South Western Hospital

The South Western Hospital was originally built by the Metropolitan Asylums Board as two separate, adjacent hospitals, Stockwell Fever Hospital and Stockwell Smallpox Hospital. Stockwell Smallpox Hospital opened on 31 January 1871 to admit patients suffering from the virulent epidemic of smallpox that was then afflicting London. Stockwell Fever Hospital was also initially used to treat smallpox patients. As a result of a report of a Royal Commission in 1882, the Metropolitan Asylums Board decided to stop admitting smallpox cases to hospitals within London. They were to be sent instead to hospitals established in isolated positions on the banks of the Thames or to hospital ships on the river. The two Stockwell Hospitals, now renamed the South Western Hospital, were converted in 1884 to form one hospital to be used for patients suffering from infectious diseases.

In 1930 the Hospital was transferred from the Metropolitan Asylums Board to the London County Council. In 1948 it became part of the National Health Service as one of the Lambeth Group of hospitals within the South West Metropolitan region. In 1968 it was transferred to the Board of Governors of St Thomas' Hospital and in 1982 passed to West Lambeth Health Authority.