Hospitals of London – Review by Jane Bowden-Dan

In July, on the FHHS’s guided walk around Smithfield with Sue Pierson, we saw the entrance to Barts; and plan to return this autumn for a conducted tour of the historic hospital, to include William Hogarth’s paintings on the Grand Staircase. In the opening paragraph of this fascinating book’s first chapter (entitled Healthcare in London before the NHS) we learn that St Bartholomew’s Hospital – the oldest operational hospital in England – is the only survivor of the monastic foundations which cared for London’s sick in the Middle Ages (p.6 & p.34).

Hospitals of London piqued my interest. It is a handbook which gives brief histories of the capital’s hospitals themselves, as well as describing the social and political aspects of medical history in the city.

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