Foundling Museum

The Foundling Hospital was established in 1739 by philanthropist Thomas Coram to care for babies at risk of abandonment on London's streets, and over nearly two centuries it took in around 25,000 children. Mothers surrendering a child left a small token — a button, a coin, a scrap of fabric — kept as an identifying record in case they were ever able to reclaim their child; most never could, and the museum's collection of these tokens is one of the most quietly devastating displays in any London museum.

The Hospital was also, improbably, the birthplace of British public art patronage: William Hogarth and George Frideric Handel were both governors and major donors, Hogarth persuading fellow artists to donate works to decorate the hospital and draw in wealthy visitors (and their charitable donations), effectively creating the UK's first public art gallery. Handel conducted annual charity performances of Messiah here and left the hospital a copy of the score in his will.