Catalogue description St Pancras Hospital

For records of St Pancras' Workhouse 1780-1867 see St Pancras parish records (P90/PANI).

For records of St Pancras' Workhouse and St Pancras' Hospital 1867-1930 see the records of St Pancras Board of Guardians.

For records relating to the administration of the hospital and institution 1930-1948 see the records of the London County Council, especially the minutes of the St Pancras Hospital Sub-Committee 1930-1948 (ref. LCC/MIN/2657-2659), Public Health Department files on St Pancras Hospital 1934-1947 (ref LCC/PH/HOSP/3/136-141), and plans and a report prepared by the LCC Architect 1929 (ref. LCC/AR/CB/3/1).

The records of King Edward's Hospital Fund for London, which are held here, include papers and reports on St Pancras' Hospital 1950-1968 (ref. A/KE/737/23, A/KE/738/71). There are also records of the School of Hospital Catering established by the King's Fund at St Pancras' Hospital in 1951 (see A/KE/718-722). For photographs of the hospital 1934-1945 see the Greater London Photograph Library.

For the minute books of St Pancras Board of Guardians 1867-1930 see StPBG 1-80. For minutes of the House (or Workhouse) Visiting Committee 1867-1930 see StPBG 88/1-29. For minutes of the South Infirmary Visiting Committee 1901-1919 see StPBG 97/1-3 and for minutes of the Hospitals Visiting Committee 1883-1930 see StPBG 87/1-12. For minutes of the LCC St Pancras Hospital Visiting Sub-Committee 1930-1948 see LCC/MIN/2657-2659.

For registers of inmates in St Pancras' Workhouse (later Institution) 1868-1930 see list of records of St Pancras Board of Guardians (ref. StPBG 160-165). For registers of patients in St Pancras South Infirmary (later St Pancras Hospital) 1902-1930 see StPBG 172-175.

St Pancras' Institution

St Pancras' Hospital

transferred by the Hospital Administrator, St Pancras' Hospital, 4 St Pancras Way, London NW1 0PE, 4 June 1990 (ACC 2827).

• St Pancras, Middlesex
• St Pancras, London
• Health services

St Pancras' Hospital originated in St Pancras' Workhouse which was situated at no. 4 Kings Road, immediately to the north of St Pancras Old Church and St Pancras Churchyard. (Kings Road was renamed St Pancras Way in 1937). In c. 1884-1886 a separate infirmary block was built on a site adjoining the workhouse to the South-West, fronting on Cooks Terrace (renamed Pancras Road in 1872). This was known as St Pancras South Infirmary to distinguish it from St Pancras North Infirmary, built in the late 1860's, and situated on Highgate Hill. The North Infirmary was also known as Highgate Infirmary, later Highgate Hospital, and is now the Highgate Wing of the Whittington Hospital. The South Infirmary became St Pancras Hospital.

St Pancras' Hospital depended on the workhouse for the provision of certain essential services such as heating, hot water, laundry, and the use of the mortuary. The two institutions shared a common entrance on Kings Road and used the same receiving wards. By the 1920's the master of the workhouse or institution was also steward of the hospital. By 1936 the medical officer of the institution was also medical superintendent of the hospital. The institution could accommodate 1,344 while the hospital had beds for 378. The mental wards and, until 1929, the maternity wards and nursery were part of the institution. In 1929 the LCC Architect reported that the inmates of the institution were mostly of the 'infirm or partially ablebodied class' (see LCC/AR/CB/3/1).

When the London County Council took over responsibility for St Pancras' Institution and Hospital in 1930, they decided to adapt and partly rebuild St Pancras' Institution for use as a general hospital. By 1938, St Pancras' Institution had been renamed St Pancras' Hospital (II) while St Pancras' Hospital had become St Pancras' Hospital (I). By the outbreak of war, the LCC had completed a new mental observation unit and a new maternity block (never used for its intended purpose).

On the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, St Pancras Hospital (now run as one unit) was handed over to University College Hospital except for the new maternity block which housed the Hospital for Tropical Diseases. St Pancras' Hospital is now (1990) part of Bloomsbury Health Authority.

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