Overview

1745-1948 Charitable institutions

The hospitals which form part of this Trust today or which have contributed to its past development were all originally established as charities; voluntary and specialist hospitals which relied on public donations and subscriptions for their income. The oldest of these is The Middlesex Hospital, founded in 1745. It was one of the five voluntary general hospitals which were established in London during the 18th century, the others being Westminster (1719), Guy's (1721), St. George's (1733), and the London (1740) Hospitals. All the hospitals were concerned with helping out the poorer sections of London society, who could not afford to pay for medical treatment.

These hospitals, and others like them, generally obtained much of their income from subscribers, who donated a regular amount of money to the upkeep of the hospital and received a share in the management of the hospital in return.

1948-1974 Establishment of the National Health Service

In 1948, the National Health Service was established, bringing most of hospitals in the UK under the direct control of the Government and funded by public taxation. Hospitals were grouped together into regional hospital management committees or teaching hospital groups.

1974-1982 NHS reorganisation

In 1974 there was a major NHS reorganisation, and most of the hospitals were brought together under health authorities.

1982-1993 Bloomsbury Health Authority

There was a further reorganisation in the NHS in 1982, which created Bloomsbury Health Authority.

1993-2003 UCLH NHS Trust

UCL Hospitals NHS Trust was established in 1994, and has been developed from then to the present day with the inclusion of additional hospitals.

1745-1948: charitable institutions

1745 Foundation of Middlesex Infirmary

Middlesex Infirmary, 'for the sick and lame of Soho', was established in Windmill Street, off what is now Tottenham Court Road (described at the time as 'the road from St. Giles Church to Hampstead'). Subscribers to The Middlesex Hospital of at least 3 guineas per year became Governors of the Hospital and this earned them the right not only to make decisions about the hospital but also to recommend patients. Apart from emergency cases, patients were not admitted to the hospital without a recommendation from a governor. A single payment of 21 guineas entitled a person to become a Life Governor of the Hospital.

1755 Foundation stone is laid for the new Middlesex Hospital building

The foundation stone was laid by the President of the Hospital, the Earl of Northumberland, in the area which was then known as 'Marylebone Fields'. The picture below depicts the Earl of Northumberland laying the foundation stone.

1792 Establishment of the first wards at The Middlesex Hospital for cancer patients

The wards were founded with money donated anonymously by Samuel Whitbread. The identity of the donor was made public when he died in 1796.

1792 Two wards set aside in The Middlesex Hospital for émigré French clergy

An application had been made to the Hospital authorities for room to be found for sick French clergy, who were refugees from the upheaval as a result of the French Revolution. Some months later, the invitation was extended to sick lay émigrés as well.

1834 Foundation of North London Hospital

University College London was founded in 1826, and it soon decided that its medical students should have a hospital, attached to the University, which could provide them with clinical training. Consequently, in 1834, the University founded North London Hospital, which soon became known as University College Hospital.

1835 Foundation of The Middlesex Hospital Medical School

The establishment of University College Hospital to provide clinical teaching for students at UCL prompted some of the medical staff at The Middlesex to call for a Medical School to be established there. They were worried about the loss of income and prestige which would be a result of losing all their students to the rival teaching hospitals. The medical staff who signed the letter to the hospital Board were Francis Hawkins, Thomas Watson, Charles Bell, Herbert Mayo, James M. Arnott and E.W. Tuson.

1836 Incorporation of The Middlesex Hospital by act of Parliament

This gave the Hospital various benefits as a charity, such as that they could benefit from land which was gifted or bequeathed to them as a corporate body, which they could not before.

1843 Foundation of The Hospital for the Diseases of Women by Dr Protheroe Smith

The Hospital for Women was founded in 1842, originally in Red Lion Square, as the Hospital for the Diseases of Women, "…exclusively for the reception and treatment of females who are afflicted with diseases peculiar to the sex". Annual subscribers of 1 guinea were members, while subscribers of 10 guineas or more, and clergymen preaching on behalf of the Hospital, were life members.

1846 First operation under anaesthetic at UCH

The first recorded major operation under ether in Europe was performed by Robert Liston in University College Hospital on 21 December 1846. The anaesthetic itself was administered by William Squire, a student aged 21.

1849 Foundation of Royal London Homeopathic Hospital

The London Homoeopathic Hospital was established in Golden Square, Soho, in 1849. It moved to its present site in Great Ormond Street ten years later.

