Hannah Brown (1866-1973)
Care Experience & Culture recently added a new genre featuring ‘Activists’ and are wondering if Hannah Brown who grew up in the Foundling Hospital, could be the FIRST care-experienced activist. Some of the information included here was first presented at a Conference by Josie Pearse and Rosie Canning.[1]
The Foundling Hospital was established in 1739 by Thomas Coram, a philanthropist driven by the sight of destitute infants left to die on the streets, who campaigned tirelessly for nearly 17 years to garner support for the hospital's creation. It was Britain’s first charitable institution dedicated to the care and upbringing of vulnerable and abandoned children. Though Thomas Coram finally succeeded in securing a Royal Charter from King George II, his outspoken nature led to his departure from the board within a few years.
Admission Criteria and the Ballot System
Mothers brought their babies to the Foundling Hospital to be cared for, with many hopeful that their circumstances would change so that they could one day reclaim their child. The institution focused on infants under 12 months, with mothers undergoing interviews to confirm their eligibility. Starting in 1742, the admission process included a ballot system to manage limited capacity:
White ball: Admission granted, pending the child’s health inspection.
Orange ball: Conditional admission, dependent on others failing health checks.
Black ball: Immediate rejection and removal.
In 1756, Parliament mandated the admission of all children brought to the Hospital, providing funding to support this policy. This "General Reception" period saw an overwhelming influx of children, resulting in severe overcrowding and resource strain. Tragically, two-thirds of these children perished due to the inadequate conditions.
Foster Care
Every child admitted to the Foundling Hospital was baptised and given a new name. Between the 1740s and 1760s, mothers left a token that could be used to identify their child if they returned to reclaim them. Accepted children were registered and sent to foster families or "nurses" in the countryside, until the age of five. They were then brought to live and be educated in the Foundling Hospital until around the age of 15, when they were sent out as apprentices, primarily in domestic or military service.
Stigma
Hannah Brown (not her foundling name) was born 26th June 1866 and placed in the Foundling Hospital at 6 months. She was baptized Hannah Sherman [4] in 1866. Hannah later wrote The Child She Bare, A Foundling (London, Headley, 1919) an account of her childhood experiences and which she published anonymously. She writes realistically about her time in the Foundling Hospital and many of her protests and observations are uncannily still relevant today.
THE writer was born in the year 1866. She has never known anything of her parentage, rightful name, or nationality, but was handed over (when a few months old) by her mother to the Foundling Hospital, London. Having gazed on me for the last time, with (I take for granted) a heart surcharged with woe, she left me to my fate...Being christened the same day in the Chapel of the Foundling Hospital and given a fictitious name I was later taken by a foster nurse to live in the country until the age of three; when I should be brought back to commence my existence as one of the children of the Foundling Hospital. Thus, for the second time in three years, I was deprived of a Mother. –The Child She Bare
Hannah resented the stigma of illegitimacy and reflected on her experiences in her memoir, and wrote about the victimisation of women who have loved 'not wisely but too well' and how the very concept of an "unmarried mother" is a construct born of laws created by men. Such a woman is neither a "fallen woman," nor is her child "illegitimate."
‘...children’s happiness and future welfare is sacrificed, even to the extent of their mother’s name, nationality – thrown in the world without a relative or friend to confide in…and have no right to the stigma attached to them.’ –The Child She Bare
In her writing she is trying to bring about social change and sharing her very personal autobiographical experiences that do not end when they leave the Foundling Hospital.
‘The few girls. Who by chance become married, are put to shame before their own offspring, whenever the simplest and most natural questions are asked by the child as to its mother's parentage: This is owing to the child's mother being deprived of her rightful name and knowledge of her nationality.’ –The Child She Bare
Hannah also mentions how it is impossible to acquire their birth certificates as the only ones available are the ‘false’ ones issued by the Foundling Hospital.
She leaves the Foundling Hospital after completing her fourth apprenticeship, for which she receives ‘five guineas’ in 1887, she is 20 years old. She leaves the last placement because she wants to be 'UNKNOWN' - She writes: ‘…In future no mistress should know anything about me.' She is referring to the stigma of being a foundling which she eventually recognizes was a 'FALSE' sense of shame.
Hannah wrote the Child She Bare after the first world war and it was published anonymously in 1919 - a time when the 'great and good' were researching how to regulate child Adoption.
There had never been regulation. Hannah gave evidence anonymously to what's now called an 'unofficial' select committee (at least by Keating) - it was chaired by the Duchess of Bedford and they carried out research among the welfare organisations that had been looking after so called 'friendless girls' - the mothers and children for - in some cases - hundreds of years.
Hannah's evidence includes these quotes:
1. Every child has an inalienable right to the love and care of it's mother.
2.If child adoption is allowed to become general practice it will create a Hydra headed monster for the future.
3. Foster parents could be found until the child reaches an age where she can choose to be adopted or not.
4. Hannah even talks about the institution introduction of a Mothers Pensions beating family allowance by a couple of decades.
Against all advice the 1925 law severed the bond between mother and child by closing records for fifty years between 1926 and 1976.[1]
Hannah proposed innovative ideas, such as a Mothers’ Pensions, to support women and their children, anticipating family allowance systems that would later be implemented. Her support for foster care until a child could choose adoption shows her preference for maintaining the child’s autonomy and the mother-child connection. Overall, this illustrates the tension between progressive social ideas, such as supporting mothers and maintaining family bonds, and the eventual legal framework, which prioritized secrecy and separation in adoption. This decision had long-term implications for adopted individuals and their ability to trace their origins.
After leaving the Foundling Hospital, Hannah talks about the foundlings becoming a community in themselves and meeting in secret due to stigma. This is an interesting observation and perhaps we can imagine Hannah holding meetings with like-minded individuals as a way to fight and protest against the victimisation of foundlings which may have even given birth to her memoir The Child She Bare.
The memoir critiques the institutional childcare system, highlighting the lack of emotional support and advocating for the recognition of children’s rights and dignity. Hannah’s story offers a deeply personal and critical lens on historical debates surrounding child welfare reforms and the societal stigmatization of illegitimacy during that era.
Hannah went on to marry Frank Percival Brown (ARCA), an Art Master [5] and they had one daughter, Nancy. Hannah herself became an artist, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and contributing drawings to husband Frank's English Art Series. Despite her foundling beginnings Hannah experienced a life well lived.
If you visit the Foundling Museum, you'll be able to see a small display about Hannah that Dr. Josie and Dr. Rosie helped to curate.
[1] Pearse, J., Canning, R., 'What Hannah Did Next'. unpublished paper presented at London Foundling Hospital History: An Online Conference. 23-24 June 2023.
[2] O’Neil, Henry Nelson, A Mother Depositing Her Child at the Foundling Hospital in Paris, 1855, Oil on canvas, Foundling Museum, London
(3) A Foundling, The Child She Bare (London: Headley Bros, 1918)
(4) Theresa Musgrove, Charles Dickens Researcher, who through detective work found Hannah’s surname which was passed on to Coram and enabled them to finally find the famous Hannah in the Foundling Hospital Register. [Theresa Musgrove, email to Rosie Canning, 17th November 2022]
[5] Frank Percival Brown (1877-1958) Art Master and Mosaicist and other works, born in Stoke-on-Trent, who studied at the Royal College of Art, 1902–07 under Gerald Moira, W R Lethaby and others.
[nb. If you use this blog, please reference Dr. Rosie Canning & Dr. Josie Pearse, and Care Experience & Culture.]
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