Western Dispensary , Westminster London

The Western Dispensary was founded in Charles Street, Westminster, in 1789, 'for gratuitously administering advice, medicines and attendance to the poor inhabitants of the City of Westminster and places adjacent'. From 1822 it also undertook maternity cases 'for the delivery of needy lying-in married women at their homes'. It moved to Tothill Street, Westminster, in 1850, to Broadway, Westminster, in 1858, and to Rochester Row, Westminster, in 1878-1879. A subsidiary organisation, the 'Marie Celeste Convalescent Branch', was established in 1888 with the object of sending patients of the Dispensary to suitable convalescent homes for recovery. The Dispensary was closed in December 1949 and its funds were handed over to the United Westminster Almshouses in 1952.