John Aldus - Tokens

John Aldus’s Tokens, were made in 2009, were installed on Marchmont Parade on Marchmont Street. In total there are 20 pieces of “Tokens” altogether. The Marchmont Parade was created in partnership between the Marchmont Association., Camden Council, Allied London Properties, Hermes, Brunswick TRA and John Aldus. The installation was opened in summer 2010.

Marchmont Street and Brunswick Centre were built on the Foundling Estate where Foundling Hospital stood. The story behind Foundling Hospital was that Thomas Coram was disgusted by the appalling conditions of the very poor and socially excluded children were living in describing it as “left to die on dung hills”. This led him to gather a set of influential Governors (William Hogarth and George Frederic Handel) seek the royal patronage of King George II. He built the Foundling Hospital in 1739 which became Britain’s first home for abandoned children.

Mothers would leave so that when they were in a potentially a better position, they will return and reclaim their child. As a way to know who their child was if they find that they are able to return, the mothers would leave token with a lot of them taking forms of a heart, one of which has become one of Aldus’s token. The tokens, most of which can now be found at the Foundling Museum, became symbols of the social history of the times when mothers were reduced to handing in their children in hopes of a better future as a reason of poverty and rules of society.

Another story behind one of Aldus’s Token is the circular coloured pieces on two of the pavement slabs. When mothers wanted to give in their child into the Hospital, they had to pick from either a bag for either for the boys or the girls accordingly to their child’s gender. Candles were snuffed out to protect the mothers’ anonymity as they enter the room. From the bags, came three coloured balls:

• White – Child would be checked to see if they were deemed able to survive through medical tests and permitted into the Hospital should they pass.
• Red – Re-entered into the ballot should a mother’s child with the white ball fail the medical test.
• Black – the mother was immediately escorted off the premises with their child.

Aldus’s Tokens are enlarged metal representations of the tokens can be found along the Marchmont Parade:

If you’re popping around to see Tokens, pop around into the Foundling Museum too where you’ll find the original tokens. Just nearby is Coram’s Fields where they have a peculiar policy of allowing access to any adult if they have a child with them. You can find concept design, sketches and models of Tokens on John Aldus's website.

#Tokens