History
It was founded in 1843 by Alfred Smee
It was the fourth specialist eye hospital in London (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
It merged, along with the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, with the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital on City Road, in 1947 following wartime co-operation between these hospitals (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
Eventually all services were transferred to the City Road site and the Hunter Street building was closed in 1988; it was later converted into apartments (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
The new merged hospital on the City Road site was officially named Moorfields Eye Hospital in 1956; this had been the common name for the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital after its original location
It is next to and runs in co-operation with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
It is also, with the Institute, one of five members of the UCL Partners group, a medical research giant created in 2008, the others being UCL and the NHS Trusts of Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal Free, and UCH
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What was reforming about it?
It was one of the new specialist hospitals which abounded in the nineteenth century, many of them in Bloomsbury
Where in Bloomsbury
It was founded near Brunswick Square; precisely where is unknown
It moved to 238a Gray’s Inn Road in 1848 and stayed there until 1913, although the premises were increasingly inadequate
It moved to new purpose-built premises on Hunter Street in 1925, where it remained until 1988 (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
Website of current institution
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Books about it
None found, although there is a three-volume history of Moorfields Eye Hospital
Archives
Some records are held in London Metropolitan Archives, including records from 1903–1922 relating to its King Edward’s Hospital Fund applications, ref. A/KE/246/3; details are available via Access to Archives (opens in new window)
There are plans of the new purpose-built building in Hunter Street in the Foundling Hospital records at London Metropolitan Archives, ref. A/FH/A/16/031/027/001 and 002; details are available via Access to Archives (opens in new window)
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