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The Grove Wesleyan Methodist Mission was situated on Great Guildford Street, Southwark.

Rates were local taxes levied upon the occupiers of property to defray expenses incurred by local government authorities in providing services, including maintenance of sewer systems and the relief of the poor.

Paddington Green is the name given both to an open space and to the village surrounding it, bounded to the north and east by Edgware Road, to the south and west by the Grand Junction canal and to the north by the Regent's canal. The parish church was Saint Mary's, which ceased to be used in 1845. Part of the green west of the church, which had been bought as more burial ground, was instead used for a new parish vestry hall.

The vestry hall of the parish of Saint George was rebuilt in 1884 on Mount Street, near Hanover Square, Mayfair, presumably with an attached garden.

Until 1834 the local authority responsible for poor relief was the parish. After the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act, all except the largest parishes were forced to combine into poor law unions which elected Boards of Guardians which took over responsibility for poor relief. Some London parishes which had before 1834 obtained local acts of Parliament to regulate their administration of poor relief were able to continue their existing arrangements until 1867, when the Metropolitan Poor Act forced all London parishes to come under the control of Boards of Guardians.

Metropolitan parishes and unions were those falling within the Metropolis: London and those parts of neighbouring Middlesex, Essex, Surrey and Kent which had become increasingly urbanised. Valuation was the process of determining how much rates (local tax) should be paid by each property owner in an area.

The Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, was founded in 1801 at the height of Britain's war with France (1793-1815). An estimated 315,000 men died during this conflict, leaving their dependents destitute. The Asylum was intended to provide a home and school for the children of fallen rank and file soldiers as an alternative to the workhouse. In 1892, the RMA was renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School and, in 1909, moved to new premises constructed on the Downs of Dover, Kent.

Source: The Duke of York's Royal Military School website, http://www.achart.ca/york/history.html.

The West London Tabernacle, Penzance Place, Holland Park, was originally erected in the 1860's by Mr. Varley, a Baptist businessman who began to preach in the neighbouring Potteries in about 1863. It was enlarged and 'beautified' in 1871-1872 to designs by Habershon and Pite. It is built of yellow stock bricks with stone dressings, the style being a free adaptation of Italian Renaissance. The south front is flanked by two towers, now partially demolished, which contained staircases to the galleries. The centre of this elevation was pierced by a largesemi-circular-headed window with a hood moulding in the form of a pointed arch. The building is now in commercial use.

From: 'The Norland estate', Survey of London: volume 37: Northern Kensington (1973), pp. 276-297.

The church of Saint John was established in 1855, part of the development of Saint John's as a residential district by the wealthy Lucas family. A parish was assigned in the same year.

The Richmond Main Sewerage Board was created by Provisional Order of the Local Government Board under Section 279 of the Public Health Act, 1875 in 1887 to serve the parishes of Richmond, Kew, Petersham, North Sheen, Barnes and Mortlake, its members being appointed by the two sanitary authorities covering this area, the Richmond Corporation, which supplied six members (including the Mayor ex officio) and the Richmond Rural Sanitary Authority which also supplied six members (including the Chairman, ex officio). When the rural authority ceased to exist in 1892, part of its area was added to the borough of Richmond and the remainder was administered by a newly-created Barnes Urban Sanitary Authority (later Urban District Council) and, by an order of the Local Government Board in the following year, the constitution of the Richmond Main Sewerage Board was changed, Richmond supplying 7 members and Barnes 6. Barnes received a charter of incorporation as a municipal borough in 1932.

The Sewage Works in Westhall Road, Kew Gardens were opened in 1891, and were reconstructed over the period 1947-1960.

Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.

Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.

Saint Pancras Parish first had a workhouse in 1777, which was rebuilt in 1802. The Parish adopted Hobhouse's Act of 1831 which provided for administration of the parish by an executive committee elected from the ratepayers and continued to operate in this way after 1834, only becoming a Board of Guardians in 1867. Further building work took place at the workhouse in 1881. The workhouse is now Saint Pancras Hospital. The Saint Pancras Union also built Highgate Infirmary, which they subsequently sold to the Central London Sick Asylum District. In 1868 construction began on an industrial school at Leavesden. The school later became Abbots Langley Hospital.

Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.

The Technical Education Board was set up by the London County Council in 1893 under the Technical Education Acts of 1889-91. It consisted of 20 members of the Council and 15 representatives of other bodies with Sidney Webb as Chairman. Though it enjoyed considerable independence it had the active backing and support of the Council. Its income was derived from the customs duty on spirits and beer (under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890), and from the rates; and its work was aided by the large sums devoted by the City Parochial Charities to the establishment and maintenance of polytechnics. Its aim throughout was to aid and reinforce the supply of technical and secondary education rather than to make direct provision of such education, nevertheless the overlapping of spheres of interest of the Technical Education Board and the School Board for London resulted in controversy which was resolved in the Cockerton judgment of 1900-01 and led finally to the transfer of the work of both Boards to the Council in 1904 under the Education Act of 1902.

The sewage works in Byegrove Road, Colliers Wood, were originally constructed by the Croydon Rural District Council to serve the northern part of its area. On 31 March 1915, this Authority ceased to exist, parts of its area being transferred to the rural districts of Epsom and Godstone and the remainder formed into the three urban districts of Beddington and Wallington, Mitcham, and Coulsdon and Purley. The parish of Morden had already been transferred from the Croydon rural district to the Merton urban district on 1 April 1913.

Following these changes, the three new urban districts together with the Merton and Morden Urban District Council decided to form a Joint Drainage Committee under Section 57 of the Local Government Act 1894 to manage the works and continue its services throughout the area hitherto served.

In 1916, by provisional order under Section 279 of the Public Health Act 1875, the Local Government Board created the Wandle Valley Joint Sewerage Board, to consist of the Chairman and 3 other members from each of the two urban districts of Beddington and Wallington and Mitcham and the Chairman and 2 other members of the urban district of Merton and Morden. Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council was not represented but the small part of its area covered by the works continued to be covered as a transitional arrangement until alternative means of sewage disposal were put into effect in its respect.

The name of the authority was changed to the Wandle Valley Main Drainage Authority by the Wandle Valley Main Drainage Order 1962 (S.I. 1962 No. 2616) and its functions were transferred to the Greater London Council on 1 April 1965 by virtue of Section 35(1) of the London Government Act, 1963.

The Lambeth Group of Hospitals was formed in June 1948 by the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board to be responsible for the management of Lambeth hospital (ref. H01/L), the South London Hospital for Women and Children (ref. H24), Annie McCall Maternity Hospital (ref. H24) and the South Western hospital ref. H15/SW).

In October 1956 the group was enlarged by the addition of the Royal Eye Hospital, Southwark and its branch at Surbiton (ref. H15/RE). Holmhurst Home, a halfway house for elderly patients (ref. H15/HH), was opened in 1952, by the King's Fund and attached to the Lambeth Group. Records of all these hospital are held by the London Metropolitan Archives.

On 1 July 1964 Lambeth Hospital was transferred to the Saint Thomas' Hospital Group. Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee amalgamated with Wandsworth Hospital Management Committee to form the South West London Hospital Group Hospital Management Committee. All other hospitals in the Lambeth Group also became part of the new group. In 1968 the South Western Hospital was transferred across to the Saint Thomas' Hospital Group.

Saint John's Hospital was founded in 1863 by John Laws Milton at 12 Church Street, Soho (now Romilly Street). Two years later it moved to 45 Leicester Square. The justification for founding Saint John's, the second special hospital for diseases of the skin in London was 'on the grounds that general hospitals had refused to institute special departments for the treatment and teaching of skin disease'. The School of Dermatology was established at the hospital by 1885. The first fifty years of the hospital's existence were marked by internal conflict, financial difficulties and public controversy culminating in the libel action brought by the Hospital Secretary, Saint Vincent Mercier, against the editor of Truth in 1889. For further information see the files of the Charity Organisation Society Enquiry Department (ref. A/FWA/C/D17/1-5).

