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The church of Saint Michael and All Angels, Northwold Road, Stoke Newington Common, dates to 1885.

The church of Saint Olave was constructed in 1894, using funds from the demolition of the City church of Saint Olave, Old Jewry. The seventeenth century pulpit and font were transferred from the former Saint Olave. The parish had been established in 1892, and was enlarged in 1951.

From: 'Stoke Newington: Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 204-211.

The conventional district of Saint Andrew, Earlsfield, was formed in 1884. This became a separate parish in 1890, created from the parishes of Saint Anne, Wandsworth (P95/ANN)and Saint Mary, Summerstown (P95/MRY2). Saint Andrew's Church was consecrated on 8 February 1890. Two new churches were later built within Saint Andrew's parish. Bendon Valley Mission Church later became the district church of Saint John the Divine, Earlsfield (P95/JNE2) and in 1938 was made a separate parish. The district church of Saint James, Earlsfield remained within Saint Andrew's parish.

Saint Anne's Church is one of the five 'Waterloo Churches' built in the Southwark diocese. It was built as part of a plan to erect churches as monuments to the victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Building of Saint Anne's Church began in 1820 and was completed in 1824. The architect was Sir Robert Smirke. The church was consecrated on 1 May 1824 as a chapel of ease to the Parish Church of All Saints, Wandsworth (P95/ALL1).

On 12 December 1846 it was agreed that the parish of All Saints should be divided. An existing Act of Parliament however specified that new churches should remain chapels of ease during the incumbency of the vicar of the mother church. It was therefore not until July 1850, when the Revd Dr Pemberton of All Saints resigned, that Saint Anne's Wandsworth became a separate parish. An order of the Bishop of Winchester (8 November 1850) authorised baptisms and marriages to take place in Saint Anne's Church. Baptism, marriage and burial registers start from this date (and have a copy of the Bishop's decree inside the front covers).

The church was beautified and the chancel added at the end of the 19th century. Extensive structural damage was caused during the Second World War and repairs were carried out from 1945 to 1948. In June 1950 a fire broke out destroying the roof and causing the closure of the church. Services were held in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin (P95/MRY4) until Saint Anne's Church was re-opened and re-dedicated in 1951.

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Iron Mill Place, Garratt Lane, was a chapel of ease to Saint Anne's Church. It was consecrated in 1905, but after the Second World War its congregation transferred to Saint Anne's. In 1950 it was used for services again while Saint Anne's Church was being repaired. See list P95/MRY4 for records of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. It should be noted, however, that there are several references to Saint Mary's among the records of Saint Anne's Church.

In 1938 Saint James' Church, Earlsfield Road was transferred from the parish of Saint Andrew (P95/AND1) to the parish of Saint Anne. After the Second World War the church was converted into a hall and was used as another centre for parish work. For records relating to Saint James' Church see P95/ANN/530-533. For register of baptisms performed at Saint James' Church see P95/AND1/13.

Garratt Lane Infant School: Plans for the school were drawn up in 1867 and the site was conveyed to the Minister and Churchwardens of Saint Anne's Church on 20 July 1870. The school was closed in 1883 due to the establishment of other schools in the neighbourhood. Thenceforth the premises were used for a Sunday School and later for church societies during the week. The building came to be known as the Mission Hall, Iron Mill Place. For records relating to Garratt Lane Infant School see P95/ANN/301-306.

The building of Saint Anne's Church of England Schools for boys, girls and subsequently infants, began in 1858 after land in Saint Ann's Hill/All Farthing Lane was conveyed to the Vicar and Churchwardens of Saint Anne's Church. For records relating to Saint Anne's Schools see P95/ANN/236-306. For additional plans of the school (1870 and 1858) see Y/SP/95/5 and Y/SP/95/6/A-C. There are also records relating to Saint Anne's Schools in the series of Inspectors' Reports for non-provided schools, and in the Admission and Discharge registers for Division 9 in the Greater London Record Office.

Papers of Miss Irene Caudwell (P95/ANN/560-572): Miss Irene Caudwell was secretary of Saint Anne's Parochial Church Council, sacristan, editor of the parish magazine and a member of many church bodies and societies. In addition, she had a great interest in the history of Saint Anne's Church, and her book The Pepper-Pot Church: St Anne's Wandsworth was published in 1946. Miss Caudwell also wrote many passion plays, and articles for religious magazines and local newspapers, and gave talks on local history.

The church of Ascension was built by Arthur Cawston between 1883 and 1890, in response to rapid population growth of the area south of Clapham.

The parish of Christ Church was created from part of the parish of Holy Trinity, Clapham Common North Side (P95/TRI1). The church was designed by the architect Benjamin Ferrey and was built 1861-1862. The Vicarage was designed by George Edmund Street.

The church of Saint John the Divine was built between 1883 and 1900, in two stages. The architect of the first stage (the chancel) was R.J. Withers and the second stage (nave and aisles) was E.H. Elphick. The church was closed in 1983 and sold for residential use. The parish was merged with Saint Mary, Balham (P95/MRY3) to form the parish of Saint Mary and Saint John the Divine.

The church of Saint Margaret, Putney started life as a private Baptist Chapel, known as Granard Chapel, built in the grounds of Granard Lodge by Colonel Croll. It was subsequently used as a Presbyterian chapel until 1898 when the Presbyterian congregation moved to a new church at the corner of Briar Walk.

In 1910, Seth Taylor, who had acquired Granard Lodge, offered the chapel to the vicar of Putney and promised to make annual contributions towards the stipend of the Curate-in-Charge. The church was consecrated 5 October 1912 and dedicated to Saint Margaret.

After the First World War the London County Council purchased Dover House. The new estate increased the population very rapidly from 1,200 to nearly 10,000, and it was felt necessary to enlarge the church of Saint Margaret and constitute it as a separate parish. By 11 October 1923 the formalities were completed and Mr Wallis was instituted as the first vicar, 19 February 1924. The foundation stone of the enlarged church was laid in October 1925 and the extension consecrated in February 1926. A vicarage was bought and four years later a church hall was built in the Pleasance.

James Knowles was responsible for the construction of the Cedars Estate in Clapham, and Saint Saviour was his maiden church. The parish was created from Holy Trinity, Clapham Common North Side (P95/TRI1). The church was built in the Decorated Gothic style of Kentish Ragstone and Bath stone fittings by Myers in 1864 and paid for by Reverend Fitzwilliam Wentworth Atkins Bowyer, Lord of the Manor and Rector. The church started life as chapel of ease to Holy Trinity.

Consecration took place on 11 November 1873 and the church became the Parish Church in about 1876. The church was bombed during the Second World War and subsequently demolished. In 1962 London County Council purchased the site for redevelopment and an apartment block (190 Cedars Road) was built on the site.

The parish of Saint Stephen was created from All Saints, Clapham Park, Saint James, Park Hill, Clapham Park and Saint Mary, Balham High Road. Sir James Knowles, architect, would not allow his daughter to marry Reverend George Eastman and so she decided to build him a church to her father's design and to leave him her fortune. The church in the Gothic style was consecrated 22 June 1867. In circa 1881 a number of Evangelists left the congregation of Saint Mary's, Balham as they objected to the High Church innovation there. They founded the iron church, Saint Paul, Balham. On Reverend Eastman's retirement they purchased Saint Stephen's and the congregation moved there. The church suffered slight war damage and was restored and redecorated in 1954.

By 1970 the church was in a poor state of repair and so was demolished when the area was redeveloped. A modern church was built on approximately the same site in 1974.

Holy Trinity was the Ancient parish of Clapham; and an earlier church of that name stood on the site now occupied by Saint Paul's, Rectory Grove. With the increase in population in this area the original church was not considered large enough. The new Holy Trinity was built in 1774-1779 on the common. The architect was Kenton Couse who was also responsible for 10 Downing Street. Consecration took place in June 1776. The burial ground around the old church, later known as Saint Paul's Churchyard, remained in use until 1855 as no burials took place in the churchyard around the present Holy Trinity. In 1812 the portico was added by Francis Hurlbatt. The church was considerably altered in 1875 to A. Blomfield's designs.

