Royal Free Hospital London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases London Free Hospital

Royal Free Hospital London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases London Free Hospital

The Royal Free Hospital was founded in 1828 in Greville St, Hatton Garden, London, by William Marsden, a young surgeon from Yorkshire. He found a young girl dying on the steps of St Andrew's Church, Holborn, because she could not afford admission to hospital and the only other way for the poor to obtain treatment was to be personally recommended by someone who subscribed to that hospital. The experience touched Marsden so much that he decided to open a hospital which would be free to all: poverty and sickness would be the only passports required. The hospital was originally called the "London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases." It was initially just a dispensary, with no in-patient beds, and in 1832 was the only London hospital to treat victims of the cholera epidemic. Soon afterwards the name was changed to the London Free Hospital, and in 1837 when Queen Victoria became patron the name was changed to the Royal Free Hospital. In 1844 the Royal Free moved to larger premises, a former army barracks in Grays' Inn Road.

In 1877 the Royal Free became a teaching hospital when it allowed female medical students from the London School of Medicine for Women (founded 1874) to receive clinical instruction on the wards. In 1889 the School of Nursing was started. Development had been ongoing since the move to Grays' Inn Road, and the new front building was opened in 1895, the same year that the Royal Free became the first hospital to appoint an almoner, forerunner of the medical social worker. During World War One the new outpatient block was requisitioned as an officers ward, and many staff and students went abroad to treat soldiers. After the war, it became necessary to equip the hospital in line with advances in medicine to include a maternity wing, children's ward, nurses' home and dental clinic. Given the general poverty in England at this time, and the fact that the hospital was still dependent on voluntary contributions, much of this was made possible by the generosity of three men, Lord Riddell, Alfred Langton and Sir Albert Levy, who saved the hospital from near-closure.

For much of World War Two the hospital escaped serious damage, but in 1944 it was hit by a flying bomb. Although there were not many casualties, extensive damage resulted and only 4 beds remained useable immediately afterwards. This led to a desperate need for more beds. The 1944 Goodenough report on the future of medical education then recommended that the Royal Free move to north London, because there were too many teaching hospitals in central London when most Londoners were now living in the suburbs; also the Royal Free was too small to provide enough beds to teach students satisfactorily, but there was no room in central London for it to expand. In 1947, the Dean of LSMW, Katharine Lloyd-Williams, suggested the site of the North-Western Fever Hospital in Lawn Road, Hampstead as an ideal location for the new Royal Free.

On the inception of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, the Royal Free formed a group with this and other smaller hospitals in order to provide enough beds for student teaching. These others were the Childrens' Hospital Hampstead, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, the Hampstead General and the London Fever Hospital. Between 1948 and 1958 there was much debate about whether The Royal Free should stay in central London or move to Hampstead, but in 1958 the first plans for the Royal Free on its present site in Pond Street, Hampstead were produced. Although the hospital scheme was unpopular with local residents construction finally began in 1968, the same year that Coppetts Wood and New End Hospital joined the group. Queen Mary's Maternity Home joined in 1972. The new Royal Free was the most modern hospital in Europe, and the first to be designed with the aid of a computer. In 1974 it opened to its first patient, a London taxi driver, and in 1978, the 150th anniversary of hospital's foundation, it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Hospital was administered by a Committee of Management, which reported to the Court of Governors. Day-to-day matters were dealt with by the Weekly Board. After the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, the Hospital was part of the Royal Free Group, with the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in Euston Road, the London Fever Hospital, Islington, (which became the Liverpool Road Branch of the RFH), the North-Western Fever Hospital, Hampstead (which became the Lawn Road Branch of the RFH), the Childrens' Hospital Hampstead, and the Hampstead General. The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital left the Group in 1962, and the Coppetts Wood and New End Hospitals joined in 1968. Internal management of the RFH was in the hands of the Royal Free Hospital Committee, which was responsible to the Board for day-to-day administration.