In 1883 the hospital opened a separate inpatients department at Markham Square, Kings Road, Chelsea. This closed in 1886 and both in-patients and out-patients moved to 49 Leicester Square in 1887. A new in-patients department was opened in 1895 at Arlington House, 262 Uxbridge Road, Hammersmith. The outpatients department was rebuilt in 1905 at 49 Leicester Square and then moved in 1935 to its present premises at 5 Lisle Street, Leicester Square.

Saint John's Hospital benefited from the founding in 1923 of the London School of Dermatology based at the hospital. This was taken over by the Institute of Dermatology in 1946. Saint John's Hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948 and was designated as one of the fourteen post graduate teaching hospitals.

The in-patient department of the hospital at Uxbridge Road had been forced to close after being severely damaged by bombing in September 1940. In 1952 the disused part of the Eastern Fever Hospital at Homerton was made available to Saint John's for the admission of in-patients. Additional wards and laboratories were opened at Homerton between 1953 and 1961. In 1982 Saint John's Hospital became part of the West Lambeth Health Authority. The in-patient department and Institute of Dermatology moved from Homerton to Saint Thomas' Hospital and the Lambeth Hospital site by February 1987. The outpatient department moved from Lisle Street to Saint Thomas' Hospital in 1989.

The foundation stone for Leavesden Asylum was laid on 31st October 1868 by the Chairman of the Management Committee, William Henry Wyatt, J.P. The first patients were not admitted until 9th October 1870, the same date as the opening of Caterham Asylum. Both Asylums were built and run by the recently constituted Metropolitan Asylums Board for the care of "insane paupers" who were "such harmless persons of the chronic or imbecile class as could lawfully be detained in a workhouse". "Dangerous or curable" patients were to be sent to the county lunatic asylums.

By 15th October Leavesden had over 100 patients and within six months all the female accommodation was in use and storerooms had been converted into bedrooms to provide extra accommodation. At first children were admitted along with adults, but from 1873 the children were sent to Darenth Training Colony. However, both Caterham and Leavesden were soon full to capacity.

The need for extra accommodation was a continuing problem and in 1872 a new block was opened to provide accommodation for laundry staff and those patients who worked in the laundry. A further storey was added to this block in 1900. By November 1876 Leavesden was housing 2,118 patients, vastly more than the 1,500 it had been built for. This meant there was ever increasing pressure on beds and staff. In 1903, a further Asylum was built at Tooting Bec although this provided only temporary relief for Leavesden as it was rapidly filled with patients transferred from the workhouses. In 1909 the process of modernising and altering all the ward blocks to take the increasing numbers of elderly and infirm patients into account, was begun. This process was completed by 1931.

The First World War led to acute staff shortage as many of the nursing staff joined the armed forces. Twenty-two members of staff died on active service. Troops were billeted in the Recreation Hall for a few months and officers were quartered on the Medical Superintendent. In 1918 the staff shortage was so acute, three wards had to be closed, these were not all reopened until 1921.

Further modernisation took place between 1929 and 1931 with the installation of electricity and other changes to improve conditions for the patients at the hospital.

In 1930 the control of Leavesden was transferred to the London County Council under the Mental Hospitals Committee. Leavesden hospital was assigned the special function of caring for 'mentally subnormal persons' described as 'adult idiots and low-grade imbeciles' and also retained the continued treatment of TB cases.

In 1932 the Saint Pancras Industrial School, or Leavesden Residential School, closed and the site, situated opposite the hospital, was purchased for use as an annexe to the hospital. It was to be used for those patients who needed only routine medical care rather than the more structured observation of the hospital. The idea was to help patients who were ready to begin to acclimatise to greater freedom in preparation for their discharge into the community.

The Second World War saw the annexe designated as an Emergency Hospital and the patients were transferred back to the main building. Leavesden was also used to accommodate some patients from Saint Bernard's Hospital, Ealing following bombing in 1944 and children from the Fountain Hospital, Tooting. Hutted buildings were erected in the Annexe grounds and were used for the treatment of war casualties including French survivors from Dunkirk. The Emergency Hospital closed in 1943 and was taken over first by wounded Canadian soldiers and their nursing staff and later by an English Teachers' Training College. The hospital suffered no serious damage during the war but it took years to get back to pre-wartime levels of staffing and maintenance. The Annexe was occupied by the Training School until 1950, which led to overcrowded and understaffed wards on the main site.

The Hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948 and was under the jurisdiction of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board through a Hospital Management Committee. January 1948 saw the establishment of the Preliminary Training School under the control of two senior nurses. This gave probationers the opportunity to work towards certification and recognised qualifications. The 1950's and 1960's saw the development of training schemes for the young adults at Leavesden, with the aim of enabling them to find local employment.

In 1974 the hospital was transferred to the South West District of Hertfordshire Area Health Authority in the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. The 1970's saw a continuing trend in the decline of patient numbers and in 1984 the Annexe was closed and the site sold for redevelopment, all services were transferred to the main site. The hospital was also transferred to the control of the North West Hertfordshire Health Authority in a further round on NHS reorganisation at this time. There was one further administrative change for the Hospital when Horizon NHS Trust took over it management in 1990. The hospital was closed in 1995.

Chelsea Hospital for Women was founded in 1871 for the treatment 'of diseases peculiar to women'. The Hospital was initially situated at 178 King's Road, Chelsea, where it had eight beds for inpatients. Two of its founders, Dr Thomas Chambers and Dr James Aveling, became the first physicians to the hospital. The Duchess of Albany opened a new and larger hospital containing 63 beds, situated in Fulham Road, in 1883. This was followed in 1890-1891 by the building of a convalescent home at St Leonard's-on-Sea. In 1911 Earl Cadogan gave a site in Arthur Street, Chelsea for a new and larger hospital. This opened on 11 July 1916 with 95 beds. The nurses' home was completed in 1924. Despite suffering damage in an air raid in April 1941, Chelsea Hospital came through the War relatively unscathed. In 1948 it became part of the National Health Service and was designated a teaching hospital. It shared a Board of Governors with Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital, Hammersmith. In 1988 the former Chelsea Hospital for Women in Dovehouse Street ceased to be used for hospital purposes. All functions were transferred to the Queen Charlotte's site in Goldhawk Road.

In 1739 Sir Richard Manningham, the leading man-midwife of his day, established some lying-in wards in a house adjoining his residence in Jermyn Street. This was the first general lying-in hospital in Britain. In 1752 the hospital moved to Saint Marylebone became known as the General Lying-In Hospital and was established as a teaching hospital. In 1929 an isolation hospital for women suffering from puerperal fever was established on Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith. It was intended that this become part of an enlarged hospital with the Queen's Lying-In Hospital, called Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital. The main hospital building were constructed between 1937 and 1939 and in 1940 the Queen's Lying-In Hospital moved in from Marylebone. After the end of the Second World War Queen Charlotte's started negotiations with the Chelsea Hospital for Women with the object of forming a combined school for teaching obstetrics and gynaecology to postgraduate students. This co-operation was recognised under the newly formed National Health Service through the creation of Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital Management Committee. The hospitals were also in the separate Regional Hospital Board for London Teaching hospitals.

With NHS reorganisation in 1974 Queen Charlotte's became part of the Postgraduate Teaching Regional Health Authority, further recognition of the teaching work done by the hospital. It was in a District Health Authority of its own. In 1982 further reorganisation linked Queen Charlotte's and Hammersmith Hospital's under one Regional Health Authority. This followed the plans, in 1976, to move Queen Charlotte's to the Hammersmith Hospital site on Du Cane Road. In 1988 the long connections between the Chelsea Hospital for Women and Queen Charlotte's were consolidated through the merger of the two hospitals. Since 1994 Queen Charlotte's and the Hammersmith Hospital have formed the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust. Queen Charlotte's Hospital relocated to the Hammersmith Hospital site at the end of 2000.

