St Katharine by the Tower Hospital x Royal College of St Katharine x Royal Foundation of St Katharine

St Katharine by the Tower Hospital x Royal College of St Katharine x Royal Foundation of St Katharine

The Hospital was founded as an almshouse for 13 poor people in 1147 by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen, on land leased from the Priory of Holy Trinity Aldgate. The earliest reference to its dedication, to St Katharine of Alexandria, is in 1216. In 1254, the Priory's custody of the Hospital was challenged. The Hospital won the support of Queen Eleanor, wife of King Henry III, and in 1261 the Prior was forced to cede supervision of the Hospital to the Queen who had claimed the patronage. Thereafter, the patronage of the queen became traditional, and still continues. In 1441/2, a Royal charter granted the Hospital exemption from both the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and the secular jurisdiction of the City. In effect, the Hospital church became the "parish" church of the inhabitants of the Precinct and their parochial ties with St Botolph Aldgate ceased. The Hospital exercised petty criminal jurisdiction in Courts Baron and Courts Leet, more serious matters coming under the Justices of the Peace for the Ward of Portsoken; ecclesiastical matters, especially probate and marriage licensing, were dealt with by the Hospital's Commissary Court

The Hospital survived the Dissolution with its constitution unchanged. However, many archives appear to have been lost at this time. The earliest surviving document is now a Royal charter of 1292, and the administrative records only commence in the late 16th century. In 1825, the St Katharine's Dock Act allowed the destruction of the Hospital, most of the houses in the Precinct and some in the adjacent parish of St Botolph Aldgate. No provision was made for re-housing the inhabitants of the Precinct, although funds for the charity school were transferred to St Botolph's. The Hospital itself was recompensed for the loss of land and the Brothers, Sisters, Bedeswomen and a new school were accommodated on a new site in Regent's Park. The school provided charity education until 1915, but the Hospital, removed from its established sphere of influence, became a retirement residence for more affluent people.

To make its work more effective, the Hospital was refounded in 1914 by Queen Alexandra as the Royal College of St Katharine, and moved to premises in Poplar where it trained nurses and provided maternity and child health care. The chapel remained in Regent's Park. In 1948 the College was in turn reconstituted as the Royal Foundation of St Katharine and moved to buildings in Butcher Row, Ratcliff, where a new chapel was dedicated in 1952 thus once again combining worship and service to the community on one site.