE, best known for his couture and bridalwear designs. Tom Mackenzie recalls his experiences as the last child to be admitted to the Foundling Hospital, a charity run on strict Victorian values that brought up children born outside marriage. Lynne Moore is an war artist who was embedded with the British Forces in Helmund, Hannah Rochell writes the En Brogue blog describing the joys of wearing brogues. Plus JP Devlin has a hot encounter with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and author Helen Fielding shares her Inheritance Tracks. And two men from Birmingham, Jon Bounds and Danny Smith tell us about their mission to visit all 56 seaside piers in England and Wales in just two weeks.Producer: Maire Devine.

A touching look at the Foundling Hospital where many unwanted children were left in the eighteenth century. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George Frideric HANDEL 1685-1759Our version ofAllemande in Am (HWV 478)George Frideric HANDEL 1685-1759© 2012 Shiloh Worship Music COPY FREELY;This Recording is copyrighted to prevent misuse, however,permission is granted for non-commercial copying-Radio play permitted. Www.ShilohWorshipMusic.com Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)George Frideric Handel(from Wikipedia) George Frideric Handel, born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. By Thomas Hudson (1749)George Frideric Handel SignatureGeorge Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel; pronounced [ˈhɛndəl]) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727.[1] By then he was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.Within fifteen years, Handel, a dramatic genius, started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera, but the public came to hear the vocal bravura of the soloists rather than the music. In 1737 he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively and addressed the middle class. As Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742) he never performed an Italian opera again. Handel was only partly successful with his performances of English Oratorio on mythical and biblical themes, but when he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital (1750) the critique ended. The pathos of Handel's oratorios is an ethical one. They are hallowed not by liturgical dignity but by the moral ideals of humanity.[2] Almost blind, and having lived in England for almost fifty years, he died a respected and rich man.Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, with works such as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and Messiah remaining popular. Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original instrumentation, interest in Handel's operas has grown. His operas contain remarkable human characterisation—especially for a composer not known for his love affairs.Early yearsHandel's baptismal registration (Marienbibliothek in Halle)Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg, to Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust.[3] His father, 63 when his son was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who served to the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg.[4] According to Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, he "had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep".[5] At an early age Handel became a skillful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ.[6]Händel-Haus (2009) – birthplace of George Frideric HandelEntrance of Teatro del Cocomero in FlorenceHandel and his father travelled to Weissenfels to visit either Handel's half-brother, Carl, or nephew, Georg Christian,[7] who was serving as valet to Duke Johann Adolf I.[8] Handel and the duke convinced his father to allow him to take lessons in musical composition and keyboard technique from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of the Lutheran Marienkirche. He learned about harmony and contemporary styles, analysed sheet music scores, learned to work fugue subjects, and to copy music. In 1698 Handel played for Frederick I of Prussia and met Giovanni Battista Bononcini in Berlin.From Halle to ItalyThe Hamburg Opera am Gänsemarkt in 1726In 1702, following his father's wishes, Handel started studying law under Christian Thomasius at the University of Halle;[9] and also earned an appointment for one year as the organist in the former cathedral, by then an evangelical reformed church. Handel seems to have been unsatisfied and in 1703, he accepted a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt.[10] There he met the composers Johann Mattheson, Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser. His first two operas, Almira and Nero, were produced in 1705.[11] He produced two other operas, Daphne and Florindo, in 1708. It is unclear whether Handel directed these performances.According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici, but Mainwaring must have been confused. It was Gian Gastone de' Medici, whom Handel had met in 1703–1704 in Hamburg.[12] Ferdinando tried to make Florence Italy's musical capital, attracting the leading talents of his day. He had a keen interest in opera. In Italy Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi, with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and, since opera was (temporarily) banned in the Papal States, composed sacred music for the Roman clergy. His famous Dixit Dominus (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantatas in pastoral style for musical gatherings in the palaces of cardinals Pietro Ottoboni, Benedetto Pamphili and Carlo Colonna. Two oratorios, La Resurrezione and Il Trionfo del Tempo, were produced in a private setting for Ruspoli and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. Rodrigo, his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707.