Elizabeth Brownrigg

Since Thomas Coram had founded it in 1739, there had been a constant debate about what the station of the Foundling Hospital's young charges should be: whether they were being overeducated, or whether they should be subject to vocational education and trained for apprenticeships, which would lead to future stable lives as domestic servants.

The latter was decided upon, and the Foundling Hospital began to tender older children and young adolescents for vocational training as apprentices in 1759, shortly before the events described in this entry took place.

After the events described in this entry, the Foundling Hospital instituted greater safeguards of oversight for apprenticeship tendering, and reported cases of apprentice abuse dropped considerably.

However, Elizabeth Brownrigg proved ill-suited to the task of caring for her foundling domestic servants and soon began to engage in severe physical abuse.

This often involved stripping her young charges naked, chaining them to wooden beams or pipes, and then whipping them severely with switches, bullwhip handles and other implements for the slightest infraction of her rules.

After a medical examination, the Governors of the London Foundling Hospital demanded that James Brownrigg keep his wife's abusive tendencies in check, but enforced no further action.

Like Jones before her, Mitchell sought refuge from the abusive behavior of her employer, but John Brownrigg forced her to return to Flower de Luce Road.