THOMAS

See also:

• THOMAS CORAM (1668–1751)

CORAM (1668–1751)  , English philanthropist, was born at Lyme Regis, Dorset . He began life as a seaman, and rose to the position of merchant captain . He settled at Taunton, Massachusetts, for several years engaging there in farming and boat-building, and in 1703 returned to England . His acquaintance with the destitute East End of London, and the miserable condition of the children there, inspired him with the idea of providing a refuge for such of them as had no legal protector; and after seventeen years of unwearied exertion, he obtained in 1739 a royal charter authorizing the establishment of his hospital for foundling infants (see FOUNDLING HOSPITALS) . It was opened in Hatton Garden, on the 17th of October 1740, with twenty inmates . For fifteen years it was supported by voluntary contributions; but in 1756 it was endowed with a parliamentary grant of £so,000 for the support of all that might be sent to it . Children were brought, however, in such numbers, and so few (not one-third, it is said) survived infancy, that the grant was stopped, and the charity, which had been removed to Guilford Street, was from that time only administered under careful restrictions . Coram's later years were spent in watching over the interests of the hospital; he was also one of the promoters of the settlement of Georgia and Nova Scotia; and his name is 'honourably connected with various other charities . In carrying out his philanthropic schemes he spent nearly all his private means; and an annuity of 170 was raised for him by public subscription . He died on the 29th of March 1751 .