Queen Square is a

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

in the

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

district of

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

. Many of its buildings are associated with medicine, particularly

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

Construction

Queen Square was originally constructed between 1716 and 1725. It was formed from the garden of the house of Sir John Cutler baronet (1608–1693), whose last surviving child, Lady Radnor, died in 1697 leaving no issue. It was left open to the north for the landscape formed by the hills of

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

and Highgate.

Queen Charlotte and treatment for George III

A statue contained within the square was misidentified as depicting Queen Anne. This statue is now believed to be a portrayal of Queen Charlotte, wife of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. George III was treated for mental illness in a house in Queen Square towards the end of his reign. The

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

on the southwest corner of the square, called "the Queen’s Larder", was, according to legend, used by Queen Charlotte to store food for the king during his treatment. The church, dedicated to St George the Martyr, was built following public subscription in 1706. The church's rector from 1747 to 1765 was the famous antiquary

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

, whose rectory was next to the residence of the Duke of Powis.'Queen Square and Great Ormond Street', ''Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878)'', pp. 553-564

Late 19th century

Built in the early 18th century as a fashionable area, by the mid-19th century it had attracted many French refugees and the shops of sundry booksellers and print sellers. It became a favoured centre for charitable institutions, including the Roman Catholic Aged Poor Society at No. 31, and the

Society of St Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...

. Gradually the mansions were turned into hospitals and other institutions. The first institution which is still in the square was started by Johanna Chandler in 1860.Jennett Humphreys, ‘Chandler, Johanna (1820–1875)’, rev. Patrick Wallis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 200
accessed 7 Dec 2014
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Elizabeth Malleson Elizabeth Malleson (''née'' Whitehead; 1828–1916) was an English educationalist, suffragist and activist for women's education and rural nursing. Life Elizabeth Whitehead was born into a Unitarian family in Chelsea, Malleson was the first chil ...

started the Working Women's College here in 1864. The College of Preceptors (also known as the College of Teachers) occupied No. 42 Queen Square from 1855 until 1887.

20th and 21st centuries

Many of the buildings surrounding the square are devoted to providing, researching and administering health care. Two hospitals, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), often referred to synechdochally as "Queen Square", and the

Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine The Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (formerly the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital) is a specialist alternative medicine hospital located in London, England and a part of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. ...

(formerly the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital), make up the east side of the square. The Institute of Neurology, part of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL), is located in the north east corner of the square. The former Institute for Public Health takes up much of the north side - the building is now used as the administrative centre for the NHNN and Institute of Neurology. Several buildings on the west side of the square are devoted to medical research and are part of the Institute of Neurology and other departments of UCL. These include Alexandra House at number 17, which houses the

UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience UCL Neuroscience is a research domain that encompasses the breadth of neuroscience research activity across University College London's (UCL) School of Life and Medical Sciences. The domain was established in January 2008, to coordinate neurosci ...

and the

Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit Gatsby may refer to: * ''The Great Gatsby'', a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald ** The Great Gatsby (disambiguation), an index of film adaptations of the novel ** Jay Gatsby, the novel's central character Other uses * Gatsby cap, a hat with a st ...

. The

Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging The 'Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging'' at University College London is a world-leading interdisciplinary centre for neuroimaging research based in London, United Kingdom. Researchers at the Centre use expertise to investigate how the hum ...

(commonly referred to as the Functional Imaging Laboratory) is located at number 12. Numbers 8–11, the Sir

Charles Symmonds Charles J. Symmonds (October 6, 1866 – July 16, 1941) was a brigadier general in the United States Army. He was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal. His award citation reads: :''The President of the United States of America, authorize ...

House, houses the

Dementia Research Centre The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London, University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. Together with the National Hospital for Neur ...

on the first floor and the Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases on the ground floor. At the southern end of the square is the church mentioned above, the

Mary Ward Centre The Mary Ward Adult Education Centre is part of the Mary Ward Settlement, in Queen Square, London. History The centre was founded by Mary Augusta Ward, a Victorian novelist and founding president of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League, be ...

for

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

, and the former Italian Hospital, now part of

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

for children (whose main buildings are in

Great Ormond Street Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

, off Queen Square). No 42-3, originally an 18th-century town house, has a long history of educational use: it was occupied by the Royal Female School of Art from 1861, the London County Council Trade School for Girls from 1910, the Technical College for Women in the 1930s, and the Stanhope Institute for adult education in the 1950s. The Mary Ward Centre took over the building in 1982. A women-only

Turkish bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

operated in Queen Square from 1930 to 1962. The site is now occupied by the Imperial Hotel. One of the buildings, the Sobell Department, contains a lecture theatre used by UCL for postgraduate teaching. With 220 seats, it is one of the largest lecture theatres in Queen Square. It has an important past, having welcomed famed scientists such as John HardyAccounts from past students and John Fox. Its wear and tear, evident through malfunctioning desks inter alia, highlights this history.

Notable residents

* Sir William Browne, physician, 1749–1774 *

Fanny Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...

, novelist, 1770–1774 *

Frances Reynolds Frances Reynolds (6 June 1729 – 1 November 1807 London) was a British artist, and the youngest sister of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Life She was born in 1729 and later kept Sir Joshua's house for many years after he came to London, and employe ...

, painter, 1792–1807 * Francis Ronalds, inventor, 1820–1822

References

*Richard Tames. ''Bloomsbury Past'' ( Historic Publications Ltd, *Godfrey Heathcote Hamilton. ''Queen Square'' (

Leonard Parsons Sir Leonard Gregory Parsons MRCS FRCP FRCOG FRS (25 November 1879 - 17 December 1950) was a British Paediatrician. Parsons studied at Mason College and the University of Birmingham from 1896 to 1903. He graduated with a University of London ...

, Edition 1926)

External links

History of Queen Square

- University of London
THE ART WORKERS’ GUILD – 125 years History
- 6 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London
Queen Square Neurology Archive
an extensive archive of historical documents relating to the neurology institutions in Queen Square
''History of 42-43 Queen Square''
– Mary Ward Center
Map
{{coord, 51, 31, 19, N, 0, 7, 20, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Squares in the London Borough of Camden Bloomsbury 1725 establishments in Great Britain Monuments and memorials to women Garden squares in London