Catalogue description Records of MILE END HOSPITAL, Bancroft Road, Mile End

The collection contains administrative, chaplain's, patient and nursing records, photographs and miscellaneous records.

Most of the administrative records of the Hospital from its foundation to 1948 are in London Metropolitan Archives, Northampton Road, E.C.I. (LMA refs: H21/ME, StBG/ME, LCC/MIN, LCC/PH/ST).

For the history of the hospital, see Beyond Recall: The Making of Mile End Hospital by Fraser Cleminson, published by Tower Hamlets Arts Project, 1983.

Mile End Hospital, London

These records were collected from various sources: ME/A/1/1 was transferred from he Public Record Office, with the records of Stepney Group H.M.C. on 6th August 1985; many of the patient registers (ME/M) were transferred from Mile End Hospital on 13th December 1985 (exceptions to this are noted in he list); some of the nursing records (ME/N/1-2) were among the records at the London Hospital in September 1984; others (ME/N/3-4) were transferred from Princess Alexandra & Newham College of Nursing in September 1993.

The Workhouse on the Bancroft Road site was built by the Board of Guardians of Mile End Old Town in 1858 - 1859. The foundation stone of the new Infirmary, erected under the powers conferred by the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, was laid in February 1881, and it was opened in March 1883. A Nurse Training School was established in 1892. The institution was taken over by the military authorities during the First World War; during the military occupation, the facilities of the hospital were considerably improved. In 1930, when the Hospital passed to the control of the London County Council, it had 550 beds. Between 1942 and 1948, Mile End Hospital hosted a Regional Preliminary Training School for Nurses giving initial training to pupils destined to train at L.C.C. hospitals in all parts of London (see ME/N/4).

With the introduction of National Health Service in 1948, the Hospital became part of the Stepney Group (records: RLH Archives ref. SG); the Stepney Group Hospital Management Committee was merged with the Central Group in 1966 to form the East London Group. In 1968, Mile End Hospital, together with St. Clement's Hospital, was transferred to the management of the Board of Governors of the London Hospital. Its designation was changed to the London Hospital (Mile End). As a result of the re-organisation in 1974, it became part of Tower Hamlets Health District (records: RLH Archives ref. TH). In 1990, as part of the London Hospital Group, the Hospital was granted a Royal title by H.M. The Queen, becoming The Royal London Hospital (Mile End). On the closure of Bethnal Green Hospital (q.v. RLH Archives ref. BG) in June 1990, the Bancroft Unit for the Care of the Elderly opened at Mile End.

The Hospital was part of The Royal London Hospital and its Associated Community Services NHS Trust from 1991 to 1994 (records: RLH Archives ref. LT), when following the recommendations of the government report "Making London Better" (1993), it was transferred to City and East London Family and Community Services (CELFACS), reverting to the name "Mile End Hospital". On the division of CELFACS in 1994 the Hospital came under the management of Tower Hamlets Community Health Services NHS Trust with The Royal Hospitals NHS Trust (RLH Archives ref. RH) continuing to occupy two wards at Mile End until 1997

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