Foundling, Cavendish Square, 1787

[nethercs]

Hi,  I have a Mary Cavendish born circa 1787 or earlier.
She was baptised at St Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road,St Marylebone,London on 1 April 1787.  The baptism does not name the parents and has a note which reads "(Ch found in Cavendish square abt 10 days old)"  I don't know how soon after the child was found that it was baptised.

Was there any church, hospital or orphanage in Cavendish Square at that time where a child might have been left?

If she is who I think she might be then she married Edward Coe in 1805 and is a widow living with their son, Silvester, in the 1841 census.  (However, this Marys' age is 57 - which potentially makes her a couple of years older than the foundling.)   I am comfortable that Edward Coe married Mary Cavendish in 1805. I am not so sure that she was the same Mary Cavandish who was the foundling in 1787.

Thanks,
Steve
Melbourne, Australia

[Victor Harvey]

Hi Steve,
The following organisation, which is famous, may be able to help:-
coram.org.uk/The_Foundling_Hospital
Victor

[avm228]

In 1841 Mary Coe is said not to have been born in county (Middlesex).

Does she survive to 1851 for better birthplace information?

I see that she and Edward were both "of this parish" when they married at St Andrew Holborn on 15 April 1805, but that of course only means they had satisfied the three week residence requirement.

[dawnsh]

If she had been placed with the Foundling Hospital she would have been baptised again and given a new name.

By the time Mary Cavendish was born, the horpital was using a ballot system to take children in. Mothers had to petition the hopsital and not all babies were accepted.

I woud suggest that the person you are researching was most probably taken in by someone in the parish.

Cavendish Square was and still is in a very wealthy & well-to-do area of London