St. George's Hospital

St. George's Hospital, founded in 1733, is a teaching hospital in London. It has continuously trained medical students since that date.

The original site was in Lanesborough House at Hyde Park Corner, originally built in 1719 by the 2nd Viscount Lanesborough in what was then open countryside. The new St. George's Hospital was arranged on three floors and accomodated 30 patients in two wards: one for men and one for women. The hospital was gradually extended and, by 1744, it had fifteen wards and over 250 patients.

By the 1800's, the hospital was slpping into disrepair. The old Lanesborough House was demolished to make way for a new 350 bed new facility. Building began in 1827 and the new hospital was completed by 1844.

By 1859, a critical shortage of beds led to the addition of an attic floor. This was soon insufficient and led to the creation of a new convalescent hospital, Atkinson Morley's in Wimbledon, freeing up beds at St. George's for acute patients.

A medical school was established in 1834 at Kinnerton Street and was incorporated into the hospital in 1868. The Medical School was built in the south-west corner of the hospital site in Hyde Park, with the main entrance in Knightsbridge and the back entrance in Governor Crescent Mew.

In 1948, the National Health Service was introduced and plans for a new site for St. George's at The Grove Fever and Fountain Hospitals at Tooting were eventually agreed upon. In 1954, the Grove Hospital became part of St George's, and clinical teaching started in Tooting.

In 1973, building began on the new site. The new hospital and school buildings were now well advanced. The School was completed, as were two wings of the new hospital, which today provide a total of 710 beds. In 1976, the Medical School opened at Tooting and, in 1980, St. George's Hospital at Hyde Park Corner closed its doors for the last time.

In 1981, medical education in London was reorganized to recognize the movement of population away from central London. There are now fewer, larger medical schools. The expansion of St. George's Hospital Medical School has become part of this policy.

Famous Students and Staff

Among those who have been associated with St. George's are:

• John Hunter, father of modern surgery

• Edward Jenner, introduced vaccination for small pox

• Thomas Young, physician, mathematician and hieroglyphicologist

• Henry Gray , anatomist

• Judah Hirsch Quastel, biochemist

References

History of St. George's Hospital Medical School