Holy Trinity was well known as the church of The Clapham Sect which included Zachary Macaulay, Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce and Henry Thornton. The Sect are commemorated by a plaque.

The church suffered damage during the Second World War when the Lady Chapel was burnt out by incendiary bombs. Restoration and repairs were carried out under the direction of Thomas Ford. Friday 6 June 1952 saw the Rededication of the church following completion of the works.

Ascension Church was constructed between 1903 and 1911, designed by A. E. Habershon in a Gothic style.

Saint Francis, Eltham was originally a daughter church of Saint John the Baptist, Eltham and was used as a mission church until 1962. Between 1946 and 1953, it appears to have been known as Talbot Settlement Number 2 and was located in a temporary structure in Hengist Road.

In 1953, a permanent church, designed by Ralph Covell, opened at the corner of Sibthorpe Road and Hengist Road.

Between 1981 and 2006, the church was leased to Horn Park Community Association.

From 2006, the church was used by the parish of Saint Saviour, Eltham.

The Royal Dockyard was established in 1512 by King Henry VIII for the construction of his flagship "Great Harry". The Royal Arsenal (also known as the Woolwich Arsenal) was also a Tudor foundation for the manufacture and testing of arms. The Dockyard was expanded and by the 1840s was constructing steam ships. However, in 1869 it was closed. The Royal Arsenal was a large employer during the Second World War but was subsequently reduced in size.

Holy Trinity was constructed in 1886. It was closed in 1960 and demolished in 1974. The parish was united with the parish of Saint Mary Magdalene with Saint Michael and All Angels (P97/MRY, P97/MAA1).

An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Highgate Petty Sessional Division: In October 1890 a new petty sessional division was formed out of that part of the old Finsbury Petty Sessional Division falling within the new administrative county of Middlesex. This new division included the parishes of Hornsey, Finchley, and Friern Barnet. It was given the name Highgate Petty Sessional Division. The name was taken from the village of Highgate, part of which was in Hornsey parish. The justices of the old Finsbury Division had had a meeting place in Highgate from at least 1879 and the new division continued to be based there.

History: An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court: Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court opened in 1974 in response to the demand for more courtrooms in London. It joined Bow Street and Marlborough Street Magistrates' Courts as part of the South Westminster Petty Sessions Division of the Inner London Magistrates' Court Service.

Horseferry Road opened with four courtrooms to which two more were added in the early 1980s. Originally named after Horseferry Road where the court is sited, it was renamed The City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in July 2006 after the closure of Bow Street.

History of magistrates courts: An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Before the 1840s children received the same treatment in the courts as adults. Changes began tentatively in 1847, when the Juvenile Offenders Act permitted children not over the age of 14 and charged with simple larceny, to be tried and sentenced by two lay justices of the peace or one stipendiary magistrate. This was an alternative to the usual full court hearing by indictment before a jury (see MSJ/CY series in the Middlesex Sessions records).

The Summary Jurisdiction Act 1879 enlarged the provisions of the 1847 Act. Offenders under the age of 16 could be tried summarily for nearly all indictable offences. This reduced the number of juveniles in prison and simplified the trial process. However, juveniles still had to mix with adult defendants and prisoners.

The 1908 Children Act at last established separate juvenile courts. Cases concerning persons under 16 were to be heard in a separate room or building and at separate times from adult cases. The Act authorised the establishment by Order-in-Council of separate juvenile courts for the Metropolitan Police District.

An Order-in-Council, 2 December 1909, established six juvenile courts to cover the then fourteen police court districts. These courts were: Bow Street, Clerkenwell, Tower Bridge, Westminster, Old Street, and Greenwich. These courts were presided over by a Metropolitan stipendiary magistrate sitting alone.

From 1920, under the Juvenile Courts (Metropolis) Act, the Metropolitan Magistrate was to be joined by two lay justices (one to be a woman) drawn from a panel nominated by the Home Secretary. From the mid-1930s the juvenile courts became largely the preserve of lay justices.

In the early 1930s all the Metropolitan juvenile courts were administered from Bow Street. A Chief Clerk was subsequently appointed to deal solely with juvenile courts and was given full-time staff. This centralised administration still continues.

The original six courts, after 1909, changed names and location several times and were gradually increased. These changes can be traced in the Post Office Directories in the History Library.

Under the Administration of Justice Act 1964 and the London Government Act 1963 a unified system of magistrates' courts for Inner London was established, of which the juvenile courts formed part. At least one juvenile court was established for each of the new London Boroughs.

North London Magistrate's Court was based at 82 Stoke Newington Road, N16.

An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Saint Pancras Petty Sessional Division: The parish of St Pancras (including most of Highgate) fell within the division of Holborn of Ossulston Hundred. Some time during the first quarter of the 19th century, St Pancras Justices of the Peace met together in unofficial sessions particularly for licensing purposes, separately from the full division. St Pancras became a fully autonomous petty sessional division by order of the Middlesex Sessions in 1853. On 1 July 1956 the St Pancras Division was incorporated into the New River Division.

An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Thames Magistrates Court:
Thames Police Court was in origin the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office opened at the instigation of merchants and dock owners and Patrick Colquhoun in 1798, and regularised by Act of Parliament in 1800. It was probably amalgamated with the Police Office in High Street Shadwell in 1839/40 and with the Lambeth Street, Whitechapel, Police District in 1845. In 1841 it was situated at 255 Wapping High Street. In 1844 it moved to Arbour Street, Stepney, where it remained, undergoing changes of address because of street-name changes: 1922-1939 Charles Street and 1939 onwards Aylward Street, Stepney.

History of magistrates courts:
An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Tower Bridge Magistrates Court:
Under the 1792 Act a public office was opened in Union Hall, Union Street, Southwark, serving a district covering a large part of South London including Lambeth and Southwark. In 1845 the district was split and shared between two new courts, the Lambeth Police Court and Southwark Police Court. The latter was recorded as being in Blackman Street, Borough in 1845, and at 298 Borough High Street in 1892. The court moved in 1905 to Tooley Street and changed its name to Tower Bridge Police Court.

History of magistrates courts:
An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

West London Magistrates Court:
This court was originally opened in Kensington (1 Church Court) in approximately 1841. It was known as the Kensington Police Court and administered jointly with Wandsworth Police Court. It was moved to Brook Green Lane, Hammersmith in 1843 and became known as the Hammersmith Police Court. In 1859 it moved to the junction of Vernon Street and Southcombe Street, West Kensington. In 1889 it was administratively separated from Wandsworth and became known as the West London Police Court.

In 1996 both the old West London and Walton Street Magistrates' Courts closed and their resources amalgamated to form the West London Magistrates Court now residing in Talgarth Road.

History of magistrates courts:
An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.

Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.

In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.

Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.

The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.

In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.

The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.

Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.

Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.

The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Cleopatra's Needle was made of pink granite at the time of Thothmes (Tuthmose) III, circa 1500 BC, with later inscriptions added by Ramesses II. It was later removed to Alexandria. It was brought to London in the container ship Cleopatra, towed by the steam ships Olga and Anglia, in 1877. It was erected on the Victoria Embankment between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge by the engineer John Dixon in 1879, with two sphinxes added to the base.

Edward Walford was born in 1823. In 1848, after attending Oxford, he was ordained as a priest. He became a teacher and began writing textbooks. His writing soon expanded to include the compilation of annuals such as Hardwicke's Shilling Peerage and Country Families of Great Britain. In 1860 he moved to Hampstead and for the next 26 years lived there while writing and compiling biographical, topographical and antiquarian works; including 4 volumes of Old and New London. He died in 1897.

