New End Hospital Archway Group Hospital Management Committee

New End Hospital was originally founded as an institution in 1800 by the Hampstead Board of Guardians: part workhouse, part casual ward and part infirmary. It was rebuilt in 1845. Until the outbreak of World War One its patients included the unemployed, the destitute, unmarried mothers and their children, with the casual ward being used for the homeless and destitute, and the infirmary for psychiatric patients. From 1914-1918 the institution was used for returning soldiers who were wounded or shellshocked. After the war ended, the Guardians modernised the institution and changed the name to New End Hospital; it was taken over the by London County Council in 1930. It gradually became recognised as a hospital for acutely sick patients, and gained especial renown as a centre for endocrinology, largely owing to the pioneering work of Jack Piercy, Surgeon Superintendent 1932-65. On the inception of the National Health Service in 1948, New End was passed to the North-West Metropolitan Regional Health Board and the Archway Group Hospital Management Committee. It transferred to the Royal Free Group in 1968, and remained in use as a hospital until 1986, when the profits from its sale were used to fund the redevelopment of Queen Mary's Maternity Home, Hampstead.