IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): H31/SP
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: SAINT PANCRAS HOSPITAL
Date(s): 1857-1953
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 1.35 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Saint Pancras Hospital
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Saint Pancras' Hospital originated in Saint Pancras' Workhouse, which was situated at no. 4 Kings Road, immediately to the north of Saint Pancras Old Church and Saint Pancras Churchyard (Kings Road was renamed Saint 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 Saint Pancras South Infirmary to distinguish it from Saint 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 Saint Pancras Hospital.
Saint 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 able-bodied class' (see LCC/AR/CB/3/1).
When the London County Council took over responsibility for Saint Pancras' Institution and Hospital in 1930, they decided to adapt and partly rebuild Saint Pancras' Institution for use as a general hospital. By 1938, Saint Pancras' Institution had been renamed Saint Pancras' Hospital (II) while Saint Pancras' Hospital had become Saint 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, Saint Pancras Hospital (now run as one unit) was handed over to University College Hospital except for the new maternity block that housed the Hospital for Tropical Diseases. In 1990 Saint Pancras' Hospital was part of Bloomsbury Health Authority. Saint Pancras Hospital became the headquarters for the Camden and Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust in 2001 and specialises in care for the elderly and psychiatry.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of Saint Pancras' Institution including Master's Weekly and monthly reports, 1928-1938; Master's half-yearly and yearly reports, 1927-1938; Medical Officer's reports, 1923-1931 and offences and punishment book, 1914-1937.
Records of Saint Pancras Hospital including Steward's reports, 1924-1938 and 1946-1948; daily numbers book, 1940-1944; female patients' admission and discharge register, 1925-1939; magistrates book, 1948-1958; record of mechanical restraint and seclusion, 1940-1953; registers of baptisms, 1857-1940 and Chaplain's report books, 1893-1933.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
These records are arranged according to a classification scheme for hospital records: General Hospital Administration (A), Patients' Administration (B), Finance Office (D), Endowments (E), Related Documentation (Y) and Prints and Photographs (PH).
Conditions governing access:
These records are open to public inspection, although under section 5(4) of the 1958 Public Records Act administrative records are closed for 30 years and patient records for 100 years.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright: Depositor
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Acc/2827
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
For records of Saint Pancras' Workhouse 1780-1867 see Saint Pancras parish records (P90/PANI). For records of Saint Pancras' Workhouse and Saint Pancras' Hospital 1867-1930 see the records of Saint 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 Saint Pancras Hospital Sub-Committee 1930-1948 (ref. LCC/MIN/2657-2659), Public Health Department files on Saint 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 Saint 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 Saint 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 Saint Pancras Board of Guardians 1867-1930 see StPBG.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: February 2009