IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): H19/SL
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: SAINT LEONARD'S HOSPITAL
Date(s): 1884-1940
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 0.2 linear metres
Name of creator(s): St Leonard's Hospital x St Leonard Shoreditch Workhouse Infirmary | 1777-1872 x Shoreditch Infirmary | 1872-1920
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Shoreditch Workhouse and Shoreditch Infirmary (later Saint Leonard's Hospital I) occupied adjoining parts of the same site which stretched from Hoxton Street in the west to Kingsland Road in the east. The buildings were erected in about 1865 to replace an earlier workhouse. The workhouse (later the institution) occupied the eastern part of the site immediately behind the Board of Guardians offices which fronted on Kingsland Road. The infirmary occupied the western portion of the site adjoining Hoxton Street. An annexe to the infirmary was built in 1884 in the north east corner of the site next to Nuttall Street.
When the functions of the Boards of Guardians were transferred to the London County Council (L.C.C.) in 1930, Saint Leonard's Hospital had certified accommodation for 556 patients, while the workhouse (by then known as Saint Leonard's House) had certified accommodation for 424. The L.C.C. Architect considered that most of the ward blocks were badly planned lacking cross ventilation (LCC/AR/CB/3/1).
On 1 April 1938 the L.C.C. completed its policy of removing its hospitals entirely from the ambit of the Poor Law by the appropriation of the remaining six institutions which accommodated chronic sick patients and which were within the curtilages of general hospitals. These included Saint Leonard's Institution which was renamed Saint Leonard's Hospital II to distinguish it from the neighbouring general hospital of the same name, which was to be known as Saint Leonard's Hospital I. By 1938 the total bed complement of the two hospitals had been reduced to 649 of which 549 were sick beds. (L.C.C. Annual Report of the County Medical Officer of Health for 1938).
Plans by the L.C.C. to rebuild the hospitals ended with the outbreak of war in 1939. The hospitals suffered considerable bomb damage with the destruction of part of the main block and one of the three nurses' homes. By 1948, when Saint Leonard's Hospital became part of the National Health Service as one of the Central Group of hospitals; the two hospitals were being managed as one general hospital, much reduced in size. In 1956 the hospital had 192 beds, with the possibility of opening additional wards to provide a total of 250 beds, if the extra nursing staff could be made available (A/KE/735/9).;Since then it has been developed as a centre for co-ordinating community services and supporting health centres. In 1992 it became part of City and Hackney Community Services NHS Trust.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of Saint Leonard's Hospital, including admission and discharge registers, 1934-1940; creed registers, 1929-1940; and registers of deaths, 1884-1940.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
In sections according to catalogue.
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/2299, ACC/2649, ACC/3105
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Nursing and patient records, 1885-1976, are in the care of Saint Bartholomew's Hospital Archives Department, Smithfeld, London. For information relating to Shoreditch Workhouse before 1863 see the parish records of Saint Leonard's Shoreditch, especially the minute books and letter books of the Trustees of the Poor 1774-1859 (ref. P91/LEN/7-35) and workhouse registers 1788-1862 (ref. P91/LEN/1335-1347). For the administration of Shoreditch Workhouse and Infirmary 1867-1930 and for registers of inmates in the workhouse and infirmary see the records of Shoreditch Board of Guardians. For the management of Saint Leonard's Hospital and Institution 1930-1948 see the minutes and papers of the L.C.C. Central Public Health Committee, later the Hospitals and Medical Services Committee 1929-1948 (ref. LCC/MIN/2207-2272) and the minutes of its Saint Leonard's Hospital Sub-Committee 1930-1948 (ref. LCC/MIN/2633-2636). For a plan of the hospital and institution and a description of the buildings prepared in 1929 see LCC/AR/CB/3/1. For King Edward's Hospital Fund reports and papers 1947-1967 see A/KE/735/9 and A/KE/738/14.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: February 2009