Where Did Their Clothes Go? Textile Recycling at the Foundling Hospital

The Foundling Hospital was set up to care for children whose parents were unable to support them. The first children were accepted in 1741 and it was quickly recognised that the Hospital provided a valuable public service. From 2 June 1756 to 25 March 1760 Parliament provided funds for the Hospital to accept all children presented to it. Nearly 15,000 children aged 12 months or under were accepted.

Babies entered the Hospital wearing clothes provided by their mothers and were commonly garbed in decorative printed, checked and striped gowns. Yet these garments could not be used again by the Foundlings because the Hospital required its charges to wear a uniform. Infants were dressed identically in grey, the older children wore brown. With 15,000 children entering the Hospital in the space of four years, tens of thousands of garments were collected. So where did these clothes go?

Textiles were expensive during the early modern period because it was expensive to hand-spin, hand-weave and finish fabrics. Fibre prices fluctuated, rising during times of war. Even ragged textiles maintained value: linen and cotton rags were essential for the production of paper. Therefore there was a thriving market for second-hand textiles in the eighteenth century. In 1757, when the Hospital was overwhelmed by the clothing due to the large influx of children, the Hospital committee decided to sell the

‘old Raggs and useless things brought in with the Children of this Hospital’

because they were causing problems with ‘Vermin’.

After enquiries, the Hospital Committee decided to sell to the rag merchant Mrs Jones in Broad St Giles who would pay 28 shillings a stone for linen rags and 4 shillings 6 pence a stone for woollen rags. This was more than twice what her competitor Joseph Thompson offered for the linen and woollen rags.

Over 7 ½ months in 1759 and 1760 the Hospital accumulated more than 8000 garments, a combination of infant, child and adult clothing. The majority of these must have belonged to the babies entering the Hospital. They were sold for £21 to the cloth dealer Mrs Hilman of Covent Garden, an average of 1.6 pence per garment. In the same period more than 16 stones of rags were collected and were sold for £12 10 shillings. Flax prices jumped significantly from 1757 to 1760, therefore white linen rags were sold for a higher price, 32 shillings a stone. The woollen rag price also increased to 7 shillings a stone. The £33 10s. raised in 7 ½ months was a significant sum, enough money to fully clothe 30 infants.

This was clearly an important monetary decision for the Hospital. Although the decision to sell old clothing and rags initially related to vermin problems, these textiles retained value and to leave such vast quantities to rot was a waste of space and money.

Some points are still unclear. The Committee specified the sale of rags and ‘useless things’. This clearly included worn out garments. Implicitly clothing that did not match the Hospital’s uniform would also have been sold, including gowns, separate sleeves and forehead cloths. But were garments made from plain white linen sold? Old clouts (nappies/diapers) could have been used once a child had entered the Hospital. They did not offend the clothing policy. What about infant shirts?

I’m also not sure what woollen rags were used for – any ideas? They couldn’t be used for paper because they were animal not plant fibres.

Read More

• Threads of Feeling, an online exhibition of the Foundling textiles
• The Foundling Museum
• The London Metropolitan Archives hold the Foundling Hospital Archives. Anyone can view the collection after registering for a pass.