Chelsea Hospital for Women was founded in 1871 for the treatment 'of diseases peculiar to women'. The Hospital was initially situated at 178 King's Road, Chelsea, where it had eight beds for inpatients. Two of its founders, Dr Thomas Chambers and Dr James Aveling, became the first physicians to the hospital. Initially the main object of the charity was to provide treatment for ladies of limited means, whose 'social positions and refined sympathies' precluded them from entering the general hospitals. Although they could not afford expensive and prolonged medical treatment at home, they were expected to pay a minimum fee of a guinea a week towards the expenses of the Chelsea Hospital for Women. Poor, respectable women were admitted free of charge if they could obtain a subscriber's letter. The Duchess of Albany opened a new and larger hospital containing 63 beds, situated in Fulham Road, in 1883. This was followed in 1890-1891 by the building of a convalescent home at St Leonard's-on-Sea.

The development of the hospital was interrupted in 1894 and 1895 by a series of disputes between the Board of Management, members of the medical staff, and the medical press. A Committee of Enquiry chaired by Lord Balfour investigated allegations that hospital staff had carried out unnecessary and dangerous operations upon poor patients. In consequence ten of the medical staff resigned. Some, but not all, of the medical officers were reappointed by the governors. This led to a campaign in the medical press culminating in fresh elections of the medical staff in January 1895. The new surgeon to inpatients, Mr O'Callaghan, quickly proved to be so difficult to work with that the governors with the backing of the rest of the medical staff relieved him of his duties.

In 1911 Earl Cadogan gave a site in Arthur Street, Chelsea for a new and larger hospital. This opened on 11 July 1916 with 95 beds. The nurses' home was completed in 1924. The following year 'Pay Wards' were introduced. Eighteen beds were set aside as a 'Paying Floor' for patients able to pay £5.5s a week as well as fees to their medical officers. The east block wards were enlarged in 1933. This was followed in 1938-1939 by further extensions to the hospital and nurses' home that increased the accommodation to 126 beds, including a wing of six single rooms. At the same time a new heating system was installed. In 1939 Arthur Street was renamed Dovehouse Street.

In 1940 the hospital was designated Class 1A in the Emergency Hospital Service Scheme whereby 60 beds were placed at the disposal of the Ministry of Health for civilian casualties. In September 1940 the danger from air raids caused the evacuation of the top floor of the hospital thereby further reducing the number of beds. In 1939 some patients from Chelsea Hospital for Women were transferred to the convalescent home at St Leonard's but in 1940 this had to be closed because of the threat of invasion. Between 1940 and 1945 some patients from Chelsea Hospital for Women were treated at South Middlesex Hospital, Isleworth.

Despite suffering damage in an air raid in April 1941, Chelsea Hospital came through the War relatively unscathed. In 1948 it became part of the National Health Service and was designated a teaching hospital. It shared a Board of Governors with Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital, Hammersmith. In 1988 the former Chelsea Hospital for Women in Dovehouse Street ceased to be used for hospital purposes. All functions were transferred to the Queen Charlotte's site in Goldhawk Road.

Saint Charles' Hospital was built as Saint Marylebone Infirmary situated in the Ladbroke Grove area of North Kensington. The Prince and Princess of Wales opened the hospital in 1881. Its name was changed to Saint Charles' Hospital when it was transferred from Saint Marylebone Board of Guardians to the London County Council in 1930. In 1948 it became part of the National Health Service and came under the control of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and the Paddington Group Hospital Management Committee. From 1982 it formed part of the Paddington and North Kensington District Health Authority. In 1992 it became part of Parkside NHS Trust.

The Hornsey Central Hospital, formerly the Hornsey Cottage Hospital, at Park Road, Crouch End, was built by Hornsey Borough Council on land donated by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Although the foundation stone was laid in 1907, the hospital did not open until January 1910.

The building was extended three times, in 1921, 1938 and 1956, and in 1927 changed its name to the Hornsey Central Hospital, mainly because of difficulties recruiting nursing staff, who were unwilling to work in a cottage hospital.

Until 1974 it was a general hospital but from 1974 until 1981 it specialised in acute cases. Since 1981 the hospital has dealt mainly with geriatric patients.

After the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, Hornsey Central Hospital was administered by the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, and, on a local level, by the Archway Group Hospital Management Committee from 1948 to 1963 and by its successor the North London Group from 1963 to 1974. Since 1974 the hospital has been the responsibility of the North East Thames Regional Health Authority and the Islington District Health Authority, which amalgamated with the Bloomsbury Health Authority in 1990 to become the Bloomsbury and Islington District Health Authority.

The Royal Northern Hospital opened as the Great Northern Hospital on 30 June 1856. Its founder was Sherard Freeman Statham, an assistant surgeon at University College Hospital, and he opened the hospital in York Road, King's Cross where it served workers on the King's Cross and Euston Railways.

The arrival of the Metropolitan Railway Company in 1862 necessitated a move for the hospital. The outpatients were moved to a house in Pentonville Road, while the in-patients were accommodated at the Spinal Hospital in Great Portland Street. At this time the Spinal Hospital amalgamated with the Great Northern Hospital and became its orthopaedic department. In 1864 the in-patients moved into a newly acquired building in Caledonian Road. During 1867 the Hospital expanded into more houses in the Caledonian Road area but purpose-built premises were still needed.

Due to increasing need for another hospital in the area, a Central Hospital for North London had been proposed. It amalgamated with the Great Northern Hospital in 1884, and after a competition to design its premises, the Great Northern Central Hospital moved to Holloway Road in 1888. The outpatients joined them from Pentonville Road in April, and the new hospital was officially opened in July.

Expansion continued, due to the pressure of numbers, and thanks mainly to the hospital's Ladies Association. The Association was officially founded in 1869 but had been active for several years before that. Its aim was to aid and befriend patients and servants on discharge and to brighten the lives of the in-patients; it also helped the hospital financially. The Ladies Association Building Fund was set up in 1890 and remained active until the new block was complete in 1894. Also in 1894 the hospital opened wards for paying patients, which encountered a great deal of hostility from local doctors.

In 1895 the Great Northern Central Hospital was formally recognised as a place of study for fifth year medical students by the University of London and the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. A grant was awarded to the hospital in 1898 by the Prince of Wales (later the King Edward) Hospital Fund for London.

A charter of incorporation was granted to the hospital in 1900, under the title of "The President, Vice-President and Governors of the Great Northern Central Hospital". All hospital property and land was thereafter vested in the Corporation, not the trustees as before. In 1907 Mr Francis Reckitt donated the money for a convalescent home, to be attached to the hospital. A suitable site was found in Clacton-on-Sea and the 'Reckitt Convalescent Home of the Great Northern Central Hospital' was opened in July 1909. The home was managed by a special committee, appointed by the management committee of the hospital.

A Home of Recovery at Earlsmead, Hornsey Lane, was donated to the hospital in May 1918, by Mr E.G. Harrop. The loan of the home, however, was only temporary and in 1919 the home moved to Summerlee, Fortis Green. Again the loan of the property expired and after negotiations by the Management Committee the hospital purchased Grovelands, a mansion in Southgate, where it opened a permanent home of recovery in February 1921. The home continued as part of the hospital until 1977 when it closed.

The name of the hospital had come into question in 1911 because of its cumbersome nature, and from that date all references to the hospital included "commonly called the Great Northern Hospital" after the title. Doubts about the hospital's name were brought up again in 1919 and in December of that year it was decided to alter the charter of incorporation to read 'Royal Northern Hospital'. The change of name was delayed until November 1921, after the hospital had amalgamated with the Royal Chest Hospital (H33/RCH). Financial difficulties had forced the chest hospital's council to opt for amalgamation with the Royal Northern in preference to closure. A supplementary charter recording the change of name was granted in June 1924.

The Royal Northern Hospital continued to expand. A School of Radiography - one of the first in the country - was founded in 1929, followed in the same year by a school of Housekeeping and Catering. In 1931 a new private block was opened, known as the Saint David's Wing, and in 1937, after a donation by Beechams Pills Limited, the Beechams Laboratories of Pathology, Bacteriology, Biochemistry and Pharmacy were also opened. 1937 also saw the opening of a fracture clinic, an occupational therapy centre and a radiotherapy department.

The introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 caused many and widespread changes in the management of the hospital. The Ladies Association and League ceased to exist at this time and the hospital was placed under the control of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. The Northern Group Hospital Management Committee was set up to administer the Royal Northern and seven other hospitals, which now formed the Northern Group of Hospitals. These other hospitals were the Northaw House Children's Hospital, Highlands Hospital, Wood Green and Southgate Hospital, and the City of London Maternity Hospital (H10/CLM). The Maternity Nursing Association (H33/MNA) was also affiliated to the group. Although the Reckitt Convalescent Home had become part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board in 1948, patients were still sent there by the Royal Northern on account of the close association between the two institutions.

In 1963 the Northern Group Hospital Management Committee joined with the Archway Group to form the North London Hospital Management Committee, their headquarters remaining at the Royal Northern Hospital. After 1974 the Northern Group of Hospitals came under the North East Thames Regional Health Authority; on a local level the Royal Northern was administered by the Islington District Health Authority, while Grovelands Hospital came under the Enfield District Health Authority until its closure.

Brentford Hospital originated in Brentford Dispensary founded in 1818. The parish records of Saint Laurence, New Brentford, include an annual report of Brentford Dispensary for 1928 (DRO58/131) and an account book for 1852-1895 (DRO58/132/1). In 1891 the dispensary committee leased Marlborough House in the Butts as a residence for nurses to care for the sick poor in their own homes and to provide accommodation for some patients. Brentford Cottage Hospital and Nurses Home opened in 1892. The committee was subsequently able to purchase Marlborough House.

Between 1927 and 1928 a new larger hospital was built in Boston Manor Road, Brentford, on a site of over an acre, part of Gale's Orchard. Although it was now known as Brentford Hospital, it remained a general practitioner hospital with beds for 33 inpatients. In 1954 visitors from King Edward's Hospital Fund for London described it as "a very pleasant general practitioner hospital built in 1928. There are six general practitioners on the staff and we gathered that nearly all the patients come from them, except those that come through the Emergency Bed Service. There are medical and surgical consultants, the latter do the operating" (A/KE/735/48).

In 1948 Brentford Hospital was transferred to the National Health Service. It became one of the South West Middlesex group of hospitals of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1974 Brentford Hospital came under the control of Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow Area Health Authority (Teaching) as part of Hounslow Health District. After 1976 it ceased to be used as an acute hospital, it reopened late in 1979 as a long stay geriatric hospital. In 1982 it became the responsibility of Hounslow and Spelthorne Health Authority.

Hounslow Hospital was founded in 1874 in Bell Road, Hounslow. Little information appears to survive about its early years. In 1913 it moved to Staines Road, Hounslow to a newly built 20 bed cottage hospital. By 1954 the accommodation had been increased to 81 beds arranged in three ground floor wards, one each for children, men and women. (See A/KE/735/49). In 1948 Hounslow Hospital became part of the National Health Service administered by the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and Staines Group Hospital Management Committee. On the reorganisation of the National Health Service in 1974 it was transferred to Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow Area Health Authority (Teaching) and Hounslow Health District. The hospital ceased to admit patients on 31 August 1977.

Mogden Isolation Hospital, Mogden Lane, Isleworth was opened in 1898 by the Borough of Richmond (Surrey) and Heston and Isleworth Urban District Joint Isolation Hospital Committee for the treatment of patients suffering from scarlet fever, diphtheria, enteric fever, measles, and other infectious diseases. It partially replaced Dockwell Isolation Hospital, situated near Cranford, but in the parish of Heston, which was retained for the treatment of smallpox cases. In between smallpox epidemics the hospital stood empty for several years at a time. When necessary, staff were allocated to the hospital from Mogden.

By the late 1920s the Joint Isolation Hospital Committee had to decide whether to replace the buildings at Dockwell Hospital or to make alternative arrangements for the treatment of smallpox patients. The "old building" next to the Administration Block was sold by auction in 1921. In 1926 Richmond Council reached agreement with the Surrey Smallpox Hospital Committee for the reception and treatment of smallpox patients from Richmond at Surrey Smallpox Hospital, Clandon. Though Dockwell Isolation Hospital was brought into use in 1928 to admit ten smallpox cases and in 1930 for the treatment of diphtheria patients, it had finally closed by 1935.

In that year the Joint Isolation Hospital Committee ceased to exist. On 1 April 1935 the South Middlesex and Richmond Joint Hospital Board took over control of Mogden, Twickenham and Hampton Isolation Hospitals. Hampton Isolation Hospital closed in July 1935. After a further reorganisation in September 1935, all acute cases except certain less common infections were admitted to Mogden Hospital. Twickenham Isolation Hospital was used only for a few enteric fever cases, some rarer infections, and "clean" scarlet fever cases. Twickenham Hospital closed in 1938 on the completion of substantial additional buildings at Mogden Hospital, which was renamed the South Middlesex Fever Hospital.

A report by visitors from King Edward's Hospital Fund for London in 1953 described the new South Middlesex Hospital "This was built between the wars, apparently regardless of cost, by a joint board consisting of the Boroughs of Richmond, Twickenham and Heston and Isleworth. There are four wards, each being separate single storey blocks, two in horse shoe form facing south containing 24 beds in cubicles. The other two are straight wards, one cubicled and the other open." An operating theatre was provided adjoining one of the horse shoe wards. The main kitchen "is enormous and could cook for 1,000. The nurses' home is large and magnificent, but lacks something in homeliness" (ref. A/KE/735/48). A laboratory and administrative block were also built in 1938 and work was set in hand to modernise the old wards.

On the outbreak of war in 1939, the large pavilion wards were taken over by the Emergency Medical Service. Extra beds were provided by the Ministry of Health making a total of 227 beds available for casualties. 96 beds in the two cubicle blocks remained in use for infectious diseases. Extra nursing, clerical and domestic staff were transferred from Westminster Hospital and other London hospitals. A team of medical staff from St George's Hospital and the West London Hospital took up residence at the South Middlesex Hospital. In October 1940 26 beds in Ward VII were set aside for the surgical treatment of gynaecological cases. This work was expanded in 1941, so that in 1942 a total of 302 gynaecological patients were admitted. For case notes for gynaecological cases transferred to the South Middlesex Hospital from Chelsea Hospital for Women 1940-1945 see H27/CW/B3/1-5. 1947 saw a substantial increase in admissions of patients suffering from infectious diseases caused by epidemics of measles and polio and the admission of patients from Acton.

In 1948 South Middlesex Hospital became part of the National Health Service as one of the South West Middlesex group of hospitals of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1953 the King's Fund visitors found that the hospital had 144 beds of which 83 were in use. "Two of the wards are used for fevers, one is closed and the fourth open ward is the surgical ward used by Dr Galloway from the West Middlesex Hospital" (ref. A/KE/735/48). In 1955 one of the smaller buildings was converted into an ophthalmic department with its own operating theatre to provide a regional ophthalmic unit. By 1973 the South Middlesex Hospital was described as mainly acute. On the reorganisation of the National Health Service in 1974 it was transferred to the Hounslow Health District of Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow Area Health Authority (Teaching). After 1982 it became the responsibility of Hounslow and Spelthorne Health Authority. The hospital closed around 1991.

From 1845 to 1899 the parish of Hammersmith formed part of Fulham Poor Law Union. In 1899 a separate Board of Guardians was constituted for Hammersmith, which started to plan the construction of their own workhouse and infirmary on a site bordering Wormwood Scrubs Prison. Both opened in 1905. The infirmary was situated on the southern part of the site fronting on to Du Cane Road. The workhouse was built behind the infirmary to the north. In 1916 both the hospital and the workhouse (known as Hammersmith Institution) were taken over by the War Office for the treatment of military casualties. From February 1916 the combined hospital and institution was known as the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, Shepherd's Bush. It had beds for 800 patients and another 200 were billeted locally. In 1919 the hospital was transferred to the Ministry of Pensions, who ran it until April 1925 when it was returned to Hammersmith Board of Guardians.

