History
It was founded in 1828 as the London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases by the surgeon William Marsden, who also founded what later became the Royal Marsden Hospital, Brompton
It began as a dispensary in Hatton Garden to treat the destitute poor without the need for references (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
It became the London Free Hospital in 1833 and the Royal Free Hospital in 1837 (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
In 1877 it “agreed to provide access for clinical teaching to students from the nearby London School of Medicine for Women” (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006) and thus became the only hospital in London to accept female medical students for training before the twentieth century
It was also the first hospital to appoint a Lady Almoner, in 1895, in order to ensure that patients were genuinely in need and to prevent abuse of its facilities (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
When it moved to former barracks buildings in Gray’s Inn Road in 1843, the Hospital at first used the barracks buildings (including stables) gradually replacing them with purpose-built accommodation
The north (Sussex) wing was rebuilt in 1856, the south (Victoria) wing in 1876, and the west wing (the Alexandra Building) fronting on to Gray’s Inn Road in 1893 (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
It also started a School of Nursing in 1889
The Hospital remained at its Gray’s Inn Road site until 1974, when it was rebuilt in Hampstead; the Gray’s Inn Road premises were taken over by the Eastman Dental Hospital, formerly the dental department of the Royal Free itself (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
On the foundation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, it joined with several smaller hospitals including the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and the London Fever Hospital to form the Royal Free Group
In 1991 the group became the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
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What was reforming about it?
It was free and open to all the sick poor; Marsden, moved by the plight of a dying girl who was refused admission to hospital, “determined to establish a hospital ‘to which the only passport should be poverty and disease’ ” (Nick Black, Walking London’s Medical History, 2006)
In 1832 it was also the only hospital in London which received cholera patients (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for William Marsden)
It even treated sexually-transmitted diseases and received prostitutes as patients
Where in Bloomsbury
Having begun in Hatton Garden in 1828, the Hospital moved to Gray’s Inn Road in 1843, having acquired the lease of the former barracks of the Light Horse Volunteers premises
Website of current institution
The Hospital is now part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, www.royalfree.nhs.uk (opens in new window)
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Books about it
Lynne A. Amidon, An Illustrated History of the Royal Free Hospital (1996)
Archives
Its records are held at the Royal Free Hospital Archives Centre in Hampstead, ref. RFH/1–2 and RFH/4–7 ; details are available online via Access to Archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (opens in new window)
The Wellcome Trust Library holds an extensive collection of the drawings and paintings of the hospital artist, Christopher D’Alton, depicting diseased patients in the 1850s and 1860s
Some records are also held in London Metropolitan Archives, including records from 1898–1927 relating to its King Edward’s Hospital Fund applications, ref. A/KE/255/3; details are available via Access to Archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (opens in new window)
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