Information from: Robin Woolven, 'Walford, Edward (1823-1897)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

The court of Quarter Sessions was the place in which the Justices of the Peace exercised their judicial and administrative functions for the county, and generated a variety of records from that role (WJ/). This class includes, however, records deposited, filed (enrolled) or registered 'by statute' with the Clerk of the Peace, to be kept with the sessions records, and be available for inspection. These were records presented to the justices in a session, and certified before them, but which were not part of the normal sessions work, although sometimes it is hard to make the distinction. Indeed, statutes ordering the creation of these records often stipulated that returns or registers should be 'filed on the rolls of the Sessions of the Peace" or "be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace to be registered and kept with the records of Quarter Sessions", which means in practice that many records which were created outside the normal sessions work are found on the sessions rolls (MJ/SR, WJ/SR), in the sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB) or in the sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP), as well as in their own series.

These are records reflecting the political and social concerns of the times - the development of transport and travel; the ninettenth century utility schemes for gas, water and railways; and control of law and order and social structures through measures such as the prevention of treasonable meetings and literature, secular and religious; the registration of foreigners in the capital; knowledge of those able to serve in the local militia in times of internal and external trouble and the limiting of those eligible for jury service or to vote in elections as determined by the value of the property they held.

All aspects of life were regulated from slaughterhouses and hospitals to the price of corn in markets, and building practices. The overriding fear of government from the seventeenth century to early nineteenth century was the threat perceived to be posed by non-conformists - Roman Catholic or Protestant - anyone considering public office had to show that their loyalty was greater to the state than to their faith by taking a variety of oaths or producing certificates confirming their allegiance to the established church.

The Custos Rotulorum (Keeper of the Rolls) was responsible for the care of the county records. Appointed (since the fourteenth century) in the Commission of the Peace (WJP/C), he was a leading justice, unpaid and holding the post for life; and from the seventeenth century usually also holding the office of Lord Lieutenant of the county. His Deputy was the Clerk of the Peace, who was in practice the actual keeper of the records, who drew up, registered and oversaw the storage of the records. He also acted as clerk to the many committees set up by the justices, but delegated much of his work to deputies. He too held the post for life, but was paid a salary and could claim fees, as well as being in addition a local practising lawyer in his own right. An Act of Parliament of 1545 stipulated that the Clerk should be "learned and instructed in the laws of the realm", and he was often called upon to advise the justices on points of law or its procedure. Relevant records may also be found in those of the Clerk of the Peace (WC/); Lieutenancy (L/); and other offices held by county officers (TC/).

Community Health Councils were established in England and Wales in 1974 "to represent the interests in the health service of the public in its district" (National Health Service Reorganisation Act, 1973). Often referred to as 'the patient’s voice in the NHS', each Community Health Council (CHC) served the public and patients in its local area by representing their interests to National Health Service (NHS) authorities and by monitoring the provision of health services to their communities.

CHCs were independent statutory bodies with certain legal powers. CHCs were entitled to receive information about local health services, to be consulted about changes to health service provision, and to carry out monitoring visits to NHS facilities. For this reason, CHCs were sometimes known as the 'watchdogs’ of the NHS. The co-ordinated monitoring of waiting times in Accident and Emergency departments led to ‘Casualty Watch’ which gained national press coverage. Locally, many CHCs represented patients’ views by campaigning for improved quality of care and better access to NHS services, and by responding to local issues such as proposed hospital closures.

Each CHC had around 20 voluntary members from the local area. Half were appointed the local authority, a third came from voluntary bodies and the remainder were appointed by the Secretary of State for Health. Members met every month to six weeks and meetings were usually open to the general public. Guest speakers or guest attendees were often invited, particularly when a specific topic or issue was under discussion.

All CHCs employed a small number of paid office staff and some had shop-front offices, often on the high street, where members of the public could go for advice and information about local NHS services. CHCs published leaflets and guidance on a wide variety of topics from ‘how to find a GP’ to ‘how to make a complaint’.

Within the guiding principles and statutory duties of the legislation, CHCs developed organically in response to the needs of the communities they served and for this reason considerable variation can be found in the records of different CHCs.

Southwark CHC began life as King’s Health District (Teaching) CHC, known from November 1974 onwards simply as King’s CHC. The CHC was divided into three geographical sub-groups: Northern Southwark; Southern Southwark; and Lambeth. A permanent shop-front office was established at 75 Denmark Hill in September 1976 and remained the CHC’s base until 2003.

In the NHS Reorganisation of 1982 King’s CHC was wound up and held its last meeting on 20 May 1982. The inaugural meeting of Camberwell CHC was held on 16 September 1982 with many of the same members. The records of the CHC continue seamlessly between the two organisations.

Community Health Councils were established in England and Wales in 1974 "to represent the interests in the health service of the public in its district" (National Health Service Reorganisation Act, 1973). Often referred to as 'the patient’s voice in the NHS', each Community Health Council (CHC) served the public and patients in its local area by representing their interests to National Health Service (NHS) authorities and by monitoring the provision of health services to their communities.

CHCs were independent statutory bodies with certain legal powers. CHCs were entitled to receive information about local health services, to be consulted about changes to health service provision, and to carry out monitoring visits to NHS facilities. They also had the power to refer decisions about proposed closures of NHS facilities to the Secretary of State for Health. For this reason, CHCs were sometimes known as the ‘watchdogs’ of the NHS. The co-ordinated monitoring of waiting times in Accident and Emergency departments led to ‘Casualty Watch’ which gained national press coverage. Locally, many CHCs represented patients’ views by campaigning for improved quality of care and better access to NHS services, and by responding to local issues such as proposed hospital closures.

Each CHC had around 20 voluntary members from the local area. Half were appointed the local authority, a third were elected from voluntary bodies and the remainder were appointed by the Secretary of State for Health. Members met every month to six weeks and meetings were usually open to the general public. Guest speakers or guest attendees were often invited, particularly when a specific topic or issue was under discussion.

All CHCs employed a small number of paid office staff and some had shop-front offices, often on the high street, where members of the public could go for advice and information about local NHS services. CHCs published leaflets and guidance on a wide variety of topics from ‘how to find a GP’ to ‘how to make a complaint’.

Within the guiding principles and statutory duties of the legislation, CHCs developed organically in response to the needs of the communities they served and for this reason considerable variation can be found in the records of different CHCs.

Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Community Health Council was created in April 1995. The area had formerly been served by Parkside Community Health Council. Parkside CHC was created around the same time that Parkside District Health Authority was created in 1988 through the amalgamation of the Paddington & North Kensington and the Brent District Health Authorities. The CHCs appear to have amalgamated also, Paddington & North Kensington CHC combining with Brent CHC to create Parkside CHC. In 1990 Parkside District was enlarged through the addition of a part of the City of Westminster from the abolished Bloomsbury District. Parkside District Health Authority was abolished in 1993 and replaced by Brent & Harrow District Health Authority and Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster District Health Authority. With the abolition of the Parkside District Health Authority, Parkside CHC was wound up. In the Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster District Health Authority area it was replaced by the newly-formed Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Community Health Council. The offices of the CHC at 45-47 Praed Street remained in use by the new CHC. In the Brent & Harrow District Health Authority area Parkside CHC was replaced by Brent CHC (see LMA/4752).

Community Health Councils in England were abolished in 2003 as part of the ‘NHS Plan (2000)’.

The Saint Thomas' Hospital Group was formed in 1948 when the National Health Service was established by the National Health Service Act 1946. Originally it included only Saint Thomas' Hospital, the Grosvenor Hospital, the General Lying-In Hospital and the Royal Waterloo Hospital. However, the Lambeth Hospital became part of the Group in 1964 when the Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee merged with the Wandsworth Hospital Management Committee to form the South West London Group Hospital Management Committee. In addition, the South Western Hospital moved to the Saint Thomas' Group in 1968, and the Royal Eye Hospital joined in about 1973.

In 1974, the National Health Service was re-organized into Area Health Authorities, split into Districts, rather than Groups. The Saint Thomas' Hospital Group became the Saint Thomas' Health District (Teaching) of the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Area Health Authority, and now included Saint Thomas', Grosvenor, General Lying-In Hospital, Lambeth, Royal Waterloo and South Western Hospitals. These were joined in 1975 by Tooting Bec Hospital.

