Foundling Hospital, Dublin

The Foundling Hospital (Irish: Ospidéal Foundling) was a hospital for abandoned children in Dublin, Ireland.

Foundling Hospital, Dublin
"Dining Hall, Foundling Hospital", Dublin.
Shown in Dublin
Geography
LocationDublin, Republic of Ireland
Coordinates53.3420°N 6.2958°W / 53.3420; -6.2958
History
Opened1704
Closed1835

History

The Foundling hospital of Dublin was opened in 1704.[1] Firmly established by mid-18th century, the Foundling Hospital had steadily become a large "baby finding" institution. Two primary objectives of the hospital were to avoid deaths and murders of illegitimate children and to teach the protestant faith to these children.[2][3]

No inquiry was made about the parents, and no money received.[4] A cradle was installed by 1730.[5] Between 1,500 and 2,000 children were received annually. A large income was derived from a duty on coal.[6] In 1822 an admission fee of £5 was charged on the parish from which the child came. This reduced the annual arrivals to about 500.[7]

Child deaths during transport to the hospital or whilst staying in the hospital was not infrequent and would often become subject to inquiry. The number of Protestant nurses was usually inadequate with the resulting use of Roman Catholic nurses and occasional consequence of "religious error".[2]

In 1829 the select committee on the Irish miscellaneous estimates recommended that no further assistance should be given.[1] The hospital had not preserved life or educated the foundlings.[1] The mortality was nearly 4 in 5, and the total cost £10,000 a year. Accordingly, in 1835 Lord Glenelg (then Irish Secretary) closed the institution.[1]

See also

Reference
  1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Foundling Hospitals" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 746–747.
  2. Wodsworth, William Dudley, ed. (1876). A Brief History of the Ancient Foundling Hospital of Dublin, From the Year 1702. With some account of similar institutions abroad. Dublin: Alexander Thom. pp. 1–2.
  3. Powell, Fred (1981). "Dean Swift and the Dublin Foundling Hospital". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 70 (278/279): 162–170. JSTOR 30090351.
  4. Sonnelitter, Karen (2016). Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Philanthropy and Improvement. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-78327-068-2.
  5. Wodsworth, p. 11.
  6. "Accounts and Papers". 1833. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  7. Wodsworth, p. 52.
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