The City of London Maternity Hospital was a healthcare facility in London. Founded in 1750, it was closed and amalgamated with the Obstetric Unit at 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 Whitti ...

in 1983.

History

In 1750, the Governors appointed “for erecting a Lying-in Hospital for married women in the City of London and parts adjacent and also for Out-patients in Phisic and Surgery” founded the City of London Lying-in Hospital for married women and sick and lame Outpatients at London House in Aldersgate Street. In 1751, the hospital moved to Thanet or Shaftesbury House also in Aldersgate Street and the second part of the title was dropped following a decision by the General Court of Governors to admit no more outpatients. In 1773, the hospital moved to purpose built premises designed by Robert Mylne between

St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics was founded in London in 1751 for the treatment of incurable pauper lunatics by a group of philanthropic apothecaries and others. It was the second public institution in London created to look after mentally ill pe ...

and the Fox and Goose Ale House on

City Road City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of L ...

. Damaged by the construction of the Great Northern and City Railway underneath

Old Street Old Street is a street in inner north-east Central London that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, via St Luke's and Old Street Roundabout, to the crossroads where it meets Shoreditch Hi ...

, the building was demolished and rebuilt on the same site between 1904 and 1907. The rules were relaxed in 1912, to allow "Singlewomen who are sufficiently recommended and are found to be deserving of the Benefits of the Hospital's Charity" to be eligible for admission for their first confinement and the name was changed to the City of London Maternity Hospital in 1918. The hospital was granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

in 1935 and came under the control of the Northern Group Hospital Management Committee in 1948. Damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1941, it was decided not to rebuild on the noisy City Road site at the end of the war and former homes for the blind in Hanley Road were acquired from the

Royal National Institute of Blind People The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. History The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had eye ...

in 1949. Clinics continued to be held at City Road until 1955, when a modern building was opened at Hanley Road. In 1983, the hospital was closed and amalgamated with the Obstetric Unit at the

to form the City of London Maternity Unit.

References

{{reflist 1750 establishments in England Maternity hospitals in the United Kingdom Defunct hospitals in London Voluntary hospitals