There was a further re-organization of the National Health Service in 1982, when the Saint Thomas' Health District (Teaching) became the West Lambeth Health Authority, now comprising Saint Thomas', General Lying-In, South Western and Tooting Bec Hospitals, with the addition of the Saint John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin.

The final stage of reorganization occurred in 1993, when Saint Thomas' Hospital merged with Guy's Hospital to form the Guy's and Saint Thomas' Hospital Trust after the Tomlinson report of 1992 recommended that one of them be closed.

The Grosvenor Hospital was established in 1865 as the Pimlico and Westminster Institute, a dispensary for women and children. Its president until 1885 was the Earl of Shaftesbury. In 1873 property at 29 Vincent Square, Westminster, was obtained and the dispensary became the Vincent Square Hospital for Women and Children. In 1875 the house next door was also purchased, increasing the number of beds. Medical students were not admitted but from 1879 lady missionaries were allowed to attend for clinical instruction.

The Hospital was renamed the Grosvenor Hospital for Women and Children in 1884. The aims of the hospital were established as the treatment of women with diseases peculiar to their sex, and the treatment of children as out patients who had illness that were not contagious. Formal rules for the admission of inpatients were drawn up in 1885 - patients were charged 5 shillings a week if recommended by a subscriber, otherwise the fee was 10 shillings. Patients had to pay for their own laundry. Out-patients paid between twopence and a shilling per visit and had to bring their own medicine bottles.

In 1891 a third house was added so that the total accommodation was 18 beds and 3 private wards. A new outpatients department was built in 1895, while a new in-patients ward was completed in 1897, opened by Princess Louise. The new building provided 36 beds. An additional floor was added in 1905, providing a new operating theatre, anaesthetics room and separate bedrooms for the nurses. Further extensions were added in 1936 - 1938. In 1948 when the National Health Service came into being the Hospital became part of the St Thomas's Group. Administration was carried out centrally but the name of the Hospital was retained, and it became the gynaecological wing of Saint Thomas'. It was closed in 1976.

The General Lying-In Hospital was opened in April 1767 as the Westminster New Lying-In Hospital. In 1818 this name was changed to the General Lying-In Hospital. It was founded by Dr John Leake, a lecturer in Midwifery, who in 1765 obtained the site on what is now Westminster Bridge Road and made a public appeal for funds. The hospital's aim was to provide "Relief of those Child-bearing Women who are the Wives of poor industrious Tradesmen or distressed House-keepers and who either from unavoidable misfortunes or the Expences of maintaining large Families are reduced to real Want. Also for the reception and immediate relief of indigent Soldiers' and Sailors' Wives, the former being very numerous in and about the City of Westminster" (from the address of Dr Leake at the first meeting of sponsors, August 7 1765).

The leases for the hospital site expired in 1826 and so in 1825 the Governors decided to purchase a new site for the hospital in York Road, Lambeth. The hospital moved there in September 1828. It was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1830. A program of modernisation and extension was begun in 1878, and in 1879 a training school for midwifes and monthly nurses was established. Sir Joseph Lister was appointed Consulting Surgeon in March 1879 and served in this capacity until 1911. He had also been President from 1897 to 1911. Under his leadership the hospital was the first in Britain to practise antiseptic midwifery.

Extensive rebuilding of the hospital took place between 1929 and 1933, when a new Out-Patient Department and Nurses Home were opened. At the outbreak of war in 1939 the hospital was evacuated to St Albans, not returning until 1946. The Out-Patient Department stayed at York Road throughout the war. In 1948 the hospital became part of the National Health Service in the Saint Thomas' Hospital Group. It was administered centrally but the old name was retained, and it became the maternity wing of the hospital. It was closed in 1971.

From the end of the First World War until 1922 No 35 Black Prince Road, Kennington, London, was used as a model Day Nursery. In 1922 wards were opened for the treatment of children with dietary disturbances and difficulty feeding. The hospital also included a scheme for training Nursery Nurses, and the nursery was renamed The Babies Hostel. The Hostel joined Saint Thomas' Hospital in 1924 when the lease of the building was presented to the Hospital by Mrs E. Mitchison, in memory of her son, Lieutenant Anthony Mitchison, who had died in action in the First World War. From 1924 to 1927 it was called Saint Thomas' Cornwall Babies Hostel, since it stood on land belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall. It was renamed Saint Thomas' Babies Hostel in 1927, when it became affiliated to the Association of Nursery Training Colleges.

During the war the hostel was evacuated first to Cricklade, Wiltshire, from 1939 to 1942, and then to Greys, near Guildford, Surrey from 1942 to 1946. In August 1962 a day hospital for disturbed children under five and their parents was started at the Babies Hostel for three days a week. From 1965 the hostel was devoted entirely to the work and was renamed the Psychiatric Day Hospital for Children and their Families. The records held at the London Metropolitan Archives all date from before April 1965 and are the records of the Babies Hostel.

St Thomas's Hospital has its origins in a small infirmary attached to the Augustinian Priory of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary Overie), which was destroyed by fire in 1212. During the Reformation in 1540 the hospital, along with many other religious foundations, was dispossessed of its revenues and closed. Edward VI restored St Thomas's estates and revenues. The hospital re-opened with 120 beds and three Barber Surgeons, assisted by apprentices, were appointed, possibly marking the beginning of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. A royal charter of 1553 made the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of London perpetual Governors of King's Hospital, as it was known for a time before becoming St Thomas's Hospital.

The hospital underwent an extensive building programme between 1693 and 1709, and about 300 beds were provided. Medical education was also formalised at this time, with regulations introduced to control the entry of pupils into the hospital. Students were educated on the wards long before this time. A record of one of the apprentices of a surgeon at St Thomas's appears in 1561. By the second half of the seventeenth century surgeons at the hospital were accepting the apprentices of other surgeons for short periods of tuition within the hospital. The physicians at the hospital had some pupils, though a fewer number than the surgeons. From about the early 18th century the Hospital Apothecary also apprenticed pupils.

Until the mid nineteenth century there were three types of student attending the medical school: surgeons' apprentices and dressers, dressers who had served an apprenticeship elsewhere and were completing their training with a particular surgeon, and pupils, who were not attached to any particular surgeon. Pupils first appeared in 1723, and tended to be on the periphery of surgical procedures. Their numbers were unrestricted and they paid smaller fees than dressers. All students were able to attend the courses of lectures provided by the teaching staff at the hospitals and dissection classes. The study of anatomy was the most prestigious course offered at St Thomas's. New accommodation for dissection classes was provided in 1814, and allowed up two hundred students at a time to practice dissection. Other courses offered to students included chemistry, materia medica, physiology and midwifery.

The popularity and influence of the medical schools led to the building of new facilities at St Thomas's Hospital. New accommodation was opened in 1814, and comprised a museum, laboratory, library, dissection room and large lecture theatre. In 1842 the Hospital Governors stepped in to rationalise and improve the status of the medical school, and took over the management for the next sixteen years. A medical school fund was established and administered by the Hospital Treasurer to pay for the general running costs of the school, including the salaries of the non-teaching staff. A Medical School Committee was created to govern the school, appoint lecturers and oversee expenditure. The first Dean, Dr Henry Burton, was appointed in 1849. In 1858, management of the school was restored to the physicians and surgeons and in 1860 to the teaching staff, as the school had become self-financing.

In 1866 the extension of the railway from London Bridge to Charing Cross forced the Hospital to move to Lambeth, at the foot of Westminster Bridge. The new accommodation and new teaching staff heralded a good start for the new medical school. However, by 1892 most of the teaching staff had left and the new student intake was only forty-three. The enlargement of facilities at the school helped revive the school's reputation, and by 1900 student numbers were improving and increased rapidly.

St Thomas's Hospital and Medical School were seriously disrupted by the Second World War. Students were dispersed among other London hospitals and the pre-clinical school went to Wadham College, Cambridge. With the establishment of the National Health Service the medical school became a separate corporate body in 1948 and one of the general medical schools of the University of London. In 1949 the school accepted its first female medical student. The annual intake of students continued to increase throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1982 the medical schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals reunited as the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals (UMDS). In 1990 King's College London began discussions with the United Schools and a formal merger with UMDS took place on 1 August 1998. The merger created three new schools: the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Schools of Medicine, of Dentistry and of Biomedical Sciences, and reconfigured part of the former School of Life, Basic Medical and Health Sciences as the new School of Health and Life Sciences.

