Highgate Hospital was a name used to refer to the infirmary building which opened in 1869 on the St Pancras side of Dartmouth Park Hill in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

, London.

History

The facility has its origins in the St Pancras Union Infirmary, which was designed by Giles and Biven and opened in 1866.

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

advised the architects on the design of the building and later commented that it was "by far the best of any workhouse infirmary we have" and indeed “the finest metropolitan hospital”. In 1869, Central London Sick Asylum District was altered to include St Pancras and the infirmary became known as Central London Sick Asylum. This arrangement continued until 1893, when it reverted to the Guardians of the Poor as St Pancras North Infirmary, while the St Pancras Union Workhouse on King's Way (now St Pancras Way) became St Pancras South Infirmary.

Edith Cavell Edith Louisa Cavell ( ; 4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Be ...

served as night superintendent from 1901 to 1904, when she was the only trained nurse on duty. The hospital was taken over by the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

in 1930 and renamed Highgate Hospital. It became the Highgate Wing of the

Whittington Hospital Whittington Hospital is a district general and teaching hospital of UCL Medical School and Middlesex University School of Health and Social Sciences. Located in Upper Holloway, it is managed by Whittington Health NHS Trust, operating as Whitting ...

on the establishment of the NHS in 1948. Latterly a psychiatric hospital, in 2004, the Highgate Wing was chosen by Camden and Islington Community NHS Trust as the site for Highgate Mental Health Centre and the consolidation and development of community mental health and adult social care services.

References

{{Reflist Defunct hospitals in London Hospitals established in 1869 1869 establishments in England

History

See also

References