Emma Brownlow was born and raised in London’s Foundling Hospital.

Dad was foundling no. 18,607 and he spent 72 of his 73 years at Foundling Hospital, raising his kids there. The little orphanage must have saved his baby butt back in the early 1800s and he was clearly grateful. Ms. Brownlow is known for her paintings of the orphanage. She believed an optimistic outlook on life is very important and this is no Orphan Annie story. In her paintings the Foundling is a clean, orderly home of well-cared for abandoned kids. In one painting, a redeemed mother (no longer a "fallen" woman) returns to get her little one back - a foundling’s dream.

24 year-old Charles Dickens lived around the corner from the hospital for two years and his book Oliver Twist is a less glossy version of the foundling life. Dickens was friends with Brownlow’s father, John, and wrote the book while hanging out at the Foundling Hospital. John is in the book, as a good man who pulls messed-up Oliver off the cruel London streets. After more orphan misadventures John adopts little Twist and things turn out more or less OK.

Dickens was a good guy and supported the Foundling Hospital, and was key to setting up a home for "fallen women" called Urania Home. He even wrote "An Appeal to Fallen Women" which was distributed to women in prison for prostitution, encouraging them to enter Urania. For the Greeks, Urania was the divine daughter of Zeus who, through her imagination and thought, lifted people’s souls to great heights.

Brownlow went on to marry an unlucky singer and became Emma Brownlow King. A failed career in Italian opera and supporting seven kid bankrupted Mr. King. His first wife, a daughter, and then his oldest son all died. Brownlow marred him and added three non-foundling kids to the brood. Out of the spotlight, how they did after that is anyone's guess. But we're guessing Brownlow didn't abandon any wee ones.