Under the terms of the 1929 Local Government Act, Hammersmith Hospital and Institution were in 1930 taken over by the London County Council, who progressively merged the hospital and institution and appropriated them both for the treatment of the sick between 1930 and 1935, thus removing them from the Poor Law. With the support of the London County Council, the Royal Postgraduate Medical School opened at Hammersmith Hospital in 1935 as a School of the University of London.

In 1948 Hammersmith Hospital became part of the National Health Service as a teaching hospital with its own Board of Governors, who were also responsible for Saint Mark's Hospital and the West London Hospital. On the reorganisation of the NHS in 1974 it became part of the North Hammersmith Health District (Teaching) of Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow Area Health Authority. In 1982 Hammersmith Hospital was constituted a Special Health Authority and in 1984 it combined with Queen Charlotte's Hospital to become Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte's Special Health Authority. In 1990 the Hospital became part of the Hammersmith Hospital NHS Trust.

Acton Cottage Hospital, the gift of J Passmore Edwards, was built on land in Gunnersbury Lane given by Lord Rothschild, to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It opened on 4 May 1898 with 12 beds. By 1902 the "Passmore Edwards' Acton Cottage Hospital, Nursing Institution and Invalid Kitchen" included a rapidly expanding outpatients department, a district nursing service, a provident dispensary, and an invalid kitchen. The hospital was extended in 1904 and 1909 to provide 30 beds for in-patients, a children's ward and operating theatre. It was financed by voluntary donations, annual subscriptions, fetes, carnivals and other fundraising events. According to the rules in 1902 the "Hospital shall be open to the poor resident, or employed by residents in Acton, free of charge; but if there be a vacant bed, needy residents may be admitted for operations or accidents as paying patients, at a minimum fee of just over two pounds per week. Not more than one paying patient shall at any time be in the Hospital." Cases of mental disorder, infectious diseases, incurable illness, advanced pulmonary disease and childbirth were not admitted. Except in urgent cases prospective patients had to produce a letter of recommendation and a medical certificate.

By 1915 the name of the hospital had been changed to Acton Hospital. Many military patients were admitted during the First World War. In 1916 the hospital agreed with Acton District Council that it would provide an antenatal clinic, an infant dispensary, and one bed for the treatment of complicated cases of pregnancy; In 1923 a substantial enlargement of the hospital was completed. The annual report for that year proclaimed that "Acton is now in possession of one of the finest General suburban Hospitals, with an excellent outpatients department and a resident Medical officer, a staff of fully qualified Nurses, an X-ray Apparatus, and other accessories which go to the efficient equipment of a General Hospital." Wards were provided for the treatment of paying patients who were unable to afford the higher charges demanded by nursing homes. Further extensions by 1928 brought the total bed complement up to 62 and saw the opening of nurses' hostel; In 1948 Acton Hospital became part of the National Health Service as an 84 bed general hospital, with a large and well-equipped X-ray department and a large physiotherapy department. It was administered by the Central Middlesex Group Hospital Management Committee of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. On the reorganisation of the NHS in 1974 it was transferred to the North Hammersmith District (Teaching) of Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow Area Health Authority (Teaching). A report in 1975 (H40/AC/A/06/008) concluded that Acton Hospital could not undertake the functions of a district general hospital, and recommended that it should become a community hospital.

Since 1980 it has been used for the treatment of geriatric patients requiring long term care and rehabilitation. On the further reorganisation of the NHS in 1982 Acton Hospital became the responsibility of Hammersmith Special Health Authority (from 1985 Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte's Special Health Authority). In 1990 the former casualty department was redeveloped to house "The Gunnersbury Unit" an elderly mentally ill assessment unit. In 1994 Acton Hospital became part of the Hammersmith Hospitals Trust together with Hammersmith Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital.

The hospital opened on 1st December 1858 at 32 Soho Square as the Dental Hospital of London. The origins of all regulated and scientific dental practices can be found in the inception of the Dental Hospital and School. Before 1858 the dental profession had no regulation and anyone could set themselves up as a dental practitioner. This led to poor standards and a realisation of the need for proper training and an official qualification for dental practitioners. The Dental Hospital was established to achieve this and gained the backing of the Royal College of Surgeons to approve diplomas. The Dental School opened on 1st October 1859 to provide regulated, structured training for students in dental medicine. The hospital emphasised the need to regard dental medicine as connected to all other branches of medicine and to look at the wider picture when treating patients.

In 1911 the Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surgery became a school of the University of London and as well as their own Licence in Dental Surgery a University Degree in Dental Surgery was offered. This development allowed the Dental School to become involved in many of the developments in dental surgery that occurred in the early twentieth century. However the burden of debt did also mean that the School and Hospital did not develop as rapidly during this period as some of their competitors. The technological development of the Hospital was slowed down by the financial pressures and by the internal politics of the teaching and practice of Dental Surgery at this time.

The establishment of the NHS in 1948 saw the Royal Dental Hospital grouped with the Saint George's Hospital and Medical School, located on Hyde Park Corner and the Atkinson Morley in Wimbledon as the Saint George's Hospital Teaching Group. The School of Dental Surgery became a self-governing body, affiliated with Saint George's Hospital Medical School. The problems over space were still an issue. In 1957 plans to renovate the interior of the hospital to provide more space and better equipment were approved and the Hospital and School accomodation was reorganised, the School moved most of its non-clinical facilities into the newly acquired Ciro Club on Orange Street.

During the 1960's and 1970's the big issue was the transfer of the Dental School to Tooting with Saint George's Hospital and Medical School, which were to be rebuilt there. The Royal Dental Hospital was not at first happy with this and tried to delay the move, which was also held up by the Ministry of Health due to the finacial situation of the time. However Saint George's finally moved in 1975 and in 1976 the School of Dental Surgery's pre-clinical departments moved to Tooting. It was decided that the dental service required in Tooting was not that offered by the Royal Dental Hospital and the 1980's were spent preparing of the closure of the Hospital. The Dental School was amalgamated with the United Medical School of Guy's and Saint Thomas' Hospitals and the remaining dental services transferred to Tooting. The Royal Dental Hospital closed in 1985 and the site in Leicester Square was developed as the Hampshire Hotel.

Saint Alfege's hospital was established as the Greenwich Union Workhouse Infirmary. The Greenwich and Deptford Union Workhouse was built on a four-acre site on the south side of the Woolwich road. The complex was designed to house a total of 650 fit and 200 sick paupers but by 1851 the average weekly number of inmates had increased to over 1,000. As the numbers of poor in need of medical attention increased it became necessary to add an infirmary to the workhouse. The Board of Guardians added a new 400-bed infirmary block, the foundation stone was laid in 1874, and the Infirmary opened in 1876.

By 1885 two new buildings for the chronically sick had been started and in 1889 a further two new ward blocks with provision for 250 beds were approved. Conditions in the infirmary were spartan and there was no operating theatre or table. In 1898 the infirmary was approved as a Training School for Nurses, taking some 40 - 50 trainees. The plans of the Greenwich and Deptford Union Workhouse and Infirmary were presented at the Great Paris Exhibition of 1900 as a demonstration of what was being done in Britain for relief of the poor.

Between 1918 and 1929 gradual improvements were made to conditions in the infirmary - walls were plastered, electric lighting and central heating installed and x-ray and massage departments set up. In 1927 The Woodlands Nurses' Residence was opened by Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles in November and in 1928 a new operating theatre was opened; in 1929 when the Poor Law Authorities were disbanded the workhouse system was abandoned, leaving Greenwich with two hospitals, one for the acute and the other for the chronic sick, on the workhouse site. In 1930 the London County Council took over the administration of the infirmary and renamed it St. Alfege's Hospital after the saint who was murdered by the Danes at Greenwich.

