IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 ACC/3682
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: HAMPSTEAD PROVIDENT DISPENSARY
Date(s): 1851-1915
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 0.3 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Hampstead Provident Dispensary
United Provident Institution
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Hampstead Provident Dispensary was founded in 1846 by the Reverend Thomas Ainger and others as a sick relief club and self supporting dispensary with 53 members. Benefitted members, who had to be earning less than 25 shillings a week and not be in receipt of poor relief, paid a small weekly sum, while unbenefitted members paid large contributions. The Club was run by a committee of both types of members. By 1851 the membership had increased to 957.
Initially the Sick Club and Dispensary used rooms in New End Workhouse. In 1850 land was purchased at New End using money from collections in all Hampstead churches and chapels in thanksgiving for escaping cholera in 1849. After a further appeal a three storey building opened in 1853. In January 1879 the Hampstead Dispensary, situated in Heath Street, amalgamated with the Hampstead Provident Dispensary operating from the New End premises. A West Hampstead branch opened in 1888 at 33 Mill Lane.
After the passing of the National Insurance Act in 1911 the dispensary declined in importance. It closed in 1948 on the creation of the National Health Service and the dispensary building was sold in 1950.
The United Provident Institution was a friendly society founded in 1847 and with 529 members in 1897. The Reverend Thomas Ainger was an active member of the Committee for Promoting the United Provident Institution in Hampstead. Its Hampstead Local Board, whose activities included a Medical Relief Fund, held their meetings at the Dispensary.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
The records consist of the three surviving minute books of the Hampstead Provident Dispensary together with a minute book of the United Provident Institution which is only partly used, entries becoming increasingly brief in the late 1860s before ceasing altogether.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Four volumes
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright rests with the City of London.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Nothing is known of the history of the records between 1948 and 1996 when LMA purchased this collection.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Purchased in 1996
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: July to October 2009