Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital

Westminster Hospital Medical School

The Westminster Hospital Medical School was formally founded in 1834 by George Guthrie, an ex-military surgeon - although students had been taken on at Westminster Hospital almost from the hospital's foundation in 1719 .The hospital and medical school moved to larger buildings several times in the...

 was formally founded.

Westminster Hospital moved from Marsham Street

Marsham Street

Marsham Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is approximately a mile in length and runs south from Great Peter Street, near Victoria Street and Parliament Square. It bisects Horseferry Road and backs on to Smith Square, formerly home to the Conservative Party...

 to become Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is a public hospital located on Fulham Road, in the Chelsea area of London, England. It is managed by the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and opened in May 1993.-History:...

 at the old St Stephen's Hospital site in 1994.

History

The Westminster Hospital was established in 1719 as a charitable society "for relieving the sick and needy at the Public Infirmary in Westminster", and promoted by Mr Henry Hoare (aka Good Henry (1718-1725), son of Sir Richard Hoare and Partner in C. Hoare & Co

C. Hoare & Co

C. Hoare & Co. is England's oldest privately owned banking house. Founded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, C. Hoare & Co. remains family owned and is currently managed by the 11th generation of Hoare's direct descendants....

) and associates. The hospital was rebuilt in 1832 with help from Charles Hoare (great-grandson of 'Good' Henry Hoare). It was the first subscription hospital erected in London, and was incorporated in 1836.

In 1720, a house was taken for the purpose of an infirmary in Petty France

Petty France, London

Petty France refers to several places in London and Westminster.It usually refers to a street in the City of Westminster, London, "a considerable street between Tathill Street, E., and James Street, W " The street was the original location in 1720 of the Westminster Public Infirmary...

; from which, in 1724, the institution was removed to Chapel Street, and some time after to James Street. A new and spacious hospital building was completed and opened in 1834, of an embattled quasi-Gothic character, erected by Messrs. Inwood. The hospital was situated by the Broad Sanctuary and the northern side of the nave of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

, between the Sessions House and Victoria Street, and accommodated about 200 in-patients, and the total number of patients relieved annually, in an 1878 account, is about 20,000. According to the same 1878 description, "Patients are admitted by order from a governor, except in cases of accident, which are received, without recommendation, at all hours of the day or night".

The following document, which may be styled the first annual report of this institution, dated 1720, hung framed and glazed on the wall of the secretary's room as at about 1878:

"Whereas a charitable proposal was published in December last (1719), for relieving the sick and needy, by providing them with lodging, with proper food and physick, and nurses to attend them during their sickness, and by procuring them the advice and assistance of physicians or surgeons, as their necessities should require; and by the blessing of God upon this undertaking, such sums of money have been advanced and subscribed by several of the nobility and gentry of both sexes and by some of the clergy, as have enabled the managers of this charity (who are as many of the subscribers as please to be present at their weekly meetings), to carry on in some measure what was then proposed:—for the satisfaction of the subscribers and benefactors, and for animating others to promote and encourage this pious and Christian work, this is to acquaint them, that in pursuance of the foresaid charitable proposal, there is an infirmary set up in Petty France, Westminster, where the poor sick who are admitted into it, are attended by physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, and nurses, supplied with food and physick, and daily visited by some one or other of the clergy; at which place the society meets every Wednesday evening for managing and carrying on this charity, admitting and discharging patients, &c."

The Conservative Party Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 Airey Neave

Airey Neave

Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave DSO, OBE, MC was a British soldier, barrister and politician.During World War II, Neave was one of the few servicemen to escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle...

 died at the hospital on 30 March 1979 after being badly wounded by a car bomb as he drove out of the nearby House of Commons that day.