Foundling Hospital: Vocational and Educational Debate
Since Thomas Coram had founded it in 1739, there had been constant debate about what the station of the Foundling Hospital's young charges should be. Debate over whether they were being overeducated, or whether they should be subject to vocational education and trained for apprenticeships, which would lead to future stable lives as domestic servants.
The latter was decided upon, and the Foundling Hospital began to tender older children and young adolescents for vocational training as apprentices in 1759, shortly before the events described in this entry took place. Elizabeth Brownrigg was not the only abusive adult who used hapless children as virtual slave labour, however, as contemporary accounts indicate. After the events described in this entry, the Foundling Hospital instituted greater safeguards of oversight for apprenticeship tendering, and reported cases of apprentice abuse dropped considerably.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Brownrigg
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