Catalogue description Elizabeth Garret Anderson Hospital: Correspondence, Minutes and Papers

Elizabeth Garrett was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in England. In 1866 she opened a small clinic for women and children but by 1872 the need was apparent for in-patient treatment, so a ward of 10 beds was opened and the dispensary renamed the New Hospital for Women. In 1889 the hospital moved to its present site in Euston Road where it could provide 26 beds. A large percentage of the money for the new hospital was raised by Elizabeth Garrett, (who had married J.G.S.Anderson in 1871). After her death in 1917 the hospital was renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

In 1913 the recovery Branch at Rosa Morison House, Barnet, was opened; in 1929 Queen Mary opened a new wing of the hospital and, in 1948, the Garrett Anderson Maternity Home in Belsize Grove, Hampstead. By the time of its centenary in 1966 the hospital was a general one with 161 beds, playing an important role in the teaching of women medical students and giving women doctors unrivalled opportunities for further training and for practising as consultants. The hospital also had its own Nurse Training School which had opened in 1922.

In 1948, with the inauguration of the National Health Service, the hospital became part of the Royal Free Hospital Teaching Group. In 1962 the hospital was transferred to the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and in 1963 it was included with 12 other hospitals in the North London Hospital Group. Following the re-organisation of the National Health Service in 1974, the hospital was transferred to the Camden and Islington Area Health Authority and placed under the control of the South Camden District. Shortly afterwards the hospital was threatened with closure and in 1976 the Secretary of State decided that it should be closed, but recommended that the staff and services should be incorporated in a district general hospital. The election of a Conservative government brought about a reversal of this decision in May 1979, and two months later £2M was provided to convert the hospital into a small gynaecological unit.