Ysenda Maxtone Graham

Poor bewildered beasts

Isobel Charman’s haunting history shows the Victorian Zoological Gardens at their worst

issue 10 December 2016

If you’ve ever read a history of the early days of the Foundling Hospital, you’ll remember the shock: expecting to enjoy a heartwarming tale of 18th-century babies being rescued from destitution and brought to live in a lovely safe place, you will have found instead that the tale was mostly about babies dying after they arrived.

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