Celia Atherton

Project Description

The London Foundling Hospital was established in 1741 for parents unable to care for their children. Ackworth was the largest of six branch hospitals, caring for nearly 3,000 children between 1757-1773, and was where the majority of foundlings with ‘congenital and acquired disabilities’ were sent. Utilising the Ackworth Foundling Hospital archives as a case study, this research adopts a ‘child-focused’ approach to the archives to uncover the experiences of disabled children in the past.

This project moves away from the overwhelming focus on London in histories of disability and the Foundling Hospital, rectifying a regional imbalance and unearthing new understandings of childhood disability more broadly within the eighteenth-century. Investigation of Ackworth hospital accounts and medical records, alongside analysis of literary and other cultural presentations, will shed light on the intersection of childhood, disability, rurality and provinciality beyond the scientific and philanthropic circles in London.

In collaboration with Coram, the children’s charity established as the Foundling Hospital, this project supports work to open Coram’s archives to investigate the care of disabled children. Coram continues the Foundling Hospital’s work with disabled children, influencing policy and practice. Their 2024 report ‘Disability, disparity and demand’ worked with children and care leavers to hear their own experiences of disability, finding that their own views have ‘not been routinely sought’. This project aims to make audible the unheard experiences of children from the past in the same manner to engage young people today.

Funding Awards- AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award, Northern Bridge Consortium

Qualifications