The
Foundling Hospital was a charitable institution founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain
Thomas Coram to house and educate abandoned and orphaned children. It was established under
royal charter by
King George II and was supported by many noted figures of the day in high society and the arts. Artists such as
William Hogarth,
Joshua Reynolds,
Allan Ramsay and
Thomas Gainsborough all exhibited paintings at the Hospital, and the composer
George Frederic Handel held
benefit concerts in the Hospital chapel to raise funds, performing his specially composed
Foundling Hospital Anthem and his
oratorio Messiah. The Foundling Hospital was located in
Lamb's Conduit Fields in
Bloomsbury, an undeveloped,
pastoral area of London. As the city expanded and became more polluted in the 19th century, the Hospital governors began to consider relocation to a healthier, more rural location. With the
advent of the railways, travel outside the city was much easier. In 1926, the Foundling Hospital relocated temporarily to
Redhill, Surrey, while a new, purpose-built school was constructed in Berkhamsted on land obtained from the
Ashlyns Estate. The new building, designed by John Mortimer Sheppard in a
neo-Georgian style and modelled on the original Foundling Hospital, opened in 1935. Following the reorganisation of schools under the
Education Act 1944, the Foundling Hospital began to provide education under the name of Thomas Coram Schools, supported by a grant from
Hertfordshire County Council. After the
Children Act 1948 placed an obligation on local authorities to provide
child welfare services, the emphasis in child care in Britain began to shift from residential institutions to
foster care, with children living in local homes and attending local schools. In 1951 the Berkhamsted building became a
secondary modern school, under the name
Ashlyns School. For a time some children under the care of the charity continued to live in the school, but once they moved out after 1954, their dormitories on the first floor became class rooms. In 1955, after protracted negotiations, the Ashlyns School and the Foundling Hospital estate (including staff houses in Coram Close) were sold to Hertfordshire County Council for the sum of £225,000. In the 1960s, Ashlyns became a
comprehensive school. Since 2009, the headteacher has been James Shapland, formerly deputy headteacher of
Nicholas Breakspear School in
St Albans. ==Filming location==