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Go gentle babe: accounting and the London Foundling Hospital 1757–97
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 06:10 authored by Frances Miley, Andrew ReadThe London Foundling Hospital was a charitable institution established to turn children of the poor into virtuous and industrious members of society. Poverty-stricken parents gave their children to the hospital which cared for and educated the children, known as foundlings, until they could be placed by the hospital into employment. Since eighteenth century Britain stigmatised and marginalised the poor, viewing them as immoral and indigent, an important aspect of the charity’s function was (re)creating stigmatised foundling identities so they could leave the hospital as accepted members of mainstream society. This research examines the role of accounting in supporting the hospital’s efforts to (re)create stigmatised identities. We examine the plethora of records the hospital maintained about every aspect of the children’s lives, which were both mechanisms of surveillance and control and evidence of the hospital’s successful efforts in moulding the foundlings into virtuous and industrious members of society. The hospital did not distinguish between financial and non-financial records, ensuring both were regularly reviewed audited before being made available to selected members of the public. We contrast the public availability of these records, which evidenced (re)created identities the hospital created, with the hospital’s secrecy concerning tokens, which were small items brought by a parent hospitalising a child. We contend that the tokens were a form of accounting record that represented stigmatised identities of the poor and had to be hidden so they could be replaced with (re)created acceptable identities. We conclude that examining accounting records maintained by the hospital provides insights into the role accounting can play in supporting the work of charitable institutions seeking to create social acceptability for stigmatised groups.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Accounting HistoryISSN
1032-3732Publisher
SAGE PublicationsExternal DOI
Issue
2-3Volume
21Page range
167-184Department affiliated with
- Business and Management Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-05-08First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-05-08Usage metrics
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