On Nov. 9th, 1855 a public meeting was held in Willis's Rooms, King Street, St James to inaugurate a public subscription in gratitude for Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimean War. £44,000 was raised, a committee was set up to administer this fund, and on March 13th 1860, A. H. Clough wrote on behalf of the Nightingale Fund Council to the President, Treasurer and Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital about the possibility of founding a training school for nurses at the hospital. This was Florence Nightingale's idea as to how the fund could best be used. She was particularly attracted to Saint Thomas' Hospital because Mrs Wardroper, the Matron, had already initiated a programme of reform in 1855. Mrs Wardroper became the first Superintendant of the Training School, remaining at the hospital until 1887 and it was largely due to her efforts that the school was such a success in the early years.

The first fifteen Probationers arrived on July 9th 1860. They were paid a salary of £10 during the one year's course, with board and lodging provided. At the end of the year, if they were approved, they were entered on the Register of Certified Nurses, and employment was found for them. If they stayed in employment for a complete year after their training they could earn gratuities of £3 and £5. Instruction during the course was mainly practical, with the Probationers working in the hospital wards under close supervision. Considerable emphasis was placed on high moral character. From 1867 there were two classes of entry to the school: 1) Ordinary Probationers, who entered on the basis of a small salary and free board, as above and 2) Lady Probationers or Special probationers. These were trained specially for posts as Superintendents and Matrons of other institutions on completion of their training. They paid a sum of £30 for the year's tuition, and board and lodging.

One of the particular features of the Nightingale Training School was that nurses were trained not merely for Saint Thomas' Hospital, but with the clear intention that they be sent out in groups to other institutions to undertake nursing reform. The school had only been open two years when the first group went to Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and subsequent groups went as far as Canada and Australia, as well as to many British hospitals.

Another important and distinctive feature of the Nightingale system was that the Probationers were provided with board and lodging. When the new hospital opened in Lambeth in 1871, special provision was made for the Nightingale Home. In 1872, a Home Sister was appointed for the first time. She undertook part of the tuition, a Sister Tutor not being appointed until 1913. In 1937 Riddell House was opened as a new Nurses' Home, a present to Saint Thomas' Hospital and the Nightingale Training School by Lady Riddell, as a memorial to Lord Riddell.

Saint Thomas' Home is the part of Saint Thomas' Hospital which provides for private paying patients. The principle of accepting paying patients was accepted by the Governors in November 1878 after much controversy, as it was thought to be an infringement of the charter of 1551 which had constituted the Hospital as a house of the poor. However, more income was needed if the poor were to be properly served and the Hospital to be made financially secure.

Two wards named 'Adelaide' and 'Alice' were opened as Saint Thomas' Home in March 1881. The charges were 8 shillings a day in a general ward and 12 shillings a day in a private room. The Home proved a success, especially with patients who did not have homes of their own at which they could be nursed - for example, clerks living in lodgings, visitors in London, or colonists returned to England for medical care.

On the completion of Gassiot House in 1906 the Home moved into the bottom two floors. It was closed to patients on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, and the space was used to house members of the administrative and medical staff. It reopened in 1950 in Gassiot House, and in 1966 moved to Simon Ward in the East Wing of the new hospital buildings.

The Gordon Hospital has undergone a series of name changes since its opening in June 1884. Originally named the Western Hospital for Fistula, Piles and Other Diseases of the Rectum in 1884, it changed its name to the Gordon Hospital for Fistula, Piles and Other Diseases of the Rectum in 1886, Gordon Hospital for Rectal Diseases in 1911, and the Gordon Hospital for Diseases of the Rectum and Colon in 1939. It finally became the Gordon Hospital in 1941.

The hospital opened in a house in Vauxhall Bridge Road but moved to a purpose-built site, in the same road, in 1899. It was rebuilt in 1947.

In 1948 the hospital merged with the Westminster Hospital as a result of the changes instituted by the new National Health Service. It was subsequently part of the South West Metropolitan Region. In 1974 the Westminster group formed part of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority and the South (Teaching) Health District. In 1982 it became part of the Riverside District Health Authority.

On 1st April 1999 the Gordon Hospital became part of Brent, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, formed from North West London Mental Health NHS Trust, half of Riverside Mental Health NHS Trust and the mental health component of Parkside Health NHS Trust.

The scheme for funding a convalescent home was first made public by an anonymous letter to The Times in January 1890. The writer wished to remain unnamed but a journalist revealed his identity as Peter Reid, a prominent member of the stock exchange. He donated the initial sum of one hundred thousand pounds and a friend provided an additional fifty thousand pounds. Mr Ebenezer Homan provided a spacious chapel. There were several convalescent homes near Swanley at the time so it was thought it would be a good location for a new one. An estate known as Parkwood with about 70 acres of garden woodland and fields was purchased and the home was built.

The home was opened on 9 June 1893 providing 80 beds for men and 40 beds for women. Built and owned by Peter Reid it was intended to take patients from several London hospitals in the early stages of convalescence. This was considered an urgent need as at that time most homes only took people in the later stages. There was no formal opening ceremony but on 9 June the home was inspected by a large number of guests. The visitors attended a dedication service, for which a choir was provided from St. Paul's Cathedral.

In the early days Parkwood had a strong affiliation with St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the two other trustees besides Peter Reid were a senior surgeon and Clerk to the Governors of that hospital. However, beds at the home were allocated to a number of different hospitals: 30 to the London, 20 each to Guy's, St. Thomas' and the Middlesex and 15 each to Westminster and St. Mary's.

In 1914 the home was closed due to wartime lack of staff but it was forced to reopen in 1917. There was a great explosion in Silvertown and 400 children from the East End of London were temporarily re-housed at Parkwood. A short while after this the home became a military hospital annexed to Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, which lasted until the end of the war.

Peter Reid had remained Chairman of the trustees of Parkwood until his death in 1917. He was succeeded by Sir Arthur Lucas (died 1922) and then Sir John Murray.

In 1921 Parkwood began its long association with Westminster Hospital. Charles M. Power, house governor and secretary to the Westminster Hospital was also secretary of Parkwood 1921-54.

Parkwood became a military hospital during the Second World War, despite the fact that it was in the direct line of enemy attack. It remained open and treated a number of patients that had been injured during the bombing of London. The nursing staff were provided by the British Red Cross Society, and the Commandant, Miss K. Pawley, continued her association with Parkwood after the war by managing the library and serving on the House Committee.

Parkwood was very little affected by the Health Service Act and the introduction of the NHS in 1948 as it was already part of the Westminster Hospital and no change of administration was imposed. The Board of Governors of the Westminster pursued a policy of making maximum use of Parkwood and it became an auxiliary hospital dealing with more serious cases rather than convalescents.

By the late 1950s Parkwood had 110 beds but was suffering from a shortage of nurses so they were not all used. By 1957 all the beds were for women, and were available first to the Westminster Group (Westminster Hospital, Gordon Hospital, All Saint's Hospital) and then to other hospitals in the South West and South East Metropolitan Regions. Parkwood was finally closed in 1964 and two years later the premises were taken over by the London Fire Brigade.

Mr Henry Chester of Putney who died in 1900 left about eighty thousand pounds in his will to endow a hospital if a general hospital was built in the parish of Putney within 20 years of his death. If no such hospital was built, the money was to go to Guy's. He appointed the Haberdashers' Company as trustees of his will with the responsibility of approving any site proposed for a hospital.

The doctors of Putney and the Putney Municipal Alliance were in favour of building a hospital in Putney and a committee was formed. A freehold site on Lower Common formerly occupied by two houses, The Elms and West Lodge, was purchased by Sir William Lancaster and was subsequently given by him to the Hospital Trustees. In 1905 a public meeting of the inhabitants of Putney elected a Building Committee to raise twenty thousand pounds to erect and equip the first block of the hospital which would provide 20 beds for inpatients.

In January 1906 a joint meeting of the Richmond, Chelsea and Wandsworth Divisions of the British Medical Association decided to oppose the building of a large general hospital in Putney. The South West London Medical Hospital Committee was established to negotiate with the Putney Hospital Committee on the basis that a small general hospital on cottage hospital lines would meet the needs of Putney, there should be no treatment of out-patients, the number of non-paying beds should not be greater than the needs of the district or the resources of the endowment, and there should be directly elected representatives of the medical profession on the hospital's committee. Until agreement was reached, no medical man should have anything to do with the hospital.

Protracted and heated negotiations followed, with the two medical members of the Putney Hospital Committee, Dr John Guy and Mr E.F. White, defending the need for a hospital, protesting the initial support of the doctors of Putney as opposed to the wider area as represented by the British Medical Association, and affirming that there was no intention to establish a large general hospital or to treat out-patients. Eventually agreement was reached which allowed for a quarter of the Board of management of Putney Hospital to consist of medical men elected by and from the medical practitioners residing in and practising in Putney. However, a judgement by Mr Justice Joyce insisted that Putney hospital had to establish an out-patients department if it was to be a general hospital. The hospital finally admitted its first inpatients and out-patients in 1912.

Between 1926 and 1939 the hospital was enlarged with new wings to the north and south of the original building containing male and female wards, rooms for paying patients, a new out-patients department and a new operating theatre. A nurses' home was built in 1934 and extended a few years later. Further extensions and improvements were prevented by the outbreak of war. On 14 August 1944 the nurses' home was struck by a flying bomb. Fortunately no-one was injured, but the whole of the 2nd floor of the new wing and part of the 2nd floor of the original building had to be demolished, and a temporary roof erected.

In 1948 Putney Hospital became part of the National Health Service as one of the Battersea and Putney Group of Hospitals of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. Visitors from King Edward's Hospital Fund for London reported in 1953 that Putney Hospital had 106 beds, including 14 private beds which were constantly full, and 7 amenity beds, which were less in demand. They commented on the beds in the wards being very close together, "The last extension to this hospital was made in 1933. Since then the population round had grown enormously and is still growing fast." There was an immediate need for extending the out-patients department "which must be one of the smallest in any general hospital". By 1956 a scheme was in hand to extend Putney hospital to provide a new out-patients department and increase the number of beds to 178. Despite the problems of overcrowding King's Fund Visitors in that year described Putney as a first class hospital.

Between 1959 and 1961 existing buildings were upgraded and the hospital was extended with two new wards, Mackenzie Morris Ward and Sydney Turner Ward, opening in 1961 and 1962. A new casualty department opened in 1960 and a new out-patients department was opened in November 1961. Stage II of the development of Putney Hospital had been planned, but it was first deferred then abandoned. A new hospital plan envisaged the closure of Putney Hospital by 1971 as well as Battersea General Hospital, and the redevelopment of Saint John's Hospital in Battersea. In 1998 it was planned that Putney Hospital, part of Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton Healthcare NHS Trust, be closed and its services transferred to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. By 2001 the hospital was part of South West London Community NHS Trust specialising in care of the elderly. The hospital was finally closed early in 2002.

The hospital was founded by Helen Levis, wife of Robert Mond, in July 1903. It was named the Saint Francis Hospital for Infants, after the Saint Francis Cripples' Home, whose premises the hospital took over. Later that same year, however, the name was changed to The Infants' Hospital, to avoid confusion with another institution of the same name.

In 1906 a purpose-built hospital was constructed in Vincent Square. This was financed by Sir Robert Mond as a memorial to his wife, the hospital's founder. The new hospital was opened in November 1907.

In 1923 the hospital was incorporated, and in September 1946 it was amalgamated with the Westminster hospital. In honour of this new connection the hospital's name was changed to the Westminster Children's Hospital.

From the start of the National Health Service in 1948 the hospital, as a member of the Westminster Hospital group, was part of the South West Metropolitan Region. In 1974 it formed part of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority and the South (Teaching) Health District. In 1982 it became part of the Riverside District Health Authority. The hospital was closed and it services moved to the new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in May 1993.

The hospital later known as the Miller General Hospital was founded in 1783 as the Kent Dispensary, and housed initially in a house in the Broadway, Deptford. In 1837, at an Anniversary Dinner presided over by the Duke of Wellington, it was announced that Queen Victoria had agreed to become the patroness of the dispensary, and the name was accordingly changed to the Royal Kent Dispensary. In 1851 the dispensary was given notice to quit the house in Deptford. A site in Greenwich Road was purchased, and the new building was completed in 1855.

In 1883 the Governors of the Charity decided that it would be fitting to celebrate the centenary of the dispensary by the addition of hospital accommodation, which was badly needed in the area. This scheme was amalgamated with that of the Miller Memorial Committee, who had combined on the death of the Rev. Canon Miller, founder of Hospital Sunday, to institute a fitting memorial to him. He had, at the time of his death, been Vicar of Greenwich, and had worked hard in support of the dispensary. The foundation stone was laid in August 1883, and accounts of the occasion published in 'The Times' and 'The Kentish Mercury' can be read in H05/M/Y/02/1, page 171 ff., and in the Minute Book H05/M/A/01/3. The ceremony was followed by a dinner at which a collection was taken which was to form the basis of an endowment fund for the hospital.

The new hospital, built in the grounds of the dispensary, and known as the Miller Memorial Hospital, was opened in 1884. It was the first hospital in Great Britain to have circular wards. These were supposed, among other things, to allow for better ventilation, there being no corners for harbouring stale air and germs. Their cause was championed by Professor John Marshall, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, who had studied the phenomenon abroad. In 1908 the hospital became known as the Miller General Hospital for South East London. In 1912 a surgical block was started, in 1929 the Robinson wing was founded and in the 1930's the outpatient department. In 1928 there were 151 beds, 167 in 1935, 172 in 1937 and 180 in 1947. After 1948 the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service. It was closed at the end of 1974.

Guy's Hospital was the result of a project developed by Thomas Guy, a Governor of Saint Thomas' Hospital, between 1722 and 1724. His intention was to build a hospital for 'incurables'. A lease was granted to him by Saint Thomas', for land on the south side of St. Thomas' Street, and the original building was completed by the time that Guy died on 27 December 1724.

The new hospital was provided for in Guy's will, proved on 4 January 1725. It named nine trustees for the bequest, who were to be incorporated by Act of Parliament together with fifty one others as the Governors of the Hospital.

Accordingly, "An Act for Incorporating the Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Thomas Guy, late of the City of London, Esquire; Deceased, and others, in Order to the better management and Disposition of the Charities given by his said Last Will" was passed in 1725. The corporate body of Governors was established, to be known as 'the President and Governors of the Hospital founded at the sole costs and charges of Thomas Guy Esquire', in which was vested the property which Thomas Guy bequeathed in his will.

The first sixty patients were admitted to the Hospital on 6 January 1725. The hospital originally had capacity for 435 patients, but the need for more space quickly arose. Consequently, the original buildings were added to after 1738, when the East Wing was begun. The West Wing, containing the chapel, was built between 1774 and 1780. Hunt's House, funded by a bequest, was built in 1852 and added to in 1871.

A Committee of Governors was appointed by the General Court to report on the management of the Hospital in June 1896. The subsequent report, produced on 28 October 1896, recommended the establishment of the House, Estates, Finance and Staff and School Committees.

An Act for conferring further powers on the President and Governors of Guy's Hospital, known as the Guy's Hospital Act 1898, amended the Act of 1725. It empowered the General Court to make bye-laws fixing the number of Governors and to elect new governors.

The National Health Service Act was passed in 1946, and Guy's was transferred to the possession of the Ministry of Health on 5 July 1948. The administration of the Hospital was transferred from the General Court to a new Board of Governors, appointed by the Minister for Health.

