Captain Coram’s Cup
Prior to establishing the Foundling Hospital, Captain Thomas Coram was a shipbuilder in the American colonies. He returned to England in 1704, where he and his American-born wife, Eunice, settled in the Rotherhithe area of London. There, he continued to trade and campaign on American issues.
Coram gave this silver-gilt cup to his nephew and godson, Thomas Corham of Kinterbury, Devon, in honour of young Thomas’s christening. Along with a leather and felt case, this cup would have been an expensive present. Such a gift suggests that childless Coram’s affection for his nephew, and illustrates the retired ship builder’s wealth at the time.
A year after his nephew’s christening, Coram began a 17-year campaign to win approval for the Hospital. This was his ‘darling project’ — to create a home for England’s most vulnerable children.
