IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): H15/SJ
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: SAINT JOHN'S HOSPITAL FOR DISEASES OF THE SKIN
Date(s): 1876-1977
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 1.52 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Saint John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Saint John's Hospital was founded in 1863 by John Laws Milton at 12 Church Street, Soho (now Romilly Street). Two years later it moved to 45 Leicester Square. The justification for founding Saint John's, the second special hospital for diseases of the skin in London was 'on the grounds that general hospitals had refused to institute special departments for the treatment and teaching of skin disease'. The School of Dermatology was established at the hospital by 1885. The first fifty years of the hospital's existence were marked by internal conflict, financial difficulties and public controversy culminating in the libel action brought by the Hospital Secretary, Saint Vincent Mercier, against the editor of Truth in 1889. For further information see the files of the Charity Organisation Society Enquiry Department (ref. A/FWA/C/D17/1-5).
In 1883 the hospital opened a separate inpatients department at Markham Square, Kings Road, Chelsea. This closed in 1886 and both in-patients and out-patients moved to 49 Leicester Square in 1887. A new in-patients department was opened in 1895 at Arlington House, 262 Uxbridge Road, Hammersmith. The outpatients department was rebuilt in 1905 at 49 Leicester Square and then moved in 1935 to its present premises at 5 Lisle Street, Leicester Square.
Saint John's Hospital benefited from the founding in 1923 of the London School of Dermatology based at the hospital. This was taken over by the Institute of Dermatology in 1946. Saint John's Hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948 and was designated as one of the fourteen post graduate teaching hospitals.
The in-patient department of the hospital at Uxbridge Road had been forced to close after being severely damaged by bombing in September 1940. In 1952 the disused part of the Eastern Fever Hospital at Homerton was made available to Saint John's for the admission of in-patients. Additional wards and laboratories were opened at Homerton between 1953 and 1961. In 1982 Saint John's Hospital became part of the West Lambeth Health Authority. The in-patient department and Institute of Dermatology moved from Homerton to Saint Thomas' Hospital and the Lambeth Hospital site by February 1987. The outpatient department moved from Lisle Street to Saint Thomas' Hospital in 1989.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of the Saint John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, comprising Board of management minutes, 1880-1948; Board of Governors minutes, 1948-1977; Medical committee minutes, 1904-1975; General purposes and finance committee minutes, 1948-1976; annual reports, 1876-1939 and Saint John's Hospital Pharmacopoeia, 1888-1952.
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/2258
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
St John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin 1863-1963 ed. Brian Russell.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: February 2009