Tomb in St Andrew’s Church, Holborn comemmorating Captain Thomas Coram d. 1751

Location

St Andrew's Church, Holborn, London, England

Transcript

'CAPTAIN THOMAS CORAM / Whose Name shall never want a Monument / So long as his Hospital shall subsist, / Was born in the year 1668; / A Man eminent in that most eminent virtue, / The love of Mankind; / Little attentive to his Private Fortune, / And refusing many Opportunities of increasing it, / His Time and Thoughts were continually employed / In endeavours to promote the Public Happiness / Both in this Kingdom and elsewhere; / Particularly in the Colonies of North America; / And his Endeavours were many times crowned / With the desired Success. / His unwearied Solicitation for above Seventeen Years together / (Which would have baffled the Patience and Industry / Of any Man less zealous in doing Good), / And his application to persons of distinction, of both sexes / Obtained at length the Charter of the Incorporation / (Bearing date of 17th of October, 1739 / FOR THE MAINTAINANCE AND EDUCATION / OF EXPOSED AND DESERTED YOUNG CHILDREN / By which many thousands of Lives / May be preserved to the Public, and employed in a frugal / And honest Course of Industry / He died the 29th March, 1751, in the 84th year of his age / Poor in Worldly Estate, rich in Good Works / And was buried, at his own Desire, in the vault underneath this / Chapel (the first here deposited), at the east end thereof. / Many of the Governors and other Gentlemen / Attending the funeral to do Honour to his Memory, / Reader, / Thy Actions will show whether thou art sincere / In the Praises thou mayest bestow on him; / And if thou hast Virtue enough to commend his Virtues, / Forget not to add also the Imitation of them' [Inscription formerly in the piazza adjoining the chapel of the Foundling Hospital, not now extant]. 'Capn. THOMAS CORAM / Founder of this Hospital / died 28th March 1751 / Aged 85 Years.' [on new tomb in St Andrews]

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