Early Life
Coram was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK. He spent much of his early life at sea and in the American colonies. From 1694 to 1705, he operated a ship building business at Taunton, Massachusetts. He afterwards became a successful quier in London. In 1717, he unsuccessfully promoted the idea of founding a colony called Georgia in what is today Maine as a philanthropic venture. In 1732, he became a trustee of James Oglethorpe’s Georgia colony. In 1735 he sponsored a colony in Nova Scotia for unemployed artisans.
As a philanthropist Coram was appalled by the many abandoned, homeless children living in the streets of London. On 17 October 1739 he obtained a Royal Charter granted by George II establishing a "hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children."
Read more about this topic: Thomas Coram
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