Childhood faces and fears

A history of orphans in Britain, fears about post war brainwashing, childrens' letters to C19 newspapers and portraits on show at Compton Verney. Anne McElvoy presents.

New Generation Thinker and historian Emma Butcher is researching writing from children about the trauma of war. She visits Compton Verney. Jeremy Seabrook is researching the treatment of orphans from the 17th century onwards. Historian Sian Pooley reveals what children were writing to local papers about in the late 19th century and artist Emma Smith describes the post-war anxieties about children being brainwashed that inform her exhibition Wunderblock.

Painting Childhood: From Holbein to Freud runs at Compton Verney from March 16th to June 16th 2019. Emma Smith's exhibition Wunderblock is at the Freud Museum in London until 26th May Orphans: A History by Jeremy Seabrook is out now.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod