Christ Church is situated on Battersea Park Road. The building was designed in a 14th century style. The church and parish were founded in 1861.
From: 'Parishes: Battersea with Penge', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 8-17.
In 1872 Canon Erskine Clarke, vicar of Saint Mary, Battersea felt that there was an "urgent need for a school for young children and for some place in which meetings for worship can be held and it is hoped that an Iron Building will be put up in or near Chatham Road". Philip Cazenove bought the land and on 8 August 1872 the Iron School House opened in which Sunday evening services were held by the Reverend Henry Verdon for seven years.
On his death and that of Philip Cazenove in 1880, Canon Erskine Clarke proposed the building of Saint Michael's Church as a joint memorial to the two men. The architect W. White was commissioned to provide a church to seat about 750 people. The memorial stones were laid by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 1 June 1881. The Church was dedicated on 10 September by the Bishop of Rochester and consecrated on 24 August 1883. A year later a separate parish was created and the first vicar of Saint Michael's instituted on 15 December 1884.
Saint Paul's started as a chapel of ease in the parish of Saint John. The church was constructed in stone in a 14th century style. In 1938-1939 the parish of Saint John, which had declined, was amalgamated with Saint Paul. It is advisable to consult the records of the two parishes in conjunction.
The church of Saint Barnabas was constructed in 1870 to the designs of William Butterfield. A district chapelry was assigned to the church in 1873, taken from parts of the parishes of Saint Mary and All Saints. By the 1960s the parish had merged with that of Saint Katharine, Rotherhithe.
Saint Mary's is the ancient parish church of Rotherhithe. It is first mentioned in records in 1291. The advowson passed through various hands before being purchased by the Masters of Clare College, Cambridge. The medieval church building was reconstructed in 1714.
This parish was originally part of Southwark, but in 1900 when the metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey was formed the parish became part of Bermondsey. The parish was united with St John Horselydown in 1918 and the church was closed in 1921.
The Parish of Saint Thomas', Southwark was closely allied with Saint Thomas' Hospital and the Governors of the Hospital paid for the upkeep of the building and also appointed and paid the incumbent. The parish covered only eight acres and included the grounds of Saint Thomas' Hospital and much of Guy's Hospital and was therefore the parish church for the hospitals.
Th parish was not created until 1378 but there were certain parochial rights already in existance before then. The church was dedicated to Saint Thomas the Martyr until the reformation when the dedication was changed to Saint Thomas the Apostle. During the middle ages a substantial stone church was built and was granted to the corporation of the City of London with the hospital buildings at the refounding of Saint Thomas' hospital in 1551. This was rebuilt inbetween 1700 and 1702 with the interior work all being funded by the hospital.
In 1836 the parish was for poor law and other civil purposes united with Saint Olave's, Southwark and Saint John's, Horsleydown to form Saint Olave's Union. To this were added Saint Mary Magdelene, Bermondsey and Saint Mary, Rotherhithe in 1869. In 1898 Saint Thomas' Church was closed down and the parish incorporated into Saint Saviour's, Southwark for ecclesiastical purposes. The parish church of Saint Saviour later became Southwark Cathedral and Saint Thomas' church is now used as the Cathedral Chapter House. It also housed the Old Operating Theatre, Museum and Herb Garrett in the roof space of the church where an operating theatre was in use in 1821.
The church of Saint Andrew was constructed in 1841 in an Italian Romanesque style, designed by T.H. Wyatt and D. Brandon. A district was assigned in 1843. The patron was the Bishop of London. A large vicarage was added by 1873. The church ran a mission in Cambridge Road. The parish was united with Saint Matthew's (P72/MTW) in 1958 and the building was demolished.
From: 'Bethnal Green: List of Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 217-226.
The church of Saint James the Less was consecrated in 1842. A district was assigned in 1843, taken from the parish of Saint Matthew. John Watts-Ditchfield, vicar from 1897 to 1914, introduced a range of activities and missions, including a dispensary and open air services. The church was damaged by enemy action in 1940 and a temporary church was used from 1951 while the church was rebuilt. The new building was opened in 1961. The parish merged with Saint Mark, Old Ford, in 1973.
From: 'Bethnal Green: List of Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 217-226.
The church of Saint Matthias was constructed between 1846 and 1848, designed by T.H. Wyatt and D. Brandon in a Romanesque style. In 1844 a district was assigned from part of the parish of Saint Matthew. In the 1850s the church was active in missionary work, holding classes and lectures and supporting a provident society and library. The parish was united with Saint Matthew (P72/MTW) in 1954 and the church was demolished.
From: 'Bethnal Green: List of Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 217-226.
The district of Saint Peter's was taken from the parish of Saint Matthew in 1843; while the church was constructed in 1840 in a Romanesque style. It was in bad repair by 1858 and needed works, being altered in 1891 and restored in 1905. The parish was united with Saint Thomas' (P72/TMS) and part of Saint Jude's (P72/JUD) in 1951.
From: 'Bethnal Green: List of Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 217-226.
All Saints Church was constructed in 1893, designed by Walter Planck. A parish had been formed in 1892.
Emmanuel Church was formed in 1842 following the destruction by fire of Saint Giles's church. It was built at a cost of £4899. It consisted of a chancel, two eastern towers, an aisleless nave with galleries and an eastern vestry. It was constructed of white brick. The church served a large population on the western edge of Camberwell parish, mostly of working-class background. The parish was united with the parish of Saint Michael and All Angels with All Souls, Camberwell in circa 1965. Emmanuel Church was closed.
Saint Giles is the ancient ''mother'' church of the parish of Camberwell, which included Peckham and Dulwich. It has stood on the same site since its original construction shortly after the Norman Conquest, being rebuilt in stone in 1154 and surviving until being burned down in 1841. A new church, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, with stained glass windows created by local resident and well known poet and author John Ruskin, was built in 1844.
Camberwell was a farming village surrounded by woods and fields until about 1800, with mineral wells abounding. One of these was supposed to have healing properties and many invalids visited in the hope of a cure. It is probably no coincidence that the church was named after Saint Giles, the patron saint of cripples.
Saint Mark's church was built in 1883, from red brick and stone, in the style of the 13th century. It had a continuous chancel and nave and a bell. The parish was formed in 1884. The church was demolished around 1960.
The church was originally built in 1843-44 by G. Alexander, but unfortunately was damaged by fire and rebuilt by G.E. Street in 1858. The chancel was enlarged and embellished although the west tower, spire and outer walls of the original church were retained. At the time of its construction, Saint Paul's church was surrounded largely by fields as Herne Hill was still very much a rural area, but by the 1890's it had become urbanised following the emergence of a railway station and numerous houses in the neighbourhood.
Saint James parish was established in 1845, and enlarged in 1851. The church was constructed in 1854.
Saint Mary's Nunnery of Augustinian canonesses, founded in 1140, was dissolved in 1539 and the church converted to the parish church of Clerkenwell. In the 1780s the building was declared ruinous and demolished.
The present church was built 1788-92 by the architect James Carr, on the site of the choir of the mediaeval nunnery. It is regarded as one of the most respected Palladian architects of the period. It is built of stock brick and has a stone west tower. The steeple was rebuilt in 1849 by William Pettit Griffith and the Church was further restored 1883-84. In 1978 the church was redecorated and the organ restored to its 18th century design.
The church was described in 1906 as 'a very dingy-looking building of earth-brick with round-headed windows'. The former burial ground was opened as a public ground in 1897, while the crypt was converted into a hall in 1912.
The church of Saint James, Pentonville, was founded in 1778 as Pentonville Chapel, and was used as a chapel of ease to Saint James, Clerkenwell. It was not made a separate parish church until 1854 when a parish was assigned. The church served as the official church of the International Circus Clown's Club and held an annual service for circus members. A memorial to famous circus clown Joseph Grimaldi was erected in the graveyard after his death in 1837.
The church was declared redundant in May 1978 and the parish was united with All Saints, Battle Bridge, Caledonian Road. On the union of the parishes of All Saints with Saint James and Saint Andrew, Thornhill Square, Barnsbury in 1980, most of the former parish of Saint James was transferred to the parish of Saint Silas, Penton Street.
The church of Saint Philip was situated on Granville Square, Clerkenwell. It was designed by Edward Buckton Lamb between 1831 and 1833. After only 25 years the church had been undermined by the building of the Metropolitan Railway and had to be repaired, re-opening in 1860. The last marriage register was closed in 1936 on the union of the parish with the Church of the Holy Redeemer, Exmouth Market.
The church of Saint Silas originated as an iron mission church established by the vicar of Saint James, Pentonville. A permanent church was constructed between 1860 and 1863. An initial dedication to Christ Church was changed to Saint Silas at the consecration in 1867. At one time the church shared an administration with the All Saints Mission Chapel on White Lion Street, and was notorious for promoting Anglo-Catholicism.
Saint Alban's Church originated as a mission on John Street. The permanent church was built between 1895 and 1897 by Aston Webb and E. Ingress Bell.The parish was created from the amalgamation of Saint Paul, Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith and Saint Andrew, Saint Andrew's Road. The parish is currently known as Saint Alban with St Augustine, Margravine Road, Fulham; following amalgamation with the church of Saint Augustine (founded 1901 on Lillie Road). The patronage is jointly held by the Bishop of London and the Corporation of London.
The church of Saint Andrew's is situated between St Andrew's Road and Star Road in North Fulham, W14. The parish includes includes Queens Club Gardens and the large estates of Cheeseman's Terrace and West Kensington Estate. The church was built in 1873, with various later additions and extensions.
The Mission Chapel of St Augustine was originally in the parish of St Andrew, Fulham. The parish of St Augustine, Lillie Road, Fulham was formed in 1901. St Augustine's Church was destroyed by bombing in October 1940. A temporary church was opened in 1941 over the parish hall.
The marriage register was closed in October 1956 on the union of the parish with St Oswald, Anselm Road, Fulham to form the parish of St Oswald with St Augustine.
St Oswald's became the parish church of the united parish whilst St Augustine's Church was used as a chapel of ease and was relicensed for marriages in October 1956.
In 1973 St Oswalds was declared redundant and St Augustine's become the parish church. The name of the parish was changed to St Augustine, Lillie Road, Fulham. More recently the parish has joined with the parish of St Alban to become St Alban with St Augustine, Margravine Road, Fulham. The patronage is shared between the Bishop of London and the Corporation of London.
The church of Saint John the Evangelist, Stratheden Road, Blackheath, was built between 1852 and 1853. The parish was created in 1854 from part of the parish of Saint Alphege, Greenwich.
The foundation stone of the original All Souls Church was laid on 2 December 1882 and the church, which was designed by Francis Dollman, was consecrated on 1 December 1883. This church was declared redundant in December 1976 and subsequently demolished. The present modern building was erected in its place. In 1986 the parish became part of the Hackney Marsh Team Ministry, together with Saint Barnabas with Saint Paul, Homerton.
Saint Barnabas, West Hackney, was opened in 1890 as part of the Merchant Taylor's School Mission. Following the destruction of West Hackney Church by enemy action in 1940, Saint Barnabas began to play a wider role in the community. The two parishes amalgamated in 1955. The church building is Byzantine in style and plan. It was constructed between 1909 and 1910 and was consecrated in 1929.
The earliest building on the site dated to around 1275. From the fourteenth century onwards the church was dedicated to Saint Augustine, but was changed to Saint John after 1660. The present benefice, created in 1971, is called Hackney, the church remaining dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.
By the late 1770s it was clear from the growing population of the area that a new and larger church was necessary. The new church was consecrated on 15th July 1797 with a wooden box-like structure. The old church was demolished except for the tower, which was left intact to hold the bells. The church was subsequently rebuilt in Portland stone and a tower added in 1814.
The church suffered only light damage during World War II but was badly damaged by fire in 1955. Following extensive repairs it was re-consecrated in 1958. The old 16th century tower of St Augustine still stands to the south.
Saint James was a chapel of Saint John at Hackney until September 1863 when it was assigned a district. It became the parish church of the united parish of Saint James with Christ Church Clapton in June 1953, and one of the two parish churches of the new parish of Hackney in 1972.
The original church, which was designed by J.H. Hakewill, was situated opposite the vicarage on the corner of Lamb Lane and London Fields. Nothing now remains of this building which was destroyed in the Second World War. The new church, which was designed by N.F. Cachemaille-Day, is situated on the other side of London Fields in part of what was then the parish of Saint Phillip, Dalston. The foundation stone is dated 7 November 1959. The parish was united with that of Saint Paul, Haggerston (P91/PAU) in 1971 and Saint Michael and All Angels became the church of the united parish.
Saint Martin's Mission Church was opened in November 1906 and closed in February 1939.
A mission financed by Eton College was originally founded in Malford Street over an undertaker's shop. In 1884 an iron church was erected, and in 1892 a new church was built to the designs of E.F. Bodley, with funds provided by Eton college. In 1893 the mission becamea parish, comprising the parishes of Saint Augustine and Saint Barnabas. The church was enlarged and a tower added in 1911-1912.
Eton House was built in a Tudor style to accommodate clerical and lay staff and visiting Etonians. The church was badly damaged by a V1 rocket in 1944. In 1953 the parish was united with Saint Augustine, Victoria Park. The patronage still rests with Eton mission trustees.
The site was given by William Rhodes, financed by The Church Building Committee. A district was assigned from part of the parish of Saint John in 1848.
The church was built in 1841 in brick with stone dressings in Early English style. It was bombed in 1940 and demolished between 1947 and 1952. From December 1940 marriages were solemnized at Holy Trinity, Dalston. The last marriage register was closed in 1953 on the union of the parish with Holy Trinity, Dalston.
It is likely that Saint Saviours was a temporary mission church of Saint Philip, Dalston. It appears in the Post Office Directory 1878 and in Kelly's Directory of 1882 as Saint Saviours iron church.
Saint Katherine's was originally known as Saint Catherine Coleman. The church was built in 1922 by architect R. Atkinson, while the parish was assigned in 1929. The name was changed in 1959.
The parish of Saint Saviour was created in 1891 from parts of the parishes of Saint Luke, Uxbridge Road and East Acton. In 1982 the church was amalgamated with Saint Mary, Stamford Brook and renamed Saint Mary with Saint Saviour.
The parish of Saint Stephen was created in 1850 and the church building was constructed at the same date.In 1963 the parish was united with that of Saint Thomas, Godolphin Road, Hammersmith.
The church of All Souls was founded and endowed by the Reverend Henry Robinson Wadmore, who worked at Saint John's Wood chapel. He was the patron while he was incumbent, after which the patronage passed to the Bishop of London. A district was assigned in 1865. The church was designed by Reverend Wadmore's brother James Wadmore, and was constructed between 1864 and 1865. An extension was added in 1905.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 145-152.
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.
The oldest part of Kensington Workhouse, later known as Stone Hall, was built in 1847. A separate infirmary was built on the same site in 1871. Until 1875 the main dining hall behind the workhouse was used for chapel services. A legacy of two thousand five hundred pounds from Eliza France, wife of one of the Kensington Guardians, then made it possible to build a chapel to serve both the workhouse and the infirmary. The chapel was designed by A.W. Blomfield in the Early English style and was dedicated to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. The chapel was demolished in 1974 and was replaced by a modern chapel dedicated by the Bishop of Kensington in an ecumenical service on 8 June 1977.
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 Saint Mary Abbot's Hospital in 1923. In 1930 when the London County Council took over the two hospitals, Saint 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 Saint Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution).
From 1938 Saint Mary Abbot's Hospital became Saint Mary Abbot's Hospital (I) and Saint Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution) became Saint 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 1948 Saint Mary Abbot's Hospital was assigned to the Fulham and Kensington Hospital Management Committee of the South West Metropolitan Region. On 1 October 1960 the Fulham and Kensington Hospital Management Committee was amalgamated with the Chelsea Hospital Management Committee to form the Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee which administered the hospital until 1974. At that date it became part of the Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority, within the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. In 1982 the hospital became part of the Victoria Health Authority, and in 1986 it is part of the Riverside Health Authority.
From 1948 to 1955 the hospital was a general hospital with approximately 400 beds. From 1955 to 1972 it was designated an acute hospital. From 1972 to 1984 it specialised in Ear, Nose and Throat cases, geriatrics and psychiatrics, with geriatric and psychiatric day hospitals from 1978. During this period the number of beds at the hospital was 230 approximately. From 1984 the hospital has been designated a long-stay hospital. The hospital closed in 1992 on the opening of the new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on the site of Saint Stephen's Hospital, Fulham Road.
Shoreditch Workhouse and Shoreditch Infirmary (later Saint Leonard's Hospital I) occupied adjoining parts of the same site which stretched from Hoxton Street in the west to Kingsland Road in the east. When the functions of the Boards of Guardians were transferred to the London County Council in 1930, Saint Leonard's Hospital had certified accommodation for 556 patients, while the workhouse (by then known as Saint Leonard's House) had certified accommodation for 424. On 1 April 1938 the L.C.C. completed its policy of removing its hospitals entirely from the ambit of the Poor Law by the appropriation of the remaining six institutions which accommodated chronic sick patients and which were within the curtilages of general hospitals. These included Saint Leonard's Institution which was renamed Saint Leonard's Hospital II to distinguish it from the neighbouring general hospital of the same name, which was to be known as Saint Leonard's Hospital I. By 1948, when Saint Leonard's Hospital became part of the National Health Service as one of the Central Group of hospitals, the two hospitals were being managed as one general hospital, much reduced in size.
Saint Matthew's Hospital was built in 1873 as City Road Workhouse by Holborn Board of Guardians on the site of Saint Luke's Workhouse. By 1930 when it was taken over by the London County Council, it had become known as Holborn and Finsbury Institution. The London County Council decided to use it as a hospital for the care of the chronic sick and renamed it Saint Matthew's Hospital in 1936. In 1948 Saint Matthew's Hospital became part of the National Health Service as one of the Central Group of Hospitals of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1974 Saint Matthew's Hospital became part of Tower Hamlets Health District (Teaching) of the City and East London Area Heath Authority. The hospital closed in 1986.
