Catalogue description ST MARY ABBOTTS HOSPITAL

This record is held by London Metropolitan Archives: City of London

Details of H17/SMA
Reference: H17/SMA
Title: ST MARY ABBOTTS HOSPITAL
Description: A. RECORDS OF THE HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION: Instructions to Gate Porters 1931-1944; Inventories and stock lists 1909-1968. B. RECORDS OF PATIENTS ADMINISTRATION: Admission and discharge registers 1926-1932; Admission and discharge book and creed registers Hospital I 1932-1943; Admission and discharge books. Hospital I and combined hospital (L.C.C./N.H.S.) 1943-1950; Admission and discharge books. Hospital I (E.M.S.) 1943-1947; Admission and discharge book and creed registers Hospital II 1933-1943; Admission and discharge books. Hospital II (L.C.C.) 1943-1944; Admission and discharge books. Hospital II (E.M.S.) 1943-1944; Urgent admissions order book 1949; Premature discharge book 1930-1936; Index registers of patients 1937-1948; Creed registers. Infirmary, later Hospital I 1875-1933; Creed registers. Hospital II 1930-1932; Maternity registers and related records. Hospital II 1930-1944; Registers of births 1872-1952; Registers of deaths. Infirmary, later Hospital I 1886-1937; Registers of deaths. Kensington Workhouse 1915-1930; Mortuary register 1942-1954; Post mortem examination books 1930-1938; Register of bodies removed to School of Anatomy 1920-1946; Registers of operations 1951-1958; Medical examinations of lunatics 1932-1937; Casualty register (males) 1958; Vaccinator's registers 1929-1946; Notifications of admission and discharge of tuberculosis patients 1936-1938. C. RECORDS OF MATRON'S OFFICE AND NURSING STAFF: Registers of officers. Infirmary 1887-1948; Register of officers. Workhouse 1923-1932; Nursing staff registers. Infirmary/Hospital I/combined hospital 1891-1970; Nursing staff registers. Hospital II 1930-1942; Records of service and conduct 1930-1950; Nurses' monthly reports 1904-1935; Testimonial book 1908-1932; Miscellaneous 1937-1953. D. FINANCIAL RECORDS: Receipt and payment book 1930; Relief order book. District 2. 1932-1941; Cash books 1938-1945; Donations account 1937-1943. G. CHAPLAIN'S RECORDS: Registers of baptisms 1877-1920; Registers of services 1896-1977; Chaplain's journals 1928-[1942]; History of the hospital 1991-1993.
Related material:

Minutes for the period of the Board of Guardian's administration of the Hospital, 1848-1930, are included with the records of the Kensington Board of Guardians (Ref: K.B.G.). A list of these records is kept behind the Search Room Enquiry Desk.

 

Minutes for the period of the London County Council administration of the Hosptial, 1930-1948, will be found with the records of the London County Council Central Public Health Committee, St Mary Abbot's Hospital Sub-Committee (Ref: LCC/MIN/2644-2647).
Held by: London Metropolitan Archives: City of London, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Kensington Infirmary, c 1848-1923

Kensington Institution, 1912-1933

St Mary Abbot's Hospital, 1923-1938

St Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution), 1933-1938

St Mary Abbot's Hospital (1), 1938-1948

St Mary Abbot's Hospital (2), 1938-1944

St Mary Abbot's Hospital, 1948-1992
Immediate source of acquisition:

Records of St Mary Abbot's Hospital, Kensington, Marloes Road, London W5, formerly Kensington Infirmary and Kensington Workhouse, transferred under the terms of the Public Records Act 1958, to the Greater London Record Office 11 June 1985 (Acc 2145) and 19 July (Acc 2152/2)

 

The hospital chaplain's records were deposited in the Greater London Record Office on 24 May 1993 (Acc 3219) by the Reverend Bernard Hughes, the last chaplain to St Mary Abbots Hospital.

Publication note:

For a more detailed history of the hospital see Survey of London Volume XLII Southern Kensington, pages 343-362 in the History Library, and the Hospitals and Health Service Year Books, also in the Library.

 

The information about the history of the Chapel of St Elizabeth is taken from Bernard Hughes From Workhouse to Hospital. The Story of St Mary Abbots Hospital, Kensington (ref H17/SMA/G/04/001).
Subjects:
  • Kensington, London
  • Kensington, Middlesex
  • Health services
  • Medical personnel
  • Patients
  • Religious activities
Administrative / biographical background:

Kensington Infirmary and Kensington Workhouse were administered by the Kensington Board of Guardians until 1930. Kensington Workhouse became known as Kensington Institution in 1912 and Kensington Infirmary became St Mary Abbot's Hospital in 1923. In 1930 when the London County Council took over the two hospitals, St Mary Abbot's Hospital was designated a type A hospital for the acute sick, and Kensington Institution became a type B hospital for the chronic sick. In 1931 on the retirement of the Master of Kensington Institution, the hospital was placed under the charge of a Medical Superintendent as a first stage in integrating the two hospitals. This was carried a step further in 1933 when the Institution was renamed St Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution).

 

From 1938 St Mary Abbot's Hospital became St Mary Abbot's Hospital (I) and St Mary Abbot's Hospital (Institution) became St Mary Abbot's Hospital (II), until 17 June 1944 when Hospital (II) was closed due to enemy action. The two hospitals were eventually united formally in 1948 when they were taken in to the National Health Service.

 

In 1948 St Mary Abbot's Hospital was assigned to the Fulham and Kensington Hospital Management Committee of the South West Metropolitan Region. On 1 October 1960 the Fulham and Kensington Hospital Management Committee was amalgamated with the Chelsea Hospital Management Committee to form the Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee which administered the hospital until 1974. At that date it became part of the Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority, within the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. In 1982 the hospital became part of the Victoria Health Authority, and in 1986 it is part of the Riverside Health Authority.

 

From 1948 to 1955 the hospital was a general hospital with approximately 400 beds. From 1955 to 1972 it was designated an acute hospital. From 1972 to 1984 it specialised in Ear, Nose and Throat cases, geriatrics and psychiatrics, with geriatric and psychiatric day hospitals from 1978. During this period the number of beds at the hospital was 230 approximately. From 1984 the hospital has been designated a long-stay hospital.

 

The Metropolitan Ear, Nose and Throat hospital was absorbed into the Marloes Road site in 1953, and now exists as a separate hospital with 27 beds in 1986.

 

The oldest part of Kensington Workhouse, later known as Stone Hall, was built in 1847. A separate infirmary was built on the same site in 1871. Until 1875 the main dining hall behind the workhouse was used for chapel services. A legacy of £2,500 from Eliza France, wife of one of the Kensington Guardians, then made it possible to build a chapel to serve both the workhouse and the infirmary. The chapel was designed by A.W. Blomfield in the Early English style and was dedicated to St Elizabeth of Hungary.

 

The chapel was demolished in 1974 and was replaced by a modern chapel dedicated by the Bishop of Kensington in an ecumenical service on 8 June 1977. The hospital closed in 1992 on the opening of the new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on the site of St Stephen's Hospital, Fulham Road.
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