Nuffield House for paying patients was opened in 1935 on the site of the original medical school buildings of 1825. It was provided by Lord Nuffield for less well-off patients.

Massage was first taught to nurses at Guy's in 1888. In 1913 the School of Physiotherapy was founded, with backing from Sir Cooper Perry, Superintendant and Mr William Henry Trethowan, Senior Orthopaedic surgeon. The School quickly outgrew its accomodation and spread into additional rooms in Hunt's House and across the hospital. In 1918 the decision was reached to bring the School together in its own building, this was completed in 1921 with money provided by Sir Percy Shepherd. The School of Physiotherapy remained in Shepherd House until its closure in 1992.

The first meeting of 'the Governors for erecting a Lying-in Hospital for married women in the City of London and parts adjacent and also for Out-patients in Phisic and Surgery' was held at the Black Swan Tavern in Bartholomew Lane on 30 March 1750. Mr Jacob Ilive was in the chair. The governors elected John Nix as the first secretary, Thomas Chaddock as treasurer, Richard Ball as surgeon and man-midwife and William Ball as apothecary. Slingsby Bethell subsequently became the first President of the hospital.

The hospital opened in May 1750 at London House in Aldersgate Street as the 'City of London Lying in Hospital for married women and sick and lame Outpatients.' The General Court of Governors decided on 6 September 1751 to admit no more outpatients and the second part of the title was dropped. The hospital moved in 1751 from London House into Thanet or Shaftesbury House also in Aldersgate Street. In 1769 the Governors decided to erect a new purpose built hospital. They leased a site from St Bartholomew's Hospital on the corner of City Road and Old Street and commissioned Robert Mylne to design the new hospital, which was opened on 31 March 1773.

In the 18th Century, all children born in the hospital were expected to be baptised publicly in the hospital chapel. Money for the hospital was raised by the collections taken at the public baptism ceremonies. The attendance of potential donors was encouraged by the performance of anthems and other sacred music. Special sermons, benefit plays, and performances of musical works such as El Penseroso and The Messiah also contributed to hospital funds.

You may go to Aldersgate-Street

A kind reception there you'll meet

Most safely to lie-in?

No one will know my charming Fair

But you are gone to take the Air

So return a Maid again'

(from Joyful News to Batchelors and Maids: Being a Song in Praise of the Foundling Hospital and the London Hospital Aldersgate Street c 1760 quoted in R. McClure Coram's Children, 1981, p.109)

Despite the above rhyme the benefits of the hospital were intended to be for married women only. Not until 1888 were single women admitted for a first confinement and then only in exceptional circumstances after careful investigation by the Committee of Management. The rules of the hospital were relaxed in 1912 to allow any 'Singlewomen who are sufficient recommended and are found to be deserving of the Benefits of the Hospital's Charity' to be eligible for admission for their first confinement.

In 1872 the hospital established an outdoor maternity department. Patients were delivered in their own homes by district midwives employed by the hospital. The district attended by the hospital was at first to be only the area within a mile of the hospital, but it was rapidly extended until by 1883 it included Shoreditch, Islington, St Luke's, Bethnal Green, Clerkenwell, Spitalfields, Hackney, Whitechapel, Holborn, and the City of London. By 1898 it also included parts of Stoke Newington and South Hornsey. The outdoor maternity department rapidly became very popular and by 1880 was admitting over a thousand patients a year, roughly three times as many outpatients as inpatients. In 1910, 2742 outpatients were delivered compared to 842 inpatients. After the introduction of maternity benefit in 1912 through the National Insurance Act, the numbers of outpatients decreased and the area of the district contracted to the parts nearer the hospital.

Midwifery training at the hospital was reorganised in the 1880s. From 1886 midwifery pupils in their last month of training were allowed to attend outpatients living near the hospital.

During the 19th Century the hospital suffered a number of outbreaks of puerperal fever. A severe outbreak of puerperal fever in 1877 caused the hospital to be closed for almost eighteen months from 24 November 1877 to April 1879. Despite sanitary improvements, mortality in the hospital remained excessively high and in June 1880 antiseptic rules were introduced. However in February 1883 the hospital again had to be closed temporarily.

The hospital building was badly damaged by the construction of the Great Northern and City Railway underneath Old Street. Between 1904 and 1907 the old hospital was demolished and a new hospital built on the same site. The name of the hospital was changed in 1918 to The City of London Maternity Hospital. A royal charter was granted to the hospital in 1935.

On the outbreak of War in 1939, the hospital equipped and staffed Brocket Hall near Hatfield in Hertfordshire as a maternity unit for evacuated mothers administered by Hertfordshire County Council. The hospital in City Road was badly damaged by bombing on 10 September 1940, 16 April 1941 and 10 May 1941. The rear part of the building subsequently had to be demolished. Although the front portion of the building could still be used for clinics and administration, no inpatients could be admitted into the hospital after September 1940. Inpatients were transferred to Friern Barnet Hospital until March 1941 when the maternity beds were required for war casualties. Outpatients continued to be delivered in their own homes and expectant mothers who were willing to leave London were evacuated to Brocket Hall. In January 1942 twelve beds were made available for emergency cases in the London Fever Hospital in Liverpool Road, Islington. The number of beds was later increased to forty.

At the end of war, in 1946, the City of London Maternity Hospital took over financial responsibility for Brocket Hall from Hertfordshire County Council. It was decided not to rebuild the hospital on the very noisy site in City Road. Former homes for the blind in Hanley Road, Islington, were acquired from the Institute for the Blind and the hospital opened in Hanley Road in November 1949. Clinics continued to be held in the City Road building until 1955 when a modern building was opened adjacent to the hospital in Hanley Road.

In 1948 the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service and came under the control of the Northern Group Hospital Management Committee. In 1974 the hospital became part of Islington Health District. The hospital closed in 1983.

The chief authority in the hospital lay with the General Court of Governors, which met twice a year, though special courts could be summoned more frequently if required. The main business of the hospital devolved on to the House Committee, which was chosen by the General Court. The House Committee met every week at the hospital to admit and discharge patients, to inspect the running of the hospital and to deal with other business. The Committee, which was also known as the Weekly Committee or the Committee of Governors, reported its proceedings to each General Court and a copy of the report was entered in the hospital minute books. After March 1857 the House Committee met only once a month. A rota of the committee consisting of two members of the committee in rotation met once a week at the hospital to admit patients. This became known as the Rota Committee. In 1880 the constitution of the hospital was amended. Governors' meetings were to be held in future once a year in February. The Committee became the Committee of Management meeting once a month while the Rota Committee was to continue to meet once a week at the hospital. A Finance Committee was established which held quarterly meetings.

Under the Royal Charter granted on 28 January 1935 the annual general meeting of the Governors was to be held in March. The Committee of Management was replaced by the Board of Management, which was to have the entire management of the hospital.

The fourth surviving governors' minute book includes an inventory of the books and papers belonging to the hospital drawn up on 1 June 1789. It is clear from this and from references in the hospital minute books that many records do not survive. Some records may have been destroyed when the hospital was bombed in 1940 and 1941. Others, including eight of the first nine admission registers, were sent for salvage during the Second World War. Onward for June 1942 states that 'In common with other Hospitals we have 'salvaged' a large quantity of paper (correspondence, records, books and the like) which, in the piping times of peace, accumulated over a long period of time, but in these critical days is put to National use.'

Colney Hatch Asylum opened at Friern Barnet in July 1851 as the second pauper lunatic asylum for the County of Middlesex. The first Middlesex County Pauper Asylum, now Saint Bernard's Hospital, had opened at Hanwell in 1831 (see H11/HLL). In 1851 Colney Hatch, designed in the Italianate style by S. W. Dawkes, with 1,250 beds was the largest and most modern institution of its kind in Europe. Within ten years it was enlarged to take 2,000 patients. It had its own cemetery (closed in 1873 after which patients were buried in the Great Northern Cemetery), its own farm on which many patients were employed, its own water supply, and its own sewage works built after local residents complained of untreated sewage from the asylum flowing into Pym's Brook.

