Royal Free Hospital

London - Pax Britannica

Early History

What became the Royal Free Hospital was founded in 1828 by the surgeon William Marsden to provide free care to those of little means. It is said that one evening, Marsden found a young girl lying on the steps of St. Andrew Church, Holborn, dying from disease and hunger and sought help for her from one of the nearby hospitals. However, none would take the girl in and she died two days later. After this experience Marsden set up a small dispensary at 16 Greville Street, Holborn, called the London General Institution for the Gratuitous Care of Malignant Diseases. The hospital became the London Free Hospital in 1833, and the Free Hospital in 1835. A royal charter was granted by Queen Victoria in 1837 to what then became the Royal Free Hospital, after it was the only hospital to stay open during the 1826–1837 cholera epidemic and had cared for many victims.

As demand for in-patient facilities increased the hospital moved to the former barracks of the Light Horse Volunteers in Gray's Inn Road in 1844. The north wing of the former barracks, which was rebuilt and renamed the Sussex Wing after Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, a benefactor of the hospital, re-opened in 1856 and the south wing, which was rebuilt and renamed the Victoria Wing after Queen Victoria, re-opened in 1879. Meanwhile, the western elevation on Gray's Inn Road, which was rebuilt and renamed the Alexandra Building after the Princess of Wales, was re-opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales in July 1895.[1] Some additional land was purchased and used to develop the Helena Building, named after Princess Helena: the building was completed in 1915 and served as the Royal Free Military Hospital for officers during the latter stages of the First World War before becoming the maternity wing after the war. The Eastman Dental Clinic opened in a building adjacent to the main hospital in 1929. The Victoria Wing was badly damaged by a V-1 flying bomb in July 1944 during the Second World War

Education

Education For a long time, the Royal Free was the only London hospital allowing women to study medicine, forming an association with the London School of Medicine for Women, under which women from the school completed their clinical studies at the hospital, from 1877. Under the Deanship of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, one of the school's founders, it became part of the University of London and in 1896 became known as the London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women.

The Hospital

The Royal Free in the World of Darkness is an underfunded place that struggles to stay open. The outer parts of the building are blackened by the soot of the city, and in several places show the evidence of neglect. Boards and windows are sometimes broken or out of alignment. Crows roost on it's eaves, and it's not uncommon to find rats on the grounds around the building. The oldest parts of the hospital are soot stained from previous fires, with the occasional charred timber that wasn't removed from previous fires.

Most of the doctors there are women, and while there are a number of students, the number of actual doctors is limited. Due to the funding for the hospital, the hallways are usually cramped and have patients lying on gurney's or just sitting on the floors. There are a number of Indians (from India) working here, often for almost nothing in order to get some training in a hospital.

Anyone coming here will notice the high number of females in the building in proportion to the males. While the building is mostly clean, due to it's high number of indigent patients it does harbor more than an few areas that are not "sterile." While beggars are not choosers, there is more than a little prejudice toward the female doctors here from the local population. While they are glad for the care, they are also sure that a more "traditional" hospital has better doctors. It's ethnic makeup are also subjects of scorn throughout the city.