In 1948 St. Alfege's Hospital became part of the National Health Service and was administered by the South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1960 the Regional Hospital Board issued a directive that the distinction between the two St. Alfege's Hospitals was to be abolished and that they should merge to become one comprehensive general hospital of 605 beds. In May 1963, the Minister of Health gave a Press Conference at which details of the new Greenwich District hospital were released. In 1972 St. Alfege's Hospital was replaced by Greenwich District Hospital.

For a detailed administrative history please see the separate entries for the individual institutions that make up this group of hospitals.

The Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee was responsible for Lambeth Hospital, the South London Hospital for Women and Children, the Queen Elizabeth Maternity Home, Woodhurst, the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital, South Western Hospital and the Royal Eye Hospital. In 1964 it was amalgamated with the Wandsworth Hospital Management Committee to form the South West London Group Hospital Management Committee.

The Weir Hospital was established as a voluntary, general hospital in 1911 on Grove Road, Balham. In 1938, Grove Road was renamed Weir Road. Remaining on the same site, the hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948. It was administered by the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and Wandsworth Hospital Management Committee. In 1950 the hospital became a specialist maternity hospital and was renamed Wandsworth Maternity Hospital. With NHS reorganisation in 1974 the Hospital became part of the South West Thames Regional Health Authority and Wandsworth and East Merton (Teaching) District Health Authority. The hospital closed in the late 1980's.

The Wandsworth Hospital Management Committee administered the following hospitals: Saint James' Hospital, Sarsfield Road; the Weir Maternity Hospital; Saint Benedict's Hospital; the Birchlands Jewish Hospital and the Balham Chest Clinic. It was amalgamated with the Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee in 1964 to form the South West London Group Hospital Management Committee.

In 1925 Mrs Myers and her daughter Miss E Nora Myers established a Children's Ophthalmic Convalescent Home at Mayfield in Sussex. It was intended for the treatment of children suffering from non-infectious eye trouble, especially those requiring prolonged convalescent treatment. It was under the administrative supervision of Miss Myers, a former assistant almoner at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and patients from Moorfields Hospital received reduced fees.

In 1934 Miss Myers decided to resign and Moorfields took over the administrative control of the Home to save it from closure. This was agreed to for a preliminary period of one year, which was then extended. However, only two years later in 1936 the Home was closed down due to a continued decline in the number of children requiring the facilities of the Home.

The Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital was established on High Holborn in 1816. It was amalgamated with Moorfields Eye Hospital in 1946. For information relating to the Hospital after 1948 see Moorfields Eye Hospital (H47/MR).

A workhouse for St Luke's Parish, Chelsea, was first constructed in 1737. An infirmary was added in 1872. In 1930 the workhouse was taken over by the London County Council, while in 1948 it became part of the new National Health Service (NHS) as Saint Luke's Hospital, Chelsea. It was managed by the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and the Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee. Saint Luke's was closed in 1974.

Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.

The Childrens' Homoeopathic Dispensary was opened in about 1920 by Dr Roberson Day. The Dispensary was amalgamated with the Hospital in 1937 and became part of the Children's outpatient department.

Bexley Hospital was founded in 1898 in Old Bexley Lane, Bexley. (It is not the Bexley Hospital in Bexleyheath which was founded in 1884). It has also been known as Heath Asylum, Bexley Asylum, Bexley Mental Hospital and London County Asylum, Bexley. The hospital closed in around 2001.

Bexley Hospital was administered by the South East Metropolitan Hospital Board (1948 - 1974), the South East Thames Regional Health Authority (1974-), the Bexley District Health Authority (1974-) and Oxleas NHS Trust (1995-).

Source of information: The National Archives, Hospital Records Database (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords).

Saint George's Hospital Teaching Group was formed in 1948 following the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS). Originally, the group included Saint George's Hospital, Atkinson Morley Hospital, Royal Dental Hospital, Victoria Hospital for Children, Broadstairs Convalescent Home and Princess Beatrice Hospital. However, Broadstairs Convalescent Home and Princess Beatrice Hospital were quickly transferred to alternative administrative bodies. In 1949, it was decided that Saint George's Hospital would be rebuilt on the Grove Fever Hospital and the Fountain Hospital sites in Tooting. The Grove Fever Hospital was designated to Saint George's Hospital in 1953 and building on the new hospital began in 1973.

Following the reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, Saint George's Hospital Teaching Group was disbanded. Saint George's Hospital passed to the Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority and was to be directly managed by a District Management Team. The District also included Atkinson Morley Hospital, South London Hospital for Women, Weir Hospital, Saint Benedict's Hospital, Birchlands, Springfield Hospital, Saint James' Hospital, Bolingbroke Hospital, and the Springfield Annex in Kingston.

In 1982, Saint George's was brought under the control of the Wandsworth Health Authority. Shortly after, Weir Hospital, South London Hospital for Women, Saint Benedict's Hospital and Springfield Annex were closed. Birchlands was amalgamated with the Hospital for Aged Jews, and Saint James Hospital in Balham closed in 1988 when the Saint James' Wing at Saint George's Hospital opened.

In 1993, Saint George's Hospital, Atkinson Morley Hospital and Bolingbroke Hospital became part of the Saint George's Healthcare NHS Trust. Bolingbroke Hospital closed in 2008 and its services transferred to Saint John's Therapy Centre, Battersea. Atkinson Morley Hospital's neurology services were relocated to Saint George's, Tooting in 2003, however the Wolfson Neurorehabilitation Centre remained in Wimbledon. In 2010, Saint George's Healthcare NHS Trust merged with Community Services Wandsworth. In 2011, the trust ran Saint George's Hospital, Tooting; Wolfson Neurorehabilitation Centre; and range of services at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. It also provided community services from Saint John's Therapy Centre, Wandsworth Prison, Dawes House intermediate care unit, health centres and clinics, schools and nurseries and patients' homes.

For histories of each hospital, please see individual entries in the catalogue.

Bolingbroke Hospital opened in 1880 at Bolingbroke House, Battersea. It was founded by Canon John Erskine Clarke, Vicar of Saint Mary, Battersea. Originally a voluntary hospital, it provided treatment to members of the public who preferred to pay for some or part of their care rather than attend Poor Law Institutions. During the Second World War, it became affiliated to Saint Thomas' Hospital and acted as an emergency hospital for war casualties. In 1948, despite some misgivings, the hospital became part of the new National Health Service and consequently was administered by the Battersea and Putney Hospital Management Group of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. The hospital experienced mixed fortunes in the following years, including the opening of a coronary care unit in 1967 and the closure of the casualty department in 1974. The reorganisation of the National Health Service in 1974 saw the hospital pass to the Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Area Health Authority of South West Thames Regional Hospital Board. In the 1980s, the hospital was redeveloped to focus on services for the elderly. In 1993, it became part of the newly formed Saint George's Healthcare NHS Trust. With the building deteriorating, the issue of fire safety at the hospital became a concern. In 2004, the NHS trust transferred the inpatient services to surrounding nursing homes and other community hospitals. Bolingbroke continued to act as a community hospital with extensive outpatient services and a day hospital. However in 2008 the entire hospital was closed and the remaining services were relocated to Saint John's Therapy Centre, Battersea.

The hospital has been administered by the following:

1880-1948: Bolingbroke Hospital

1948-1974: Battersea and Putney Hospital Management Group of South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board

1974-1982: Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Area Health Authority of South West Thames Regional Hospital Board

1982-1993: Wandsworth District Health Authority of South West Thames Regional Hospital Board

1993-2008: Saint George's Healthcare NHS Trust.

Pinewood Sanatorium was opened in 1901 as the London Open Air Sanatorium by the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. It was situated in a pine forest near Wokingham in Berkshire. Pine trees were believed to be beneficial for sufferers of tuberculosis.

