The Foundling Hospital in Cork Ireland was opened 274 years ago today on 12 March 1747.

The history of the care of abandoned children in Western Europe makes for depressing study. In 1757, of the 14,934 children admitted to the London Foundling Hospital, 10,389 died. Between 1784 and 1838, 146,900 out of 183,955 inmates died in the Vienna Foundling Hospital. In Dublin, 41,524 died out of the intake of 52,152 between the years 1796 and 1826.

In 1735, an Act of the Irish Parliament provided for hospitals being funded by a local tax on coal and culm, (a type of coal known as anthracite), weigh-house fines, carriage car licenses and penalties on drivers of same. It then went on to provide for the establishment of a Workhouse to care for the foundling children of Cork in Ireland.

A committee or "Perpetual Corporation", which consisted of the Lord Bishop of Cork, the Recorder, Aldermen, Sheriffs, Common Speaker of the City and 26 others annually chosen at the Court of D'Oyer Hundred, was established to manage the proposed hospice. Finance was provided by the imposition of a special tax on coals coming into Cork Harbour, and other specified duties. The Governors were empowered to receive all the exposed and foundling children, who were to be nursed, clad, taught to read and write, and thoroughly instructed in the principles of the Protestant religion.

A site was acquired on the Watercourse Road, near the present Murphy's Brewery. There were four schools in the institution as well as an infirmary for the sick, which was attended daily by a physician.  The complex consisted of a small quadrangle with a chapel, school-rooms, boys dormitories, girls dormitories, and staff apartments. The reformer, John Howard, commented in 1788: "The hospital has been great-ly improved since my visit in 1787 and the children are more healthy. As a stream (the Kiln River) runs close to the house, a convenient bath might be easily procured."

The hospital had 1,765 inmates in 1833. In 1838, the governors decid-ed not to take in any more children, in accordance with the terms of the Irish Poor Relief Act. In Cork, the Union Workhouse was opened on Douglas Road in 1841. The Foundling Hospital was closed in 1854, the chil-dren being transferred to the Workhouse, and the Foundling Hospital at Leitrim Street being converted by the Emigration Commissioners for use as an Emigration depot.

The Cork Foundling Hospital was opened 274 years ago today on 12 March 1747.