On the creation of the County of London in 1889 Colney Hatch Asylum was transferred from the control of the Middlesex Justices to the London County Council, although it remained geographically within the administrative county of Middlesex. The need for more accommodation for lunatics led to construction in 1896 of a temporary wood and iron building for 320 chronic and infirm female patients in five dormitories. This was destroyed by a fire in 1903 with the loss of 51 lives. Between 1908 and 1913 seven permanent brick villas were built, one for behavioural disordered subnormal and epileptic boys, two with verandas for tubercular and dysenteric cases, and the remainder for women who had survived the fire. In 1912 a disused carpenter's shop and stores at the railway siding were converted into additional accommodation for male patients. Brunswick House at Mistley in Essex was leased in 1914 to provide 50 beds for working male patients supervised by a single charge attendant and four assistants. After the First World War Brunswick House became a separate unit for higher-grade subnormals.

Construction of a male admission villa in 1927 and a female nurses home in 1937 freeing 89 beds for female patients brought the number of patients to its highest total of almost 2,700. In 1937 it was renamed Friern Hospital. Patients were admitted from the Metropolitan boroughs of Finsbury, Hampstead, Holborn, Islington, Saint Marylebone, Saint Pancras and Shoreditch. Jewish patients from the whole of the County of London were as far as possible congregated at Friern, which provided special arrangements for the preparation of food and religious ministrations. The staff included nine full time doctors, 494 nurse and 171 probationers.

On the outbreak of the Second World War 12 wards along the main front corridor containing 215 male and 409 female beds were taken over by the Emergency Medical Service run by units from Saint Bartholomew's Hospital. Patients were sent to other hospitals or distributed around the remaining wards. Five villas were either destroyed or damaged by air raids in 1941 in which 36 patients and 4 nurses died. Shortage of accommodation resulted in acute overcrowding.

In 1948 Friern Hospital became part of the National Health Service under the control of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. It had its own Hospital Management Committee, which was renamed the New Southgate Group Hospital Management Committee on the opening of Halliwick Hospital in 1958. This was a new 145 bed block built in the grounds of Friern at a distance from the main hospital. It was intended to serve as an admission unit to separate recent cases from confirmed, long stay patients. In practice it became a 'neurosis unit' for 'less sick, socially superior, and fringe patients' (Hunter and MacAlpine p.50) selected by the medical staff. By 1972 it ceased to be treated as a separate hospital and, now known as Halliwick House, provided admission and convalescent beds for the main hospital.

By 1973 the official maximum number of patients in Friern had been reduced to 1,500. On the reorganisation of the National Health Service in 1974 the hospital became the responsibility of the North East Thames Regional Health Authority and Camden and Islington Area Health Authority. On the abolition of area health authorities in 1982, Friern was transferred to Hampstead Health Authority, which in 1993 merged with Bloomsbury and Islington Health Authority to form Camden and Islington Health Authority. By 1989 it had been decided that Friern Hospital should close as part of the policy of replacing large long stay mental hospitals with care in the community. The hospital finally closed on 31 March 1993.

Elizabeth Garrett was the first woman to train and qualify as a doctor in Great Britain. In July 1866 she opened St Mary's Dispensary at no. 69 Seymour Place, Bryanston Square, St Marylebone, where she offered women and children the opportunity of being treated by a female doctor. As well as attending the 60 to 90 out-patients who crowded to each session at the dispensary, she visited patients in their own homes and took charge of midwifery cases in the area. Her marriage to J.G.S. Anderson in 1871 did not prevent her from continuing and expanding her work. In 1872 Lord Shaftesbury opened a ward for 10 beds at the dispensary, which now became known as the New Hospital for Women.

In 1874 the hospital moved to larger premises at nos. 222 and 224 Marylebone Road. In 1889 the Princess of Wales laid the foundation stone of the present hospital building in Euston Road, which was completed in 1890. After the death of its founder in 1917, the hospital was renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

The hospital offered the London School of Medicine for Women (established in 1874) opportunities for clinical teaching, soon augmented by being given access to the wards of the Royal Free Hospital. The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital continued to provide women doctors with valuable experience in hospital posts.

Between 1913 and 1948 the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital gradually expanded its activities. In 1912 a legacy enabled the hospital to establish a house of recovery situated in country surroundings not far from London. A large house, no. 83 Gloucester Road, New Barnet, was purchased and named Rosa Morison House after its benefactor. This remained part of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital until 1972, when it was transferred to Barnet Group Hospital Management Committee.

Additional property adjoining the hospital was also acquired on which was built the Queen Mary Wing, opened by the Queen in 1929, and the Nurses' House, opened by the Duchess of Kent in 1938. In 1946 the hospital purchased the Hampstead Nursing Home, 40 Belsize Grove, Hampstead, which was opened by Queen Mary in 1948 as the Garrett Anderson Maternity Home, a maternity unit with 27 beds.

On the formation of the National Health Service in 1948, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital became one of the Royal Free Hospital group of teaching hospitals. In April 1962 it was transferred to the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board where it became at first part of the Northern Group of hospitals, then from April 1963 part of the North London Group. On the reorganisation of the health service in 1974, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital became part of the South Camden District in the Camden and Islington Area Health Authority.

Despite massive public support for the hospital, in 1976 the Secretary of State decided that it should close, but recommended that the work of the hospital should be transferred to a district general hospital in the same area in an identifiable form. Between 1975 and 1979 the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Appeal Trust lobbied to save the hospital and raised £900,000 from the public. After the general election in May 1979, the new government reversed the earlier decision and granted £2 million to convert the hospital into a small gynaecological unit, where women could be treated by women. The hospital reopened in 1984 with modern facilities, a new Well Women's service and good operating theatres.

In 1982 the hospital came under the control of the Bloomsbury Health Authority, and since 1991, Bloomsbury and Islington Health Authority. Despite closing the Soho Hospital for Women in 1988, the health authority decided in 1992 to close the beds at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and to use the hospital for day surgery only.

Edgware General Hospital was originally known as Redhill Hospital and was built by Hendon Board of Guardians. Rather than extending the old Redhill Infirmary, in the 1920's Hendon Board of Guardians decided to build a new hospital of 175 beds on 20 acres of land at Burnt Oak. Work began in 1924 and Redhill Hospital opened in December 1927. It was taken over by Middlesex County Council on 1 April 1930 who renamed it Redhill County Hospital. Between 1936 and 1938, the Middlesex County Council built extensive additions to the hospital including a 60 bed maternity unit and a 329 bed medical unit. In January 1938 the Middlesex County Maternity Hospital opened in Bushey. This was administered from Redhill County Hospital. The hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948 and came under the control of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and Hendon Group Hospital Management Committee. Its name was changed the same year to Edgware General Hospital. It now forms part of Barnet Health Authority.

Kensington Infirmary and Kensington Workhouse were administered by the Kensington Board of Guardians until 1930. Kensington Workhouse became known as Kensington Institution in 1912 and Kensington Infirmary became St Mary Abbot's Hospital in 1923. In 1930 when the London County Council took over the two hospitals, St Mary Abbot's Hospital was designated a type A hospital for the acute sick, and Kensington Institution became a type B hospital for the chronic sick. In 1931 on the retirement of the Master of Kensington Institution, the hospital was placed under the charge of a Medical Superintendent as a first stage in integrating the two hospitals. This was carried a step further in 1933 when the Institution was renamed St Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution).

From 1938 St Mary Abbot's Hospital became St Mary Abbot's Hospital (I) and St Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution) became St Mary Abbot's Hospital (II), until 17 June 1944 when Hospital (II) was closed due to enemy action. The two hospitals were eventually united formally in 1948 when they were taken in to the National Health Service.

In 1838, the surgeon James Yearsley founded the Metropolitan Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, in Sackville Street, W1. It was the first hospital to specialise in diseases of the Ear, Nose and Throat. The hospital was transferred to Saint Mary Abbots Hospital in 1953, where it retained its identity as a specialist hospital until 1985 when it was removed from the control of Saint Mary Abbots and became part of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of the new Charing Cross Hospital.