Ladies of Quality and Distinction, Foundling Museum

In 1739, twenty-one women played a crucial role in establishing the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first children's charity. Philanthropist Thomas Coram conceptualised the Hospital for vulnerable children as a humane alternative to abandoning babies on doorsteps. Although Coram has been credited as the founding father, it was the perseverance of these forward-thinking women, and especially Charlotte, Duchess of Somerset, that secured royal permission to set up the Foundling Hospital.

Before this pioneering group of women rallied to give their support to his cause, Coram had been campaigning for seventeen years, unable to find any man who would risk associating themselves with the stigma of illegitimate children. Despite their remarkable role in the story of the hospital's origin, these women have been almost entirely forgotten, deprived of the recognition they deserve.

But The Foundling Museum has decided to reset the story and celebrate these 'Ladies of Quality and Distinction' in an exhibition of the same name. In the Museum's Picture Gallery, portraits of these pioneering women will temporarily hang in place of portraits of the gallery's male governors. In the Exhibition Gallery, the lives and work of the women who worked and supported the hospital will be explored. From the scullery maids and laundresses to the cooks and financial supporters, the lives of the rich network of women involved in the hospital's conception will be told for the first time.

Ladies of Quality and Distinction comes hot on the heels of the Hospital's First Among Equals and Ladies of Quality Campaign, which celebrates remarkable women who have helped shape contemporary British society. Hundreds of people demonstrated their support for the upcoming exhibition by rallying behind the museum's public fundraising campaign. It has now secured enough funds to not only trace and acquire the portraits of these women, but also to launch a wider research project into the countless women who worked in the Foundling Hospital.

Redressing the historical record from which these pioneering women have been dismissed, this ground-breaking exhibition is eagerly anticipated by feminists, historians and museum-goers alike. Almost three hundred years later, it seems about time. We wait with baited breath.