1852 The Hospital for Women moved to Soho Square.

1857 Foundation of Heart Hospital

The National Heart Hospital was founded in 1857 in Margaret Street. It moved to Westmoreland Street in about 1874.

1859 Foundation of National Hospital

The National Hospital, Queen Square, for Diseases of the Nervous System including Paralysis and Epilepsy, was more commonly known as Queen Square when it was founded in 1859. It later became known as 'The National'.

1860 Foundation of The Hospital for Stone

The Hospital for Stone was established in a house at 42 Great Marylebone Street, now 34 New Cavendish Street, following a meeting on 5 March 1860 at which the lack of a specialist hospital for urological illnesses was highlighted. The Hospital moved to 54 Berners Street in 1863 and changed its name to St. Peter's Hospital for Stone.

1866 Foundation of St. Mary's Dispensary for Women

The Dispensary was established in Bryanston Square, St. Marylebone, by Elizabeth Garrett.

1866 Foundation of the Maida Vale Hospital for Epilepsy and Paralysis and other Diseases of the Nervous System

1872 St. Mary's Dispensary for Women renamed as the New Hospital for Women

1872 The New Hospital for Women moves to 222 and 224 Marylebone Road

1873 Foundation of the London Temperance Hospital

There was a growing temperance movement which believed that the then-prevalent practice of using and providing alcohol in hospitals was impairing staff efficiency and patients' treatment. The subject of establishing a hospital was raised, and the London Temperance Hospital opened at 112 Gower Street in 1873, receiving its first patients on 6 October. Under the rules of the new hospital, the use of alcohol to treat patients was discouraged, but not outlawed: doctors could prescribe alcohol when they thought necessary for 'exceptional cases', and a record of such cases was kept. Inpatients were admitted to the new hospital free by a letter from a governor, or on payment of a fixed amount. Outpatients could be admitted with a governor's letter or pay at least a shilling a visit. Subscribers of a guinea per annum were entitled to recommend 6 outpatients a year, or for 2 guineas one inpatient and 6 outpatients. Subscribers of 20 guineas at one time became Life Governors.

1882 Opening of the new building for St. Peter's Hospital

The new building, in Henrietta Street, was opened formally by Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, on 29 June 1882. It had been paid for by a donation in 1873 of £10,000 from a donor who remains anonymous to this day.

1885 The new building for the London Temperance Hospital is opened by Dr Frederick Temple, Archbishop of York

A Fund was set up in 1875 to raise money for acquiring a larger building for the Hospital, land next to St. James' Church on Hampstead Road was purchased and the foundation stone for the new building for the Hospital was laid in 1879.

1887 The Hospital for Women, Soho Square is incorporated by Royal Charter.

1890 New Hospital for Women moves to Euston Road

The foundation stone for the Hospital's new building was laid by the Princess of Wales in 1889 and the building was completed the following year

1897 Foundation of St. Paul's Hospital for Skin and Genito-Urinary Diseases

St. Paul's was established following a meeting at the Midland Grand Hotel on 27 May 1897, called by Dr Felix Vinrace. It was registered as a Benevolent Society under the Friendly Societies Act of 1896 on 10 February 1898, to be composed of members who became Governors of the Hospital. Individuals became Governors of the Hospital by subscribing three guineas a year and Life Governors by subscribing ten guineas a year. The Hospital opened as an outpatient clinic at 13a Red Lion Square on 15 August 1898 and Dr Vinrace was the Senior Surgeon from then until his death in 1927. The intention was to provide treatment primarily for venereal disease, but also for skin and genito-urinary diseases, without requiring patients to present letters of recommendation. The hospital also opened some evenings to ensure that patients did not have to lose a day's pay. 6 inpatient beds were also opened, although they were temporarily discontinued from time to time due to lack of funds.

1900 Sir Peter Freyer popularises prostate surgery at St. Peter's Hospital

Sir Peter Freyer performed his first suprapubic prostatectomy operation at St. Peter's Hospital in 1900. There were claims that it was the first such operation to have been performed successfully, followed by counter-claims that it had already been done elsewhere: Freyer nevertheless spent the rest of his career popularising the operation, and is still remembered for this contribution to the development of the speciality.

1901 The first X-Ray Department at The Middlesex Hospital was established

Dr Cecil Lyster was the first Medical Officer in charge of the Department, and remained in charge until he had to retire on ill-health grounds in 1919. He died, from the effects of radiation, in 1920.

