London Fever Hospital

Metropolitan Borough of Islington

Introduction

The London Fever Hospital was a voluntary hospital financed from public donations in Liverpool Road in Islington, London. It was one of the first fever hospitals in the country.

History

Originally established with fifteen beds in 1802 in Gray's Inn Road, it moved in 1815 to the west wing of the Smallpox Hospital at Battle Bridge where it had one hundred and twenty beds.

After the Northern Railway bought the original site for King's Cross station the compensation money paid enabled the charity to commission a new Hospital on Kettle Field, a 4-acre site in Liverpool Road, Islington with two hundred beds. The new hospital, which was designed by Charles Fowler, opened in 1848.



By 1924 it had about one hundred and fifty beds. A new wing was opened by the Duchess of York in 1928 and a new isolation block was opened by the Duke of Kent in 1938. In 1948, the hospital joined the National Health Service under the same management as the Royal Free Hospital. After services had been transferred to the Royal Free Hospital, the hospital closed in 1975.

Notable Staff

• Dr Southwood Smith

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Fever_Hospital

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fowler

https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/london-fever-hospital

https://vauxhallhistory.org/smallpox-and-fever-hospitals/

https://historicengland.org.uk/education/schools-resources/educational-images/the-female-scarlet-fever-ward-london-fever-hospital-islington-london-11974

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F147420

https://www.locallocalhistory.co.uk/islington/royalfree/

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