Royal Free Hospital

The Royal Free Hospital began life as a small dispensary in Holborn. It was founded by William Marsden in 1828, to provide free medical care to those who could not afford it (at that time, people seeking hospital treatment had to pay a fee, or provide a letter of recommendation.) Thus, it was the first free hospital in London. The title 'Royal' was granted by Queen Victoria in 1837, in recognition of the hospital's work during the 19th century cholera epidemics, when it was the only London hospital to accept cases.

Demand for free hospital treatment was high, so in 1844 the Royal Free moved to larger premises, a former army barracks in Gray's Inn Road, where it stayed until the early 1970s. In 1877, the Royal Free became a teaching hospital and made history by becoming the first hospital in Britain to accept women as medical students. This began a close association with the London School of Medicine for Women, later renamed the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. The Royal Free School of Nursing was started in 1889, and in 1895 the Royal Free became the first hospital to appoint an almoner, forerunner of the modern social worker. After the Second World War, The Royal Free continued to innovate, leading the way in treatments for kidney and liver diseases, haemophilia and cancer.

On the inception of the National Health Service in 1948, the Royal Free joined with several smaller hospitals including the Children's Hospital Hampstead, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, the North-Western Hospital, Hampstead General Hospital and the London Fever Hospital to form the Royal Free Group. In 1968, Coppett's Wood and New End Hospital joined the Royal Free Group and, in 1972, Queen Mary's House.

Survival of records from the Gray's Inn Road era is generally very good. Extensive series of minutes, annual reports and photographs give insight into the management and day-to-day administration of the Royal Free, the difficulties funding a voluntary hospital, and the development of the NHS. The collection also includes some of the earliest surviving patient case notes from a British hospital (1899-1920). These give detailed personal and clinical histories of patients, which provide a unique insight into the personal, social and medical conditions of the population of London's Kings Cross slums. They include case notes by some of the first women surgeons and physicians.

The Royal Free moved to its present site in Pond Street, Hampstead, in the mid 1970s. The new hospital brought together the old Royal Free Hospital in Gray's Inn Road with Lawn Road Hospital (formerly the North-Western Fever Hospital), New End Hospital and Hampstead General Hospital. As a result of NHS reorganization, the Royal Free came under the control of Camden and Islington Area Health Authority between 1974 and 1982 and the Hampstead Health Authority between 1982 and 1991. Records from this period of the Royal Free's history are patchy. Major series of minutes have survived, but few other records have been transferred.

In April 1991 the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust became one of the first trusts established under the provisions of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. The Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital joined the trust in 1996. On 1 April 2012, the trust was authorised as a foundation trust, under the name Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.