London's Hospitals and Clinics in 1900

Arthur H. Beavan made a survey of London's hospitals at the turn of the twentieth century in Imperial London, published in 1901:

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1900 London was well supplied with hospitals and other places for relieving pain and curing diseases.

Including what are called General, Special, Miscellaneous, and Incurable Hospitals, together with sundry parochial dispensaries, but excluding Lunatic and Idiot Asylums, the establishments of the Metropolitan Asylums' Board for fever, small-pox, etc., and the Ambulance Stations, the Metropolis had about 125 institutions of the kind - an average of one to every 48,000 inhabitants.

It was also amply provided with medical men, their number having been recently estimated at 5000, or one to every 1200 of its vast population.

But from these facts, it is not to be inferred that there was an undue amount of sickliness in London, or that it was an unhealthy place to dwell in.

On the contrary; in spite of its size, it was one of the healthiest.

Its drainage and sanitation were good (though it had its plague-spots), and epidemics on a large scale were rare, and were skilfully dealt with.

Its water-supply, according to the report of the official "Examiners" for 1900, was "clear, bright, and well-filtered," with a minimum of microbes; and its rate of mortality was so low, that in certain districts, Islington for instance - a crowded and mixed community of 352,000 persons - only 13.8 per 1000 died during the third quarter of the year 1900; and in West Ham, a not particularly inviting locality, the rate was frequently much lower, 9.1 per 1000!

London's health in 1900 - notwithstanding the memorable blizzard-week in February, when snow, hail, rain, and wind alternated, and influenza prowled about - was so good that its general death-rate was 20.4., with which figures statisticians may instructively compare those of any other great city on the globe.

The principal hospitals were located, as a rule, in the midst of poor and crowded districts, where they were chiefly needed; but those especially set apart for children, women, or for particular diseases, were distributed about the Metropolis and its environs.

Amongst other well-known Hospitals - all equally useful and all with splendid medical schools attached - was King's College Hospital, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where many improvements had lately been made, notably the re-flooring of the wards, and the adoption of the electric light.

The former was undertaken on the strong advice of the Visiting Committee of the Prince of Wales's Fund, the old deal-planking having become rotten, while the nails were working out to the positive danger of nurses and patients.

In place of these, polished teak blocks were laid, with the advantage that scrubbing and a consequent damp atmosphere could be avoided.

In addition to the hanging lamps in each ward, a separate light, to be more or less controlled by the patient, was attached to every bed. The whole work was carried out in less than ten weeks, no patients being received during that period.

At the top of Berners Street there was Middlesex Hospital; in Agar Street, Strand, was Charing Cross Hospital; in Gower Street, University College Hospital; the Royal Free Hospital was in Gray's Inn Road; St. George's was a conspicuous feature of Hyde Park Corner; Westminster Hospital was opposite the Abbey; and St. Mary's was in Paddington.

Perhaps the most pathetic of London's special Hospitals to visit were the National Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic, Queen's Square, Bloomsbury; its congener, the Royal Hospital for Incurables, Putney, and any one of the numerous Hospices for the treatment of children's diseases, such as the Alexandra in Queen Square, for little ones suffering from hip diseases; the Hospital for sick children in Great Ormond Street; the Victoria Hospital in Queen's Road, Chelsea, and the Cheyne Hospital in the same neighbourhood, for sick and incurable infants; and the Southwark Bridge Road Hospital, a remarkable example of private philanthropy.

On certain Sunday afternoons, when bands of Sunday-school children who had subscribed to support a "cot" in any of these children's "homes of hope," visited the wards, every child carrying flowers in her hand, the scene was touching in the extreme.

In addition to the foregoing, London was fairly circled by a chain of fever hospitals, under the control of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

It had twelve such institutions, and two convalescent homes, providing, as it was hoped, sufficient accommodation to meet slightly more than normal needs, and it was not expected that, even with the rapid growth of population, any further extension would be required for many years.

The hospital at Lower Tooting may be instanced as typical of the others.

Standing in ground of twenty-two acres in extent, it seemed inaccessible enough to meet all the conditions of isolation.

It was built in blocks connected by long open corridors, and was lighted by electricity, and could accommodate five hundred and twenty-eight patients.

Next: London's Health Care in 1900: Barts Hospital