1905 The University College Transfer Act passed

This act separated University College Hospital and the clinical Medical School, with their own Board of Governors, from the pre-clinical Medical School, which remained part of University College London.

1906 Opening of the new University College Hospital

It had been realised that the UCH building was too small in 1877, but it took 29 years for the new building to open. The unusual diagonal plan for the new building, now known as the Cruciform, was an attempt to solve the problems of ventilation, drainage and lighting by arranging the wards like the diagonal limbs of a cross. In 1896, Sir John Blundell Maple was so impressed by the plans he undertook to rebuild and re-equip the hospital at an estimated cost of £100,000. Building started in 1897 and the hospital opened in 1906. The Cruciform building is now part of UCL.

1914 National Dental Hospital merges with University College Hospital

1917 The New Hospital for Women is renamed

The name of the Hospital was changed to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital following the death of its founder.

1917 A publicly-funded venereal diseases clinic is opened up at St. Paul's Hospital

This clinic was one of 22 in the country, which were opened by the Government following a Royal Commission report.

1920 Royal Ear Hospital merges with University College Hospital

1920 Foundation of The Hospital for Tropical Diseases

The Hospital for Tropical Diseases was opened in the former Endsleigh Palace Hotel in Gordon Street, Euston, by the Seamen's Hospital Society. Its origins lay in the Albert Dock Hospital, which had been established by the Seamen's Hospital Society as a branch of the Dreadnought Hospital in Greenwich. The Dreadnought Hospital had replaced a succession of three hospital ships between 1821 and 1870. The London School of Tropical Medicine was founded in the Albert Dock Hospital in 1899, largely as a result of the work of Patrick Manson. The LSTM moved to the new Hospital in Gordon Street in 1920, before separating with the Hospital and merging with the School of Hygiene which opened in 1924. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is now part of the University of London.

1923 Foundation of Obstetric Hospital

1923 St. Paul's Hospital moves to Endell Street
St. Paul's purchased the former building in Endell Street, Covent Garden, of the British Lying-In Hospital, which merged with the Home for Mothers and Babies in Woolwich in 1913. It was refurbished and the new St. Paul's opened on 9 April 1923.

1923 The Middlesex Hospital found to be falling down

The discovery that the Middlesex Hospital, originally built in the mid-18th century, was severely unstable was an immense blow for the Hospital. The story goes that a Sister, accompanying a patient on a trolley, narrowly missed being hit by a large section of plaster falling from the ceiling just behind them. A subsequent survey found that the building was unsafe in many places and needed immediate work. An appeal was launched to raise the money needed to rebuild the Hospital, on the same site.

1928 Middlesex Hospital rebuilding - foundation stone of the new building laid

The Duke of York, later George VI, visited the Hospital to lay the foundation stone of the new building, on 26 June 1928. He returned to the Hospital on 29 May 1935 to open the new building. The Hospital had been completely rebuilt, on the same site and in stages, without being closed at any stage, paid for by more than £1 million of donations from members of the public.

(The image below is of Lord Webb Johnson, who was a surgeon at the Middlesex and played an important role in raising the money for the rebuilding.)

1930 Foundation of Eastman Dental Clinic

The Eastman Dental Clinic of The Royal Free Hospital was established with £200,000 provided by George Eastman, of Rochester, New York, in December 1926 and a subsequent endowment of £100,000 from Lord Riddell, President of the Royal Free, and Sir Albert Levy. The Clinic was built on land adjoining the main buildings of The Royal Free Hospital in Grays Inn Road, with the foundation stone being laid by the Prince of Wales on 30 April 1929 and the Clinic treating its first patients on 17 November 1930.

1932 The London Temperance Hospital changes its name to the National Temperance Hospital

1939-1945 World War Two

World War Two had major effects on most of the hospitals mentioned so far. For instance, the National Temperance Hospital was designated a Grade A Unit and a 1a Casualty Station. St. Peter's, St. Paul's and the Hospital for Women all closed, and the London County Council took over the VD clinic at St. Paul's in 1942. Hospital for Tropical Diseases was evacuated in 1939 and the building badly damaged by bombing in 1941. It reopened in 1947 at 23 Devonshire Street.

