Emblazoned across the 1841 census, as part of the entry for 86-year-old Ann Wildsmith of Worsbrough, Yorkshire are the words ‘London Foundling’. This is the only indication of Ann’s unusual ancestry. Because her age was incorrect, we could not find her in the Foundling Hospital records until a chance meeting between my cousin and a hospital volunteer in autumn 2023 unlocked the mystery. Ann, apparently born c.1755–6, had been accepted three years earlier, in May 1752.