The Metropolitan Asylums Board were sanctioned to treat tuberculosis patients by the Public Health (Prevention and Treatment of Disease) Act, 1913 (3 and 4 Geo.V c.23). In 1919 they purchased the institution and renamed it Pinewood Sanatorium. In 1929 the London County Council took over the Metropolitan Asylums Board and the Sanatorium became a Special Hospital under their Public Health Department. It was used as a hospital for servicemen during the Second World War, although it continued to take some civilian patients.

The registers show that the last patient was discharged on 20 January 1966 and a subsequent note states "Pinewood Closed". The site was put to various uses, including filming of television shows, and is now a leisure centre run by Wokingham Without Parish Council.

Early Commissioners of Sewers were solely concerned with land drainage and the prevention of flooding, not with the removal of sewage in the modern sense. In 1531 an Act of Sewers was passed which set out in great detail the duties and powers of Commissioners and governed their work until the 19th century. Gradually a permanent pattern emerged in the London area of seven commissions, five north and two south of the Thames, with, after the Great Fire, a separate commission for the City of London. The London commissioners had more extensive powers than those in other parts of the country; they had control over all watercourses and ditches within two miles of the City of London as well as newly constructed drains and sewers. After 1800 the London commissioners also obtained powers to control the formation of new sewers and house drains.

On 21 May 1608 a Commission of Sewers was issued to Sir Nicholas Mosley 'maior of London' and others 'for Turnemyll Brooke and Fleets ditche in Lond. & Midd. and the Watercourse that runneth from Clerkenwell to holborne Bridge and soe into the Ryver of Thames' (Stow's Chronicle). Although this appears to be the first of the Holborn and Finsbury Commissions, the next covering this area appears to be that 'for the Cittie of London and two miles from the same' (1615) (Act 6 Hy. VI c.5) though this must have overlapped the area of the Westminster Commission. The later 17th century Commissions have the area of their jurisdiction described in similar terms and it is not until 1699 (Act 23 Hy. VIII c.5) that 'the Divisions of Holborne and Finsbury' are specifically mentioned.

The jurisdiction of the Holborn and Finsbury Commission of Sewers included sewers in Shoreditch, Clerkenwell, Islington, Hoxton, Moorfields, Chancery Lane, Gray's Inn Road, Leather Lane, Saint Pancras, Camden, Gower Street, the Regent's Canal and the River Fleet.

Upon the formation of units of Local Defence Volunteers (later re-named the Home Guard) in May, 1940, it was considered desirable to recruit volunteers from the Council's staff primarily to provide protection for the Council's buildings and other properties in the event of invasion but also as part of the general L.D.V. organisation throughout the country. In this way, the London County Council Battalion was set up.

In February 1941, a second battalion was formed and the two units were designated the 47th and 48th County of London (LCC) Battalions. Colonel H.R. Oswald, M.C., an Assistant Clerk of the Council was the officer commanding the Battalion and later the Group of two Battalions throughout the entire period of their existence.

Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.

Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.

The Holborn Poor Law Union was constituted in 1836 and consisted of the parishes of Saint Andrews above the Bar and Saint George the Martyr Middlesex along with the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place. Various parishes were added later including Saint Sepulchre (1845), Furnivals Inn and Staple Inn (1858), Saint James and Saint John Clerkenwell and Saint Luke (1869), The Charterhouse (1877), Glasshouse Yard (1901), the united parishes of Saint Giles in the Fields and Saint George Bloomsbury (1901) and the new parish of Finsbury, which was formed by uniting the parishes of Clerkenwell, St Luke, St Sepulchre, Charterhouse and Glasshouse Yard (1915).

Holborn already had a parish workhouse on Grays Inn Road which the Union continued to use after some enlargements. The Workhouse was subsequently used as casual wards for the reception of vagrants. In 1868 the Saint Luke's Workhouse on City Road was taken over by the Union and used as a hospital. Another infirmary was also constructed on Archway Road in Highgate. From 1870 the Union also managed a large industrial school at Mitcham. In 1885 a new workhouse was constructed next to the school.

Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.

Invalid Meals for London was a fore-runner of 'Meals-on-Wheels'. It was founded in 1910 as Invalid Kitchens of London, with the aim to supply nourishing food to persons suffering or emerging from illness who were unable to provide for themselves. The first 5 kitchens were located in Southwark, Bermondsey, Hoxton, Stepney and Victoria Docks; during the First World War the number of kitchens was increased.

As a voluntary body the organisation received a grant and support from the London County Council. In 1961 it was taken over by the LCC who continued the work of supplying meals to the elderly and invalids.

The 1834 Poor Law Act led to improvements in the arrangements made for the education of pauper children. Poor Law Unions, and parishes regulated by local acts, were persuaded to establish schools and to appoint schoolmasters. The policy of separating the children from their parents (who were generally considered to be a bad influence on their children) and sending them, if possible, to the country was continued and in 1866 several Middlesex metropolitan authorities were sending children to schools outside London. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1844 made possible a further development in this field which was of significance for the metropolitan area. Unions and parishes were empowered to unite and to form a School District which then set up a large separate school for the education of all the indoor pauper children of the constituents of the district. These were usually industrial schools where both boys and girls were taught the basics of a useful trade which, it was hoped, would provide them with better prospects in future.

Kensington and Chelsea School District was founded in 1876, comprising the Poor Law Unions of Kensington and Chelsea. The School District decided not to construct a large district school, instead establishing a cottage homes development at Banstead in Surrey. This took the form of small houses reminiscent of a family home, with separate school buildings, workshops and recreation facilities. A branch school, Marlesford Lodge, was constructed in Hammersmith. This acted as a 'filter school', preventing unsuitable children from being transferred to the Banstead Homes, such those with parents in custody, those with infectious ailments and those under the age of 4.

Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.

London's first civic authority was that of the City of London. The origin of the Corporation of London is unknown, but the initial rights and privileges of the City rested upon a Charter granted by William the Conqueror. The term 'London' was gradually applied to the area adjoining the ancient city, and as a consequence of the need for a central authority to deal with the local government of this ever growing area the term 'metropolis' was defined, and an authority, the Metropolitan Board of Works, was set up in 1855 to deal with many of the services common to the whole area. In 1888, as a result of the Local Government Act, the area of the City and the metropolis was constituted the 'Administrative County of London' and the London County Council was established as the central authority. The 'Administrative County' consisted of the City of London and the twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs; while a 'County of London' was also constituted, excluding the City of London, for certain ceremonial and judicial purposes; for example, a Lord Lieutenant was appointed, while in the City this function is carried out by the Lord Mayor. Those parts of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey that were part of the Metropolis were taken out of those counties and added to the County of London.

The City of London and the twenty-eight borough councils were independent of the County Council, and had complete jurisdiction over certain fields within their individual areas. There were many case in which cooperation and consultation took place between the various London local government authorities. The principal instances in which the County Council had control over the Metropolitan Borough Councils were: sanctioning the raising of loans for housing, building, land purchase, street improvements and drainage; making byelaws (although the borough councils had to enforce the byelaws); approval of sewer plans; taking steps if the borough council was not fulfilling statutory obligations; and control over grants. Other bodies which the County Council worked alongside included the Metropolitan Police, the London Passenger Transport Board, the Port of London Authority, the Thames Conservancy Board, the London and Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority and the Metropolitan Water Board.

The London County Council consisted of persons directly elected, every third year, by the local government electorate in the Administrative County, and of aldermen elected by the Council itself. The aldermen retained their seats for six years. The powers and duties of the Council were:

(i) those powers transferred from the Metropolitan Board of Works, including drainage, street improvements, Thames flood prevention, street naming and numbering, bridges and tunnels, fire brigade, slum clearance, supervision of building works and parks and open spaces;

(ii) those powers involved in administrative business transferred from the Justices, including issuing licences for music, dancing and stage plays, mental hospitals, reformatory and industrial schools, county bridges, coroners, weights and measures;

(iii) education, including those powers transferred from the London School Board in 1904;

(iv) those powers transferred from the London Poor Law Authorities in 1930, including the 25 Boards of Guardians, the Metropolitan Asylums Board, Boards of School District Managers and the Central Unemployed Body;

(v) those powers conferred directly by Parliament at various times, including ambulances, mental deficiency, protection of children, licences for cinemas, boxing and wrestling, licences for motor cars, housing, town planning, health services, welfare of the blind, employment agencies and massage establishments.