1948-74: Establishment of the National Health Service

1948 The hospitals whose histories have been described on these pages so far all became part of the new National Health Service and the following arrangements were made for their management

• The Middlesex Hospital was designated lead hospital in a teaching hospital group, incorporating The Hospital for Women, Soho Square, together with St. Luke's, Woodside (a psychiatric hospital in Muswell Hill) and the Arthur Stanley Institute for Rheumatic Diseases, formerly the British Red Cross Clinic for Rheumatism.
• The University College Hospital was designated lead hospital in a teaching hospital group initially incorporating the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and St. Pancras Hospital.
• St. Peter's and St. Paul's Hospitals were amalgamated into a postgraduate teaching hospital group, linked to the Institute of Urology which had been founded in 1947 (The Institute of Urology and Nephrology is now part of University College London).
• The Eastman Dental Clinic separated from The Royal Free Hospital and became a postgraduate dental teaching hospital, linked to the Institute of Dental Surgery which was established as the postgraduate school, under the aegis of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation and managed by a Committee of Management (This became the Eastman Dental Institute which is now part of University College London).
• The National was designated a postgraduate teaching hospital group called The National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases, incorporating the Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases. The Institute of Neurology has close links with the National - it was founded in 1950 and is now part of UCL.
• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital became part of the Royal Free Hospital Group
• National Temperance Hospital came under the Paddington Group Hospital Management Committee
• The National Heart Hospital appears to have been designated a postgraduate teaching hospital group with the London Chest Hospital
• The London Homeopathic Hospital appears to have joined the NHS as a teaching hospital on its own and became the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital by permission of George VI

1952 Purchase of the Sheffield Street Hospital by the Ministry of Health

The Sheffield Street Hospital became part of the St. Peter's and St. Paul's Group as St. Philip's Hospital.

1962 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital is moved from the Royal Free Hospital Group to the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board

1967 The Ministry of Health purchases the French Hospital on Shaftesbury Avenue

The French Hospital became the Shaftesbury Hospital and joined the St. Peter's, St. Paul's and St. Philip's Hospital Group

1968 The National Temperance Hospital joined the University College Hospital Group

1974-82: NHS reorganisation

1974-82 During this period, the following arrangements were made for the management of the hospitals mentioned so far

• South Camden District, Camden and Islington Area Health Authority. This health authority district included University College Hospital, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, Hospital for Tropical Diseases, National Temperance Hospital and Royal London Homeopathic Hospital
• North East District, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority. Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority comprised three districts. The second of the three, the North East District, included the hospitals in the Middlesex Hospital Group: the Middlesex itself, The Hospital for Women, Soho Square and St. Luke's, Woodside.
• Postgraduate teaching hospital groups. The postgraduate teaching hospital groups, Eastman Dental Hospital, National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases, National Heart and Chest, and St. Peter's Hospitals all remained under the management of their Boards of Governors.

1982-1993: Bloomsbury Health Authority

1982 Bloomsbury Health Authority

All the hospitals whose history has been outlined here were brought under the management of Bloomsbury Health Authority, except Eastman Dental, National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases and National Heart and Chest, all of which retained their Boards of Governors

1984 Special Health Authorities

Eastman Dental Hospital, National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases and National Heart and Chest Hospitals were all made Special Health Authorities

1989 United Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Hospital for Women, Soho

The Hospital for Women, Soho Square, was closed down and amalgamated with Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in its building on Euston Road. This brought male gynaecologists to EGAH for the first time in its history, although the principle that a woman should always be able to choose to be seen by a female doctor was maintained.

1991 National Heart Hospital closed

Its services were moved to the Royal Brompton Hospital.

1992 Amalgamation of the St. Peter's Hospitals with The Middlesex Hospital

The St. Peter's Hospitals were closed down and moved into new accommodation in The Middlesex Hospital.

1994-2003: University College London Hospitals

1994 UCLH NHS Trust established

The UCLH NHS Trust originally comprised The Middlesex Hospital, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, Hospital for Tropical Diseases and University College Hospital.

1996 UCLH extended

The Eastman Dental and National Hospitals came into the UCLH NHS Trust.

2001 The Heart Hospital acquired

In 1994 the Heart Hospital had become privately owned, and was closed for refurbishment by its owners, Gleneagles Hospital UK. In 1997 it was re-opened as a world class private hospital, featuring state of the art accommodation and equipment, and specialising in cardiac treatment. Falling into debt as a private institution, the hospital re-joined the NHS in August 2001, when it was bought by UCLH. Since then the Heart has become the new home for all of the trust's cardiac services, which were previously housed in The Middlesex Hospital, Mortimer Street.

2002 Royal London Homeopathic Hospital joins UCLH

visit RLHH history pages