The lottery that saved some foundlings - Georgian Underworld: The Man Who Saved Children (C4)

The event was an 18th Century version of the National Lottery, without Dale Winton. In the audience were rich people, enjoying a night out watching the desperation and distress of the poor. "Contestants" were mothers unable to raise their babies. Rather than abandonment or infanticide, they entered the draw for places at England's first hospital for foundlings.

Infants of mothers picking a black ball from the bag were turned away. A white ball entitled the baby to a doctor's examination to determine if they were well enough to be accepted. A red ball put the child in the reserves, a substitute for those failing the medical.

This was not what Thomas Coram intended when he set out to help unwanted children. A shipbuilder who'd prospered in the New World, he spent 17 years collecting enough signatures to warrant a king's charter to establish the hospital. Most people, he reported, said they'd rather drop their breeches in court than support him.

He persevered and 30 children were accepted when the hospital, backed by rich benefactors, opened its gates in 1741.

Distraught mothers left love notes and tokens, from buttons to fruit pips, to remind their child of the cruel parting. None were ever given to the children, whose names were changed on arrival. Julius Caesar was among the first names, a cruel act in itself.

Although Coram's hospital fulfilled a social need, critics complained it discouraged matrimony or provoked debauchery. But it became fashionable for the better-off to lend their support. Grand ladies and gentleman came to see the foundlings eat and sleep. They considered new babies and toddlers more aesthetically pleasing than watching the mad in Bedlam.

Composer Handl performed his new work, The Messiah, in the chapel. This became an annual fund-raiser, the equivalent of a Live Aid concert where people had a good time and gave as well. Painters Hogarth, Gainsborough and Reynolds donated paintings to hang on the walls, making it the first public art gallery.

Ever-increasing demand put a strain on finances and a government grant was accepted. A condition was an open admissions policy that led to many sick children being admitted. Two-thirds died within two years. Later, the lottery method was adopted. The death rate of foundlings only improved after governors agreed to employ wet nurses.

Coram himself, after the board sacked him, became an impoverished and lonely figure. He died aged 83, having had no children of his own. It was fitting that the foundling given his name became a shipbuilder just like the first Thomas Coram