[13] Agrippina was first produced in 1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, the prettiest theatre at Venice, owned by the Grimanis. The opera, with a libretto by cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, and according to Mainwaring it ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style,[14] applauded for Il caro Sassone.Move to LondonGeorge Frideric Handel (left) and King George I on the River Thames, 17 July 1717, by Edouard Jean Conrad Hamman (1819–88).In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to German prince George, Elector of Hanover, who in 1714 would become King George I of Great Britain.[15] He visited Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Düsseldorf on his way to London in 1710. With his opera Rinaldo, based on La Gerusalemme Liberata by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, Handel enjoyed great success, although it was composed quickly, with many borrowings from his older Italian works.[16] This work contains one of Handel's favourite arias, Cara sposa, amante cara, and the famous Lascia ch'io pianga.In 1712, Handel decided to settle permanently in England. He received a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne after composing for her the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, first performed in 1713.[17][18]One of his most important patrons was the young and wealthy Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington.[19] For him Handel wrote Amadigi di Gaula, a magical opera, about a damsel in distress, based on the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.The conception of an opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination[20] and he renounced it for five years. In July 1717 Handel's Water Music was performed more than three times on the Thames for the King and his guests. It is said the compositions spurred reconciliation between the King and Handel.[21]Cannons (1717–18)Main article: Handel at CannonsThe Chandos portrait. The 1st Duke of Chandos was an important patron for Handel.In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the twelve Chandos Anthems.[22] Romain Rolland stated that these anthems were as important for his oratorios as the cantatas were for his operas.[23] Another work he wrote for the Duke of Chandos, the owner of Cannons, was Acis and Galatea: during Handel's lifetime it was his most performed work. Winton Dean wrote, "the music catches breath and disturbs the memory".[24]In 1719 the Duke of Chandos became one of the main subscribers to Handel's new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music, but his patronage of music declined after he lost money in the South Sea bubble, which burst in 1720 in one of history's greatest financial cataclysms. Handel himself invested in South Sea stock in 1716, when prices were low[25] and sold before 1720.[26]Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)Main article: Royal Academy of Music (company)Handel House at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, LondonIn May 1719 Lord Chamberlain Thomas Holles, the Duke of Newcastle ordered Handel to look for new singers.[27] Handel travelled to Dresden to attend the newly built opera. He saw Teofane by Antonio Lotti, and engaged the cast for the Royal Academy of Music, founded by a group of aristocrats to assure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria. Handel may have invited John Smith, his fellow student in Halle, and his son Johann Christoph Schmidt, to become his secretary and amanuensis.[28] By 1723 he had moved into a Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which he rented for the rest of his life.[29] This house, where he rehearsed, copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum.[30] During twelve months between 1724 and 1725, Handel wrote three outstanding and successful operas, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano and Rodelinda. Handel's operas are filled with da capo arias, such as Svegliatevi nel core. After composing Silete venti, he concentrated on opera and stopped writing cantatas. Scipio, from which the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards is derived,[31] was performed as a stopgap, waiting for the arrival of Faustina Bordoni.In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of these, Zadok the Priest, has been played at every British coronation ceremony since.[32] In 1728 John Gay's The Beggar's Opera premiered at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time.[citation needed] After nine years Handel's contract was ended but he soon started a new company.The Queen's Theatre at the Haymarket (now Her Majesty's Theatre), established in 1705 by architect and playwright John Vanbrugh, quickly became an opera house.[33] Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there.[34] In 1729 Handel became joint manager of the Theatre with John James Heidegger.A musical portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales and his sisters by Philip Mercier, dated 1733, using Kew Palace as its plein-air backdropThe Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket in London by William CaponHandel travelled to Italy to engage seven new singers. He composed seven more operas, but the public came to hear the singers rather than the music.[35] After two commercially successful English oratorios Esther and Deborah, he was able to invest again in the South Sea Company. Handel reworked his Acis and Galatea which then became his most successful work ever. Handel failed to compete with the Opera of the Nobility, who engaged musicians such as Johann Adolf Hasse, Nicolo Porpora and the famous castrato Farinelli. The strong support by Frederick, Prince of Wales caused conflicts in the royal family. In March 1734 Handel directed a wedding anthem This is the day which the Lord hath made, and a serenata Parnasso in Festa for Anne of Hanover.