Fate, Hope & Charity Revealed: The hidden stories of the tokens Thursday 25 January - Sunday 19 May 2013

The Foundling Museum stages a revelatory story-telling exhibition bringing to light the untold stories of the Foundling Hospital tokens. By reuniting the eighteenth-century tokens with the foundlings to whom they belonged, Fate, Hope & Charity uncovers stories that are a testament to the grief of separation and timeless bond between a mother and her child.

Tokens, small everyday objects, were left by mothers with their babies at the Foundling Hospital, which continues today as children’s charity Coram. Left between c.1741 - 1760, tokens were a means of identifi cation, should the mother ever return to reclaim her child. Most of the tokens were textiles, which were pinned to the admission records. These textile tokens were the subject of the Foundling Museum’s previous Threads of Feeling exhibition. But among the tokens were also hundreds of small, three-dimensional objects - keys, coins, jewellery, buttons, poems, playing cards, medals and the like. Most were removed from the Hospital’s admission records in the nineteenth century, severing the link with the children they were meant to identify - until now.

Heart-wrenching stories from 250 years ago

Now over 250 years later these incredible, heart-wrenching stories are revealed. Each story off ers a glimpse into the lives of the women in the eighteenth century who left their children at the Hospital. Most poignant of all is the story of Margaret Larney.

Under sentence of death in Newgate Prison in 1757, Margaret, falsely tried and found guilty of counterfeiting money, wrote a letter requesting the admission of her unborn child to the Foundling Hospital. Her newborn son was lucky and was admitted. Margaret was less fortunate. Immediately after the birth, she was taken to Tyburn (the modern Marble Arch) where she was publicly executed by “strangulation and burning.” Her astonishing letter of petition to the Hospital is on display.

Individual stories will be told through their tokens together with art works and artefacts from the period. Many address issues still current today; the hardship faced by military wives and widows, and debates around the benefi ts of male doctors versus female midwives in the management of childbirth.

A modern detective story: tracing the lost identities

Stories such as that of poor Margaret Larney have been unearthed after seven years of

Press Enquiries Gemma Colgan T: +44(0)20 7841 3614 E: [email protected] painstaking research by Foundling Museum volunteers and independent researchers Janette Bright and Dr. Gillian Clark.

A chance meeting in 2005 in the Hospital archive united textile artist Janette, and social historian Gillian, whose earlier work on the foundlings includes the time they spent with foster families outside . Through a process of exhaustive detective work, the two researchers reunited orphaned tokens with their foundlings. The new research reveals fascinating and often deeply moving facts about the tokens themselves, the circumstances surrounding the mother’s decision to give up her baby and the moving stories of the individual foundlings to whom the tokens belonged.

Contemporary storytellers unite past and present

Despite Janette and Gillian’s meticulous investigation, the stories associated with some tokens remain undiscovered. The Foundling Museum has commissioned prominent artists, authors, songwriters and musicians to create new stories for these tokens in their chosen medium. Contributors include artist David Shrigley and DJ, poet and writer Charlie Dark, author and academic Hallie Rubenhold and poet and novelist Jackie Kay. Collected in a special publication to coincide with the exhibition, these stories will shed new light on the small, emotionally-charged scraps of history that make up Fate, Hope & Charity.

Fate, Hope & Charity is curated by Stephanie Chapman.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Foundling Museum 40 , , London WC1N 1AZ T: +44 (0)20 7841 3600 E: [email protected] www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10:00 – 17:00 and Sunday 11:00 – 17:00, closed on Mondays Admission: £7.50, concessions £5, members half price, children free Tube and train: Russell Square, King’s Cross St Pancras and Euston

The Foundling Museum explores the history of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s fi rst children’s charity, and celebrates the ways in which artists of all disciplines have helped improve children’s lives for over 270 years. Through a dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions, collection displays, artists’ projects, concerts, events and activities for all ages, we celebrate the vision of , and . The Museum houses signifi cant collections of eighteenth-century art, interiors, social history and music.

Coram, the UK’s fi rst children’s charity, has been creating better chances for children since 1739. They help children and young people today through their pioneering work in adoption, parenting support, housing support, alcohol and drug education, creative therapies and championing legal rights in the UK and overseas. www.coram.org.uk

Threads of Feeling will be displayed at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in the United States at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum from 25 May 2013 - 27 May 2014. www.threadsoff eeling.com

Images: Foundling Hospital Tokens © The Foundling Museum, London

Press Enquiries Gemma Colgan Supported by T: +44(0)20 7841 3614 E: [email protected]