Catalogue description Records of the EAST LONDON HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN AND DISPENSARY FOR WOMEN, Glamis Road, Shadwell, London

The collection contains administrative, financial and patient records.

East London Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women, Shadwell, London

Transferred from Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, Hackney Road, to Tower Hamlets Library in May 1973 and, by the Library, to Tower Hamlets District Health Authority Archives on 13th June 1985.

The Hospital was founded by Dr. Nathaniel and Mrs. Sarah Heckford in a converted warehouse at Ratcliff Cross in 1868; the foundation arose from their experiences in Wapping during the 1866 Cholera outbreak. In 1875, it moved to a new building in Shadwell, Charles Dickens helping with raising funds by publishing two articles about the Hospital. In 1930 it had 136 beds. Its name was changed in 1932 to the Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital for Children. Ten years later an Act of Parliament was passed to amalgamate the Hospital with The Queen's Hospital in Hackney, to form The Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children. By the 1960's the number of beds at Shadwell had fallen to less than 50; the Hospital was closed on 30th April 1963 and the building subsequently demolished.

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