Former Foundling pupils tell their stories
The Foundling Voices project enabled people who grew up in the care of the Foundling Hospital in the first half of the 20th century to tell their stories.
In it, more than 70 former Foundling pupils, plus one teacher, their children and partners and townspeople from Berkhamsted who could remember the school, reflect on their experiences of the Foundling Hospital.
The interviews follow a life-story format, covering people’s early lives with foster families in the countryside, living in the Foundling Hospital from the age of 5 to 14 and leaving the Hospital and making their way in the world.
They are stored at the London Metropolitan Archives, where they can be accessed by members of the public.
You can also listen to excerpts from the oral history interviews and view the films on the Foundling Voices website.
…as we got into the school gates I said: ‘I will be able to come home tonight, won’t I?’ And as we got off the coach the boys were shepherded one way, the girls the other. And she said: ‘Be a good girl’ and she kissed me and she was gone.
– Ruth, who went to the Foundling Hospital School in Berkhamsted in 1942
Visit the Foundling Voices website