Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1879-1986 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3.33 linear metres
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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. The Holborn Union had recently been enlarged by the addition of the parishes of Saint James and Saint John, Clerkenwell and Saint Luke, Old Street in 1869. The workhouse, which was situated at the corner of City Road and Shepherdess Walk within the parish of Shoreditch, was extended in both 1892 and 1894. 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. On 1 October 1937 it was appropriated as a hospital for the treatment of the sick and removed from the Poor Law. By 1938 it had 627 beds.
On 8 October 1940 Saint Matthew's Hospital received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb, which killed many patients and some members of staff and destroyed part of the old south ward block. The surviving patients were evacuated on 10 and 11 October. The creed register contains a list of the hospitals to which the patients were evacuated. The Hospital remained closed until November 1942. It was again closed between August 1944 and July 1945.;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 February 1952 visitors from the King Edward's Hospital Fund for London described Saint Matthew's as 'a dump for the chronic sick, the buildings being no less antiquated than those of Saint Leonard's or Bethnal Green, patients still being accommodated in great 40-bedded wards' (A/KE/735/9). Between 1948 and 1954 great efforts were made to improve conditions in the hospital and to rehabilitate and discharge patients whenever possible. In 1960 it was reported that the momentum had not been maintained. Saint Matthew's was by then a 320-bed hospital for the care of geriatric and chronic sick patients. The south west block was still standing empty; the war damage only partially repaired (H19/SM/A/03/002/12).
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.
Repository
Archival history
H19/SM 1879-1986 subfonds 3.33 linear metres St Matthew's Hospital x Holborn and Finsbury Workhouse , 1870-1916 x Holborn and Finsbury Institution , 1916-1936
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. The Holborn Union had recently been enlarged by the addition of the parishes of Saint James and Saint John, Clerkenwell and Saint Luke, Old Street in 1869. The workhouse, which was situated at the corner of City Road and Shepherdess Walk within the parish of Shoreditch, was extended in both 1892 and 1894. 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. On 1 October 1937 it was appropriated as a hospital for the treatment of the sick and removed from the Poor Law. By 1938 it had 627 beds.
On 8 October 1940 Saint Matthew's Hospital received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb, which killed many patients and some members of staff and destroyed part of the old south ward block. The surviving patients were evacuated on 10 and 11 October. The creed register contains a list of the hospitals to which the patients were evacuated. The Hospital remained closed until November 1942. It was again closed between August 1944 and July 1945.;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 February 1952 visitors from the King Edward's Hospital Fund for London described Saint Matthew's as 'a dump for the chronic sick, the buildings being no less antiquated than those of Saint Leonard's or Bethnal Green, patients still being accommodated in great 40-bedded wards' (A/KE/735/9). Between 1948 and 1954 great efforts were made to improve conditions in the hospital and to rehabilitate and discharge patients whenever possible. In 1960 it was reported that the momentum had not been maintained. Saint Matthew's was by then a 320-bed hospital for the care of geriatric and chronic sick patients. The south west block was still standing empty; the war damage only partially repaired (H19/SM/A/03/002/12).
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.
Records of Saint Matthew's Hospital, including committee minutes, 1942-1965; annual reports, 1950-1960; steward's and secretary's records, 1943-1961; inventories, 1930-1938; plans, 1960; admission and discharge registers, 1879-1986; creed registers, 1935-1940; death registers, 1939-1986; registers of lunatics, 1922-1924; registers of children detained in the institution, 1914-1931; registers of nursing and domestic staff, 1930-1958; nurse personnel files, 1925-1948 and nurse's prizegiving programmes, 1958-1969.
These records are arranged according to a classification scheme for hospital records: General Hospital Administration (A), Patients' Administration (B), Finance Office (D), Endowments (E), Related Documentation (Y) and Prints and Photographs (PH).
These records are open to public inspection, although under section 5(4) of the 1958 Public Records Act administrative records are closed for 30 years and patient records for 100 years.
Copyright: Depositor
English
Fit
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. February 2009 Lunatics Medical sciences Gerontology World wars (events) Wars (events) World War Two (1939-1945) Higher science education Medical education Nursing education Medical institutions History Personal history Medical history Health services Hospitals Hospital administration People People by roles Hospital patients Architecture Buildings Workhouses Chronic disease Diseases Pathology Paramedical personnel Nurses St Matthew's Hospital x Holborn and Finsbury Workhouse , 1870-1916 x Holborn and Finsbury Institution , 1916-1936 Camden London England UK Western Europe Holborn Hackney Shoreditch Europe Medical personnel Personnel People by occupation
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Records of Saint Matthew's Hospital, including committee minutes, 1942-1965; annual reports, 1950-1960; steward's and secretary's records, 1943-1961; inventories, 1930-1938; plans, 1960; admission and discharge registers, 1879-1986; creed registers, 1935-1940; death registers, 1939-1986; registers of lunatics, 1922-1924; registers of children detained in the institution, 1914-1931; registers of nursing and domestic staff, 1930-1958; nurse personnel files, 1925-1948 and nurse's prizegiving programmes, 1958-1969.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
These records are arranged according to a classification scheme for hospital records: General Hospital Administration (A), Patients' Administration (B), Finance Office (D), Endowments (E), Related Documentation (Y) and Prints and Photographs (PH).
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
These records are open to public inspection, although under section 5(4) of the 1958 Public Records Act administrative records are closed for 30 years and patient records for 100 years.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright: Depositor
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English