Shoreditch Workhouse and Shoreditch Infirmary (later Saint Leonard's Hospital I) occupied adjoining parts of the same site which stretched from Hoxton Street in the west to Kingsland Road in the east. The buildings were erected in about 1865 to replace an earlier workhouse. The workhouse (later the institution) occupied the eastern part of the site immediately behind the Board of Guardians offices which fronted on Kingsland Road. The infirmary occupied the western portion of the site adjoining Hoxton Street. An annexe to the infirmary was built in 1884 in the north east corner of the site next to Nuttall Street.
When the functions of the Boards of Guardians were transferred to the London County Council (L.C.C.) in 1930, Saint Leonard's Hospital had certified accommodation for 556 patients, while the workhouse (by then known as Saint Leonard's House) had certified accommodation for 424. The L.C.C. Architect considered that most of the ward blocks were badly planned lacking cross ventilation (LCC/AR/CB/3/1).
On 1 April 1938 the L.C.C. completed its policy of removing its hospitals entirely from the ambit of the Poor Law by the appropriation of the remaining six institutions which accommodated chronic sick patients and which were within the curtilages of general hospitals. These included Saint Leonard's Institution which was renamed Saint Leonard's Hospital II to distinguish it from the neighbouring general hospital of the same name, which was to be known as Saint Leonard's Hospital I. By 1938 the total bed complement of the two hospitals had been reduced to 649 of which 549 were sick beds. (L.C.C. Annual Report of the County Medical Officer of Health for 1938).
Plans by the L.C.C. to rebuild the hospitals ended with the outbreak of war in 1939. The hospitals suffered considerable bomb damage with the destruction of part of the main block and one of the three nurses' homes. By 1948, when Saint Leonard's Hospital became part of the National Health Service as one of the Central Group of hospitals; the two hospitals were being managed as one general hospital, much reduced in size. In 1956 the hospital had 192 beds, with the possibility of opening additional wards to provide a total of 250 beds, if the extra nursing staff could be made available (A/KE/735/9).;Since then it has been developed as a centre for co-ordinating community services and supporting health centres. In 1992 it became part of City and Hackney Community Services NHS Trust.
The Workhouse on the Bancroft Road site was built by the Board of Guardians of Mile End Old Town in 1858-1859. The foundation stone of the new Infirmary, erected under the powers conferred by the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, was laid in February 1881, and it was opened in March 1883. A Nurse Training School was established in 1892. The institution was taken over by the military authorities during the First World War; during the military occupation, the facilities of the hospital were considerably improved. In 1930, when the Hospital passed to the control of the London County Council, it had 550 beds. With the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, the Hospital became part of the Stepney Group; the Stepney Group Hospital Management Committee was merged with the Central Group in 1966 to form the East London Group. In 1968, Mile End Hospital, together with Saint Clement's Hospital, was transferred to the management of the Board of Governors of the London Hospital. Its designation was changed to the London Hospital (Mile End). As a result of the re-organisation in 1974, it became part of Tower Hamlets Health District.
General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI) sufferers accounted for about 1 in 12 of mental hospital admissions. Patients with this illness would show signs of sudden psychotic symptoms, with unusual eye and muscular reflexes, speech and hearing problems, seizures and dementia, leading to incapacitation and death. The cause of GPI was an invasion of the central nervous system by syphilitic bacteria. In 1917 a new treatment was developed which involved deliberately infecting GPI patients with malaria, because the high fever which is a symptom of malaria raised the body temperature to as high as 40ºC and killed the bacteria causing the GPI. The cure was discovered after an outbreak of malaria in a mental hospital left many patients unexpectedly cured of their GPI.
In 1923 some of the mental hospitals run by the London County Council (LCC), including Horton Hospital, started to trial the malaria therapy. In 1925 it was decided to set up a specialist centre for London just to provide this malaria therapy for GPI patients. The centre, together with a separate specialist laboratory for the study of malaria, was established at Horton.
By 1935 about 700 patients had been treated. 75% were said to have recovered completely. The centre was named the Mott Clinic in the late 1920s, named after the Director of the Central Laboratory and Pathologist to the LCC Mental Hospitals, Sir Fredric Mott (1855-1926).
The development of antibiotics such as penicillin after World War Two reduced the need for malaria therapy. The laboratory was instead turned into a malaria research centre. The Mott Clinic became known as the Ministry of Health Malaria Laboratory, until 1952 when it became the Malaria Reference Laboratory. The Laboratory later moved from Epsom to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, becoming known as the Health Protection Agency Malaria Reference Laboratory.