[36]Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)In 1733 the Earl of Essex received a letter with the following sentence: "Handel became so arbitrary a prince, that the Town murmurs". The board of chief investors expected Handel to retire when his contract ended, but Handel immediately looked for another theatre. In cooperation with John Rich he started his third company at Covent Garden Theatre. Rich was renowned for his spectacular productions. He suggested Handel use his small chorus and introduce the dancing of Marie Sallé, for whom Handel composed Terpsichore. In 1735 he introduced organ concertos between the acts. For the first time Handel allowed Gioacchino Conti, who had no time to learn his part, to substitute arias.[37] Financially, Ariodante was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act.[38] Alcina, his last opera with a magic content, and Alexander's Feast or the Power of Music based on John Dryden's Alexander's Feast starred Anna Maria Strada del Pò and John Beard.In April 1737, at age 52, Handel apparently suffered a stroke which disabled the use of four fingers on his right hand, preventing him from performing.[39] In summer the disorder seemed at times to affect his understanding. Nobody expected that Handel would ever be able to perform again. But whether the affliction was rheumatism, a stroke or a nervous breakdown, he recovered remarkably quickly .[40] To aid his recovery, Handel had travelled to Aachen, a spa in Germany. During six weeks he took long hot baths, and ended up playing the organ for a surprised audience.[41]Deidamia, his last and only baroque opera without an accompagnato, was performed three times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English oratorios.[citation needed]OratorioFurther information: List of Handel's OratoriosHandel by Philip MercierIl Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, an allegory, Handel's first oratorio[42] was composed in Italy in 1707, followed by La Resurrezione in 1708 which uses material from the Bible. The circumstances of Esther and its first performance, possibly in 1718, are obscure.[43] Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up Esther once again.[44] Three earlier performances aroused such interest that they naturally prompted the idea of introducing it to a larger public. Next came Deborah, strongly coloured by the Anthems[45] and Athaliah, his first English Oratorio.[46] In these three oratorios Handel laid foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios.[47] Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition.[48]It is evident how much he learnt from Arcangelo Corelli about writing for instruments, and from Alessandro Scarlatti about writing for the solo voice; but there is no single composer who taught him how to write for chorus.[49] Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists by English ones. The most significant reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas.[50] Thus a tradition was created for oratorios which was to govern their future performance. The performances were given without costumes and action; the performers appeared in a black suit.[51]Caricature of Handel by Joseph Goupy (1754)In 1736 Handel produced Alexander's Feast. John Beard appeared for the first time as one of Handel's principal singers and became Handel's permanent tenor soloist for the rest of Handel's life.[52] The piece was a great success and it encouraged Handel to make the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. In Saul, Handel was collaborating with Charles Jennens and experimenting with three trombones, a carillon and extra-large military kettledrums (from the Tower of London), to be sure "...it will be most excessive noisy".[53] Saul and Israel in Egypt both from 1739 head the list of great, mature oratorios, in which the da capo and dal segno aria became the exception and not the rule.[54] Israel in Egypt consists of little else but choruses, borrowing from the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline. In his next works Handel changed his course. In these works he laid greater stress on the effects of orchestra and soloists; the chorus retired into the background.[55] L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh.During the summer of 1741, the 3rd Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin to give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals.[56] His Messiah was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street, on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals participating.[57] Handel secured a balance between soloists and chorus which he never surpassed.The use of English soloists reached its height at the first performance of Samson. The work is highly theatrical. The role of the chorus became increasingly import in his later oratorios. Jephtha was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works.[58]Later yearsGeorge Frideric Handel in 1733, by Balthasar Denner (1685–1749)In 1749 Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks; 12,000 people attended the first performance.[59] In 1750 he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital. The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of Messiah to the institution upon his death.[60] His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum, which also holds the Gerald Coke Handel Collection. In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted impoverished musicians and their families.In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands.[61] In 1751 one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This led to uveitis and subsequent loss of vision. He died eight years later in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended was of Messiah. Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey.[62] More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours.Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. His initial will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece Johanna. However four codicils distributed much of his estate to other relations, servants, friends and charities.[63]Handel owned an art collection that was auctioned posthumously in 1760.[64] The auction catalogue listed approximately seventy paintings and ten prints (other paintings were bequeathed).[64]WorksSenesino, the famous castrato from SienaMain articles: List of compositions by George Frideric Handel and List of operas by Handel.Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, and 16 organ concerti. His most famous work, the oratorio Messiah with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centrepiece of the Christmas season. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ Concertos Op.4 and Op.7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 concerti grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto The Cuckoo and the Nightingale in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The Harmonious Blacksmith.Handel introduced previously uncommon musical instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta marina (Orlando), the lute (Ode for St. Cecilia's Day), three trombones (Saul), clarinets or small high cornetts (Tamerlano), theorbo, horn (Water Music), lyrichord, double bassoon, viola da gamba, bell chimes, positive organ, and harp (Giulio Cesare, Alexander's Feast).[65]Handel's works have been catalogued in the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis and are commonly referred to by an HWV number. For example, Messiah is catalogued as HWV 56.LegacyA Masquerade at the King's Theatre, Haymarket (c. 1724)Handel's works were collected and preserved by two men in particular: Sir Samuel Hellier, a country squire whose musical acquisitions form the nucleus of the Shaw-Hellier Collection,[66] and abolitionist Granville Sharp. The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm".[67]After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from Serse, "Ombra mai fù". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long after Handel's death they were thought to need some modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated a German version of Messiah and other works. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, particularly in the Anglophone countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions.Since the Early Music Revival many of the forty-two operas he wrote have been performed in opera houses and concert halls.Handel's music was studied by composers such as Haydn, Mozart and BeethovenRecent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what one might call 'secular oratorios' or 'concert operas'. Of the former, Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739) (set to texts by John Dryden) and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713) are noteworthy. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as Acis and Galatea (1719), Hercules (1745) and Semele (1744). These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios, particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts. They also share the lyrical and dramatic qualities of Handel's Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes performed onstage by small chamber ensembles. With the rediscovery of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as instrumentalist, orchestral writer, and melodist, is now perceived as being one of opera's great musical dramatists.A carved marble statue of Handel, created for the Vauxhall Gardens in 1738 by Louis-François Roubiliac, and now preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum.Handel's work was edited by Samuel Arnold (40 vols., London, 1787–1797), and by Friedrich Chrysander, for the German Händel-Gesellschaft (105 vols., Leipzig, 1858–1902).Handel adopted the spelling "George Frideric Handel" on his naturalisation as a British subject, and this spelling is generally used in English-speaking countries. The original form of his name, Georg Friedrich Händel, is generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in France. Another composer with a similar name, Handl or Händl, was an Austrian from Carniola and is more commonly known as Jacobus Gallus.Musician's musicianHandel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since.[68] Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet with Handel while he was visiting Halle.[69] Mozart is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt."[70] To Beethoven he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb".[70] Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means".HomagesHandel Commemoration in Westminster Abbey, 1784After Handel's death, many composers wrote works based on or inspired by his music. The first movement from Louis Spohr's Symphony No. 6, Op. 116, "The Age of Bach and Handel", resembles two melodies from Handel's Messiah. In 1797 Ludwig van Beethoven published the 12 Variations in G major on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus by Handel, for cello and piano. Guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani composed his Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 107 for guitar, based on Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord. In 1861, using a theme from the second of Handel's harpsichord suites, Johannes Brahms wrote the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, one of his most successful works (praised by Richard Wagner). Several works by the French composer Félix-Alexandre Guilmant use Handel's themes, for example his March on a Theme by Handel uses a theme from Messiah. French composer and flautist Philippe Gaubert wrote his Petite marche for flute and piano based on the fourth movement of Handel's Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 