Philanthropists - Thomas Coram

Captain Thomas Coram (c. 1668 - 29 March 1751) was a philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital to look after unwanted children in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity. Coram was appalled by the many abandoned, homeless children living in the streets of London. On 17 October 1739 he obtained a Royal Charter granted by George II establishing a hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children.