Building    From 1775 

Cleveland Street Workhouse

Categories: Medicine, Social Welfare

Created with an Act of Parliament in 1775, initially for the parish of St Paul in Covent Garden, this is the most intact example of an 18th century workhouse institution left standing in London. Joseph Rogers was appointed to the post of Medical Officer in 1856 and remained for thirty years. The name changes of the building over the years briefly summarise its history: St Paul Covent Garden Workhouse or simply Covent Garden Workhouse; Strand Union Workhouse; Central London Sick Asylum; Cleveland Street Infirmary; Middlesex Hospital Annexe; Middlesex Hospital Outpatient Department. At this point, 2008, it was scheduled for demolition but a spirited campaign, with some help from Charles Dickens, got it it listed in 2011 and it was saved. The picture source website is an invaluable resource.

2017: Now the Nightingale wards at the back and the burial ground, used for the paupers, are at risk from the developers. Read about one burial there, of an "Italian boy" who was murdered by "body-snatchers" so they could sell his body: An East End Murder & A West End Grave. And Florence Nightingale's connection is detailed here. We hope Camden does the right thing and protects this historic fabric.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Cleveland Street Workhouse

Commemorated ati

Charles Dickens - W1

Unveiled by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley. Behind this plaque is an interesting d...

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Other Subjects

Guy's John Fry Group

Guy's John Fry Group

This is possibly the same group of Guy's alumni who gather each October for a lunch to celebrate the life and work of Doctor John Fry.

Group, Community / Clubs, History, Medicine

1 memorial
Miss M. M. Masson

Miss M. M. Masson

Lady District Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1914-1939. Serving Sister in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Percy Lane Oliver

Percy Lane Oliver

Founder of the first voluntary blood donor service. Born in Fish Street, St Ives, Cornwall. In 1921, he helped found the Camberwell division of the British Red Cross Society, and conceived the idea...

Person, Medicine, Philanthropy

1 memorial
Jean-Paul Marat

Jean-Paul Marat

Physician, political theorist, scientist, radical journalist and politician from the French Revolution. Murdered in his bath by Charlotte Corday.

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Medicine, Nationalism, Politics & Administration, France, Switzerland

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Poet and Jesuit priest. Born 87 The Grove, Stratford, of Welsