Building    From 1749  To /5/1913

British Lying-in Hospital

Categories: Medicine

Initially called the Lying-In Hospital for Married Women. ( 'Lying-in' is an old term for childbirth).  By the beginning of the 20th century it was experiencing financial difficulties which led to its eventual closure.

There is some confusion over where this hospital was originally opened: Brownlow Street certainly, but not the one now in Holborn, which a number of sources give. In the 1700s there was a Brownlow Street near Long Acre - the street now named Betterton Street, just one block away from the Endell Street plaque.

At the picture source, the Wellcome Collection, the text in the image makes the address clear but the text and description provided by the archive is confusing.  As ever, the Lost Hospitals of London is an excellent source for reliable information and we quote: "In 1849 it moved to a larger purpose-built building in Endell Street {with the plaque}, the old building having been condemned by the District Surveyor." 

Wikipedia has Stowe's 1720 map that shows Brownlow Street (now Betterton Street), 

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
British Lying-in Hospital

Commemorated ati

Rosalind Paget and Zepherina Veitch

The plaque gives 1739 as the foundation date but sources give 1749.

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Other Subjects

Princess Royal Nurses Home

Princess Royal Nurses Home

Foundation stone laid by The Princess Royal, 7th July 1933, in the presence of 11 "children of England". 

Building, Medicine

1 memorial
Dr William H. Brotherton

Dr William H. Brotherton

Lived in and ran his medical practice from a house at 289, Cambridge Heath Road. BMJ 19 March 1864 reports: "APOTHECARIES' HALL. On March 10th, the following Licentiates were admitted:- Brotherton...

Person, Medicine

1 memorial
Dr. Margery Blackie

Dr. Margery Blackie

Homeopathic physician. Born Hertfordshire, daughter and niece of homeopaths. In 1969 appointed physician to the Queen. Dr Blackie seems to bear a great deal of responsibility for the wider accep...

Person, Medicine

1 memorial
Doctor John Fry

Doctor John Fry

General practitioner and medical author. Born Jack Freitag in Lublin, Poland, he emigrated to Britain with his family in 1925. He trained at Guy's Hospital, and in 1947, single-handedly took over a...

Person, Medicine, Poland

2 memorials
Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell

The first woman to be accepted by the register of the General Medical Council, and also the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Born in Bristol, her family emigrated to th...

Person, Medicine, France, USA

1 memorial