A priory for the Order of the Star of Bethlehem, built in 1247 on Bishopsgate at Liverpool Street, started admitting mental patients in 1357. This was probably the world's first institution to specialise in mental illness. It developed into a horrible place, known as Bedlam, dedicated to the commitment of the insane. In 1676 it moved to the London Wall site and it was this building that was adorned with the Cibber statues of Raving and Melancholy Madness. In 1815 Bedlam moved to the St George's Fields site (at that time owned by the City of London) in Southwark and, when in 1930 it moved out to a site near Beckenham, the Southwark buildings became the Imperial War Museum.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Bethleham Hospital 1&2
Commemorated ati
Bethlehem Hospital - first
Site of the first Bethlehem Hospital 1247 - 1676. The Corporation of the City...
Bethlehem Hospital - second
Site of the second Bethlehem Hospital, 1676 -1815. The Corporation of the Cit...
Gift from Lord Rothermere
This plaque was unveiled a second time, during the 75th anniversary celebrati...
Harmsworth - IWM
In 1926 Harold Harmsworth, the first Viscount Rothermere, bought the grounds ...
Other Subjects
Sir John Simon
Surgeon and public health officer. Born City of London. His name is of French origin which is worth knowing for pronunciation purposes. 1848 appointed the first Medical Officer of Health for London...
2 memorials
Horatio Prater
Our colleague, Andrew Behan, has found someone who is probably our man, Andrew writes: I can find no evidence of an H. Prater in the Croydon area in the 1880's so I believe that the Historic Engla...
2 memorials
Florence Nightingale
Nurse, statistician, author. Born in Italy (go on, guess which city) while her parents were on the grand tour. Her sister was born one year earlier in Naples, and named Frances Parthenope, the Gree...
6 memorials
Kenneth Smedley MacLean, FRCP
Emeritus Physician at Guy's. Lived in Woldingham. His obituary by the Royal College of Physicians gives much information about the man. Kenneth Smedley MacLean was born on 22 November 1914, the e...
1 memorial
Dame Rosalind Paget
Nurse and midwife. Trained at the British Lying-in Hospital. She was the first superintendent, and later inspector general, of the Queen's Jubilee Institute for District Nursing at the London Hospi...
1 memorial
Previously viewed
Worshipful Company of Fruiterers
1292 - first reference to ‘Free Fruiterers’. First charter in 1606. Their shield shows Adam and Eve with that first piece of fruit.
5 memorials
Charles Lamb
Born at 2 Crown Office Row, Inner Temple. Studied at Christ's Hospital where he became friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. "Elia" is the pseudonym Lamb used for a series of essays he wrote for th...
7 memorials
The Theatre
The site of The Theatre is the tall building to the left in the picture. Often claimed to be the first London building specially devoted to the performance of plays though the Red Lion Theatre in M...
3 memorials
John Strickland
Role on the lost expedition: Able seaman on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.
1 memorial
Mary Shelley
SW1, Chester Square, 24
English Heritage Mary Shelley, 1797-1851, author of Frankenstein, lived here, 1846-1851.
2 subjects commemorated,
1 creator
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