South London Hospital for Women and Children x South London Hospital for Women

South London Hospital for Women and Children x South London Hospital for Women

Clapham Maternity Hospital was founded in 1889 by Dr Annie McCall and Miss Marion Ritchie. It was the first maternity hospital where women were treated only by female doctors, and where midwives, maternity nurses and female medical students were trained entirely by women. In 1935 the name of the hospital was changed to the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital. In 1948 the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital was transferred to the National Health Service and became part of the Lambeth Group of Hospitals of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1964 most of the hospitals in the Lambeth Group, including the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital, became part of the newly formed South West London Group. The hospital closed in 1970.

The South London Hospital for Women was founded in 1912 "to satisfy two needs - a hospital for those female patients who prefer to be treated by a member of their own sex, and the opportunity for women doctors to train and work as hospital specialists". In 1939 the name of the hospital was changed to the South London Hospital for Women and Children. With the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, the South London Hospital lost its independence becoming one of the Lambeth Group of Hospitals under the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1964 the Lambeth Group ceased to exist. Control of the South London Hospital passed to the newly formed South West London Group Hospital Management Committee. In 1974 it became part of the Wandsworth and East Merton Health District of the Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Area Health Authority. In 1982 further reorganisation of the NHS transferred responsibility for the South London Hospital to Wandsworth Health Authority. The hospital closed in 1984.