2, HWV 397. Argentine composer Luis Gianneo composed his Variations on a Theme by Handel for piano. In 1911, Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger based one of his most famous works on the final movement of Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major (just like Giuliani). He first wrote some variations on the theme, which he titled Variations on Handel's ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’ . Then he used the first sixteen bars of his set of variations to create Handel in the Strand, one of his most beloved pieces, of which he made several versions (for example, the piano solo version from 1930). Arnold Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B flat major (1933) was composed after Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6/7.VenerationHandel is honored together with Johann Sebastian Bach and Henry Purcell with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July.He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 28 July, with Johann Sebastian Bach and Heinrich Schütz.He is commemorated as a musician along with Johann Sebastian Bach on 28 July by The Order of Saint Luke in their calendar of saints prepared for the use of The United Methodist Church.EditionsBetween 1787 and 1797 Samuel Arnold compiled a 180-volume collection of Handel's works—however it was far from complete.[72] Also incomplete was the collection produced between 1843 and 1858 by the English Handel Society (found by Sir George Macfarren).[73]The 105-volume Händel-Gesellschaft edition was published in the mid 19th century and was mainly edited by Friedrich Chrysander (often working alone in his home). For modern performance, the realisation of the basso continuo reflects 19th century practice. Vocal scores drawn from the edition were published by Novello in London, but some scores, such as the vocal score to Samson are incomplete.The still-incomplete Hallische Händel-Ausgabe started to appear in 1956 (named for Halle in Saxony-Anhalt Eastern Germany, not the Netherlands). It did not start as a critical edition, but after heavy criticism of the first volumes, which were performing editions without a critical apparatus (for example, the opera Serse was published with the title character recast as a tenor reflecting pre-war German practice), it repositioned itself as a critical edition. Influenced in part by cold-war realities, editorial work was inconsistent: misprints are found in abundance and editors failed to consult important sources. In 1985 a committee was formed to establish better standards for the edition.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 1739, Captain Thomas Coram was dismayed at the sight of children dying on the dung heaps of London. These children, mostly foundlings and orphans, were products of a poverty-stricken society where the attitude towards babies born outside of wedlock meant a life of rejection and inferiority....

This week Libby Purves is joined by Joshua Foer, Marianne Talbot, Tom Renouf and Lydia Carmichael. Joshua Foer's book 'Moonwalking with Einstein' tells of his year spent investigating memory, in which he talks to experts around the world including neuroscientists, chess masters and 'memory historians'. He also undertakes training under a Memory Grand Master, and finds himself in the finals of the US Memory Championship, among competitors who can recite pi to ten thousand decimal places. 'Moonwalking with Einstein is published by Allen Lane. Marianne Talbot is Director of Studies in Philosophy at the University of Oxford's Department of Continuing Education. Her book 'Keeping Mum' tells of her personal journey, looking and caring for her own mother who suffered from dementia. 'Keeping Mum: Caring with someone with dementia' is published by Hay House. Dr Tom Renouf served in the legendary Black Watch during the Second World War. In his book, 'Black Watch', he tells the story of the 51st Highland Division and how, as a raw recruit he and his teenage comrades fought in the Battle for Normandy against the fanatical 12th Hitler Youth SS Division, going on to liberate Holland. They were the first to cross the Rhine, with his division capturing the world's most wanted man, Heinrich Himmler. 'Black Watch' is published by Little Brown. Lydia Carmichael is a former pupil of the Foundling Hospital in Berkhamsted, whose experiences of being brought up in care there are featured in a major new exhibition at London's Foundling Museum. The exhibition 'Foundling Voices' features the experiences of seventy-four former foundlings whose memories of their childhoods in the first half of the 20th century are graphically preserved in audio interviews, photographs and film.

In the first of a new series, Sally Magnusson goes on the trail of ancestors who vanished without trace, abandoning their families either by choice or by force of circumstance. The mother who handed her three-day-old baby to the Foundling Hospital in London in 1758 left no clues to her own identity. Helen Warren, the baby's direct descendant, asks Tracing Your Roots to find out more about the woman who took the mother's place, the wet nurse who ensured the baby's survival, yet whose own story has, up until now, remained untold. Ray Lee's grandfather left the family 'to go to Australia' but only recently has Ray wondered if a move to 'Australia' was just a metaphor. Was Ray's grandfather really thousands of miles away, or had he simply cut off all contact with his children? Tracing Your Roots discovers the truth behind the family legend. And Debbie Martindale wrote to ask what became of her great uncle, a brother separated from the rest of his family as a child and never reunited. Did he go on to have children of his own, and can Tracing Your Roots reunite the family? Sally Magnusson and Nick Barratt fill some of the gaps on Debbie's family tree.