The first meetings of the Council were held at both the Guildhall in the City and the offices of the Metropolitan Board of Works at Spring Gardens, Trafalgar Square. New headquarters were planned at County Hall. This was situated on the southern bank of the Thames close to Westminster Bridge. The foundations were begun in 1909, the foundation stone was laid in 1912 and the building was formally opened in 1922. In 1937 the administrative staff of the Council numbered 6,000, while the total staff included 18,150 teachers, 2,000 fire fighters, 22,000 hospital staff, 3,000 housing estates workers, 8,200 mental hospital staff, 1,450 park staff, 3,100 public assistance staff and 1,000 main drainage service staff.

In 1957 the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Edwin Herbert. Their terms of reference were 'to examine the present system and working of local government in the area' and 'to recommend whether any, and if so what, changes in the local government structure and the distribution of local authority functions in the area, or any part of it, would better secure effective and convenient local government'. After nearly three years consideration of these issues the Commission reported in 1960, recommending a radical reorganisation of London's local government. All existing local authorities except the City of London Corporation were to be abolished, a council for Greater London was to be established, and new boroughs were to be created, each within a population range of 100,000 to 250,000. The councils of these new boroughs were to be the primary units of local government and to have the most normal local government functions, including housing, personal health, welfare and children's services, environmental health, roads other than main roads, libraries and functions in relation to education and planning. The council for Greater London was to have certain functions of education and planning, and be the authority for traffic, main roads, refuse disposal, fire and ambulance services; as well as having supplementary powers for housing, parks, entertainments, sewerage and land drainage. When the Bill for the Local Government Act, 1963, based on the Royal Commission report, was introduced into Parliament it was met with considerable opposition. Some amendments were passed, but the Bill was passed into law without major alterations. An Inner London Education Authority was provided so that education could continue to be handled on a wider county level. Thirty-two new London borough councils were established. The first elections for the Greater London Council were held on 9 April 1964. The LCC was to remain in being side by side with the new authority to enable a smooth transfer, until 1 April 1965 on which date the old authority ceased to exist.

The Royal Commission commented that 'nobody studying London Government can fail to be deeply impressed with the achievements of the London County Council. It has given the Administrative County of London a strong and able form of government which makes its standing very high among the municipal governments of the world'.

In 1889 the Architect to the Metropolitan Board of Works was transferred to the newly formed London County Council, as the responsibilities of the MBW were being transferred to the LCC. This was later confirmed by the London Building Act 1894, in which the London County Council was given power to appoint a "superintending architect of metropolitan buildings" to oversee the enforcement of regulations outlined in the Act. Actual enforcement would be done by the District Surveyors, who had to make a monthly return to the Council reporting on any new buildings and any infringement of the Act.

The role of the Architect soon developed as the range of structures constructed under order of the Council grew. By 1909 there were 13 Committees dealing with construction works, and 35 sub-committees. The work included the construction of housing (under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890), including slum clearance; construction of buildings in connection with the introduction of electricity; construction of educational buildings, from nursery schools to colleges; construction of hospitals and institutions; construction of fire brigade stations; street and road improvements; maintenance and construction of bridges; public parks; Weights and Measures Stations and Gas Meter Testing Stations. The Architect was responsible for overseeing the design and construction of all these buildings.

The Chief Engineer was responsible for overseeing construction and maintenance of LCC buildings, bridges, roads and tunnels. He was also responsible for flood prevention measures, drainage and sewerage and other matters of public health.

The maintenance and improvement of traffic facilities for crossing the Thames, whether by bridge, tunnel or ferry, was an important part of the work of the LCC. It was responsible for ten of the Thames bridges: Albert Bridge, Battersea Bridge, Chelsea Bridge, Hammersmith Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Putney Bridge, Vauxhall Bridge, Wandsworth Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. In addition the Council maintained about 50 other bridges, over rivers, streams, canals, railways and roads. These included the bridge over Deptford Creek, Barking Road Bridge and Highgate Archway. The pedestrian tunnels at Greenwich and Woolwich, and the vehicular tunnels at Rotherhithe and Blackwall were also maintained by the Council, as was the Woolwich Ferry. In addition, it was responsible for over 6 miles of river embankment walls, Greenwich Pier and pipe subways allowing access to mains without having to excavate the road surface.

In addition, the LCC was the central authority for street improvements in London, coordinating the work of the Borough Councils because important traffic routes usually run though more than one of the Boroughs. The most important part of this work involved considering improvements to allow greater traffic flow, particularly as the number of cars on the roads increased.

The London County Council Chief Engineer and County Surveyors:

1889: J Gordon and C Dunscombe

1890 Sir Alexander Binnie

1901 Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice

1913 Sir George Humphreys

1930 Sir Peirson Frank

1946 Sir Joseph Rawlinson

1962 FM Fuller

The London County Council delegated administrative matters to its committees, both standing committees and a number of special committees appointed for specific purposes. The committees met frequently, either weekly or fortnightly, while the Council met weekly. Committee reports requiring decision by the Council were dealt with weekly, and each committee reported to the Council every 6 months. In addition the Council also had representatives on many bodies such as industrial councils, school governing bodies and charitable foundations. For the purpose of carrying out the services of the Council, the staff is organised into departments, each of which is under the responsibility of a chief officer.

The Clerk of the Council was the chief administrative officer of the Council, acting as the clerk of the Council itself as well as the various committees. Additional important duties of the Clerk's Department included the maintenance of the library for members of the Council at City Hall, the preparation of general publications and the responsibility for general work including records.

The General Strike of 1926 was the largest industrial dispute in Britain's history. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) called the strike to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions for coal miners. It took place over nine days, from 4 May to 12 May 1926.

The London County Council delegated administrative matters to its committees, both standing committees and a number of special committees appointed for specific purposes. The committees met frequently, either weekly or fortnightly, while the Council met weekly. Committee reports requiring decision by the Council were dealt with weekly, and each committee reported to the Council every 6 months. In addition the Council also had representatives on many bodies such as industrial councils, school governing bodies and charitable foundations. For the purpose of carrying out the services of the Council, the staff is organised into departments, each of which is under the responsibility of a chief officer.

The Clerk of the Council was the chief administrative officer of the Council, acting as the clerk of the Council itself as well as the various committees. Additional important duties of the Clerk's Department included the maintenance of the library for members of the Council at City Hall, the preparation of general publications and the responsibility for general work including records.

Mrs Basil Holmes, apparently inspired by Rocque's plan of London (1742-1745), noticed how many burial grounds and churchyards were marked upon it which no longer seemed to exist. Her early investigations were printed in 1884 in the First Annual Report of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. In 1894 the LCC instructed its Parks Committee to make a return of all the burial grounds existing in the County of London, with their size, ownership and condition. Mrs Holmes offered to undertake the work and began in February 1895. By June she had submitted a report accompanied by 60 sheets of 25": 1 mile Ordnance Survey plans, however only 56 of these have survived. She found 362 burial grounds in all, 41 of which were in her day still in use and 90 had become public gardens and playgrounds.

The Middlesex Fire Brigade was established in 1948, under the terms of the Fire Services Act 1947. The auxiliary branch of the fire service was re-established in 1949 under Home Office directives under the terms of the Civil Defence Act 1948 which again made the County Council a civil defence authority. This branch was set up to organise an emergency fire service which would come into operation in the event of a war. The Auxiliary Fire Service (or Civil Defence Corps) was trained by members of the regular fire service. Enrolment was open to women who worked as radio operators, despatch riders and control room staff. The men performed regular periods of duty as a backup to the regular service. There were 5 divisions consisting of approximately 30,000 volunteers in the Corps.