Plaque

Royal Northern Hospital - 2 - Islington Victoria Ward

Erection date: 1887

Inscription

The Islington Victoria Ward
This ward was provided at a cost of £5,500 by the parishioners of Islington to commemorate the Jubilee of the reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria and to record their gratitude to God for national and parochial progress during that eventful period.
AD 1887

The phrase "gratitude to God for national and parochial progress during that eventful period" is a fascinating insight into the late Victorian mind. The period 1837-87 encompassed the usual quota of natural and man-made disasters, about which the plaque is silent, as well as the progress for which the plaque thanks God.

Site: Royal Northern Hospital - Islington war memorial arch - inside (5 memorials)

N7, Manor Gardens

The original 1923 WW1 memorial consisted of the whole Casualty Department building for the Royal Northern Hospital, including this arched passageway and the list of names it contains. The architect was H. Percy Adams, of Adams, Holden and Pearson. The builder: F. C. Minter may be related to E. J. Minter.

See Islington War memorial arch - outside for a photo of the arch entrance into this passageway through the building. It is like a tunnel with gates at each end. The walls of the main part of the tunnel are covered with a list of names as shown in our photo. The memorials relating to the Royal Northern Hospital are housed in a smaller section, at the back, the northern end of the tunnel (possibly added later?).

When the Casualty Department building was demolished (by 1997) this arch was retained in situ, and the plaque on the outside that explained the whole-building nature of the memorial was salvaged and erected in the nearby public garden. The arch-passageway was incorporated into a private residential development. This means that the gates are normally locked, the list of names can only be viewed skew-whiff through the gates, and the memorials at the back are not visible at all.

We've numbered the memorials as follows:

At the back on the west wall:
1. Ifor Williams
2. Islington Victoria Ward

At the back on the east wall:
3. St David’s wing and RNH navigational sign
4. Newbon Ward

After many years of failing to find the gates open we finally gained access on 11 November 2021 when they had been opened for someone to pay their respects. The key-holder said that we could always revisit by asking for the key at the nearby Islington North Library. We also understand that a memorial event is held here annually on Remembrance Sunday, but probably in the nearby memorial garden, so we don't know if the gates to this tunnel would be opened for that event.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Royal Northern Hospital - 2 - Islington Victoria Ward

Subjects commemorated i

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria

The fiftieth anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria was celebrated on...

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Queen Victoria

Reigned: 1837-1901, 64 years. Born Kensington Palace. Daughter of Edward, Duk...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Royal Northern Hospital - 2 - Islington Victoria Ward

Also at this site i

Islington WW1 memorial - Manor Gardens - names

Islington WW1 memorial - Manor Gardens - names

Through the gates you can see that most of the names are nicely picked out bu...

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Royal Northern Hospital - 1 - Ifor Williams

Royal Northern Hospital - 1 - Ifor Williams

We think this may have been the sign giving the name of a ward at the hospita...

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Royal Northern Hospital - 3 - St David’s wing and RNH navigational sign

Royal Northern Hospital - 3 - St David’s wing and RNH navigational sign

These were presumably navigational signs for people visiting St David’s wing,...

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Royal Northern Hospital - 4 - Newbon Ward

Royal Northern Hospital - 4 - Newbon Ward

The Newbon Ward So named in accordance with the will of Robert Alger Newbon E...

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