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Faith, Hope & Charity - Guided Tour
Saturday 2 October 2010
Our unique and story rich day tracing the history of philanthropy and including a visit to the elegant
Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury
We meet our guide in the City of London at 10-30am for morning refreshments at the beautiful café in the
new Salvation Army International Headquarters, a stone’s throw from the Millennium Bridge.
We begin our day on foot for a short walk in the lanes and yards between the river and St. Paul’s. From
the great monastic houses, such as the London Blackfriars came the terms pittance and dole. The guilds
and livery companies emerged as burial and benefit societies and founded almshouses for aged craftsmen.
The City, the East End and the West End each contribute to our story, so next by coach to hear of a
panoply of philanthropists including George Peabody, Dr. Barnardo, Fred Charrington and General Booth.
Charitable work was a rare way for middle class women, especially in the nineteenth century, to undertake
useful and challenging work so we also learn about Clara Grant’s Farthing Bundles and the prison work
of the Quaker Elizabeth Fry.
For lunch we set down by Lambs Conduit Street in Bloomsbury where there is a good choice of pubs and
cafes for lunch.
Eighteenth century London was a swirling mass of contrasts. A rowdy gin-swilling public rubbed shoulders
with gentlefolk keen to do good work. The sight of dead and dying babies abandoned on the streets horrified
Captain Thomas Coram.
In 1739 he established the Foundling Hospital which looked after more than 27,000 children until its
closure in 1953.
Includes return travel by coach.