Captain Thomas Coram 1668 - 1751 philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital Bloomsbury 

Here's somebody born long before me but who left an indelible memory on me when I was a tiny in child in the sixties, my dad used to take us out for a walk most evenings after he finished work, and I would beg him to bring me to see the kindly statue Captain Thomas Coram,and dad used to lift me up and sit me on the kindly old Captains knee, Its in Bloomsbury about 20 minutes walk from where I grew up in Kings Cross
St .Pancras London WC1. Today whilst visiting the area I made this quick video on my ancient,but handy.Nokia 6120 mobile phone, so apologies its. Not HD quality
The base of the statue is inscribed "Wm. MacMillan Sc. 1963". The pose is taken from Hogarth's portrait.
Captain Thomas Coram (c. 1668 - 29 March 1751) was a philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, to look after abandoned children on the streets of London. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity.
Thomas Coram, 1668 - 1751, Pioneer in the cause of child welfare.
{On a plaque on the rear face:}
Thomas Coram was born at Lyne Regis, Dorset in 1668 He became a Captain in the Merchant Navy trading between England and America. For several years he lived in America as a shipwright gaining a great reputation as an expert on all matters concerning the Colonies. As a staunch churchman he realised the importance of the spiritual needs of the settlers and left land in trust for the building of a church in Taunton Massachusetts. He became a Younger Brother of Trinity House and a trustee of the Colony of Georgia and settled in London in 1720. Here, in 1739, he established the Foundling Hospital for which a Royal Charter was obtained. He died in 1751 and his
body now rests in the Church of Saint Andrew, Holborn. The great pioneer work begun by Captain Coram is under the name of the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children. This statue was erected by the Governors in 1963.