History

It was founded in 1881 to help prevent abuse of the hospital system and “to extend self-supporting and self-governing provident dispensaries throughout the metropolis” (The Times, 16 April 1881; 27 April 1882)

The Indian civil servant Sir Charles Trevelyan was prominent among its founders; after his death in 1886, both C. S. Loch and William Bousfield wrote to The Times to draw attention to his involvement with, and commitment to, the Association (The Times, 26 July 1886; 31 July 1886)

Each branch dispensary was funded by subscriptions from its members, and staffed by locally resident medical practitioners who were paid a fixed percentage of its income (The Times, 27 April 1882)

By 1885 it had established 11 branches, of which 4 were already financially independent; by 1891 there were 16, by 1894 18, and by 1901 21 (The Times, 6 July 1885; 5 June 1891; 16 May 1894; 13 June 1901)

The members paid 6d a month if a single man, 10d per month if a married couple, and 2d a month for up to three children under 14; the remaining children were not charged for (The Times, 27 April 1882)

Members had the right to choose which practitioner they saw, and could also be treated in their own homes if need be; each dispensary also provided medicines, had a midwife and dentist, and sent out for trained nurses when necessary (The Times, 27 April 1882)

It was described in 1900 as being designed to help prevent abuse of the hospital system, and to provide medical treatment for those lower-middle-class working people who neither received free treatment nor had subscriptions to medical institutions (Burdett’s Hospitals and Charities, 1900)

Its Organising Secretary in 1881 was Mr Radley (The Times, 15 September 1881); by 1886 the Secretary was W. G. Bunn (The Times, 10 June 1886), and by 1897, the Secretary was Charles H. Warren, who remained in post until at least 1912 (The Times, 30 September 1912)

It was assisted in its establishment by the Hospital Saturday Fund (The Times, 9 June 1887), whose members had originally organised a meeting with the Charity Organisation Society and medical professionals to discuss the formation of a ‘Metropolitan Medical Association’ in June 1879 (The Times, 13 June 1879)

The Association was working very closely with the Hospital Saturday Fund by 1894 (The Times, 16 May 1894)

In 1896 it began another innovative experimental collaboration with the Hospital Saturday Fund, providing through its network of doctors the necessary certification for the hundreds of Fund applicants requesting letters to chest hospitals (Charles H. Warren, ‘The Just Claims of the Provident Dispensary System and the Need for its Wide Extension in the Interests of the Medical Profession’ (paper read at a special meeting of the Charity Organization Society, 4 January 1897), 1899)

The Treasurer of the Hospital Saturday Fund at that time, H. Hamilton Hoare, later became the Association’s Hon. Treasurer (The Times, 5 April 1902), while the Association’s former Secretary, W. G. Bunn, later became Secretary of the Hospital Saturday Fund (The Times, 28 June 1894)

Although at times controversial, it was supported by some hospitals and their administrators, including Charles Burt, Chairman of the Royal Free Hospital (The Times, 13 June 1901)

In 1902 it received a grant of £200 from the Hospital Saturday Fund, more than many hospitals

It became partly obsolete with the passing of the National Health Insurance Act of 1911, which effectively provided a nationalised system of fixed contributions by workers and their employers towards medical insurance

However, this system only operated for the benefit of workers, not their families, and the Committee of the Association wrote to The Times to urge continuing public support for its work on behalf of those (mainly women and young children) left uninsured (The Times, 1 July 1913)

It was still listed in Low’s Handbook to the Charities of London in 1913, but thereafter disappears from The Times and other sources; no. 5 Lamb’s Conduit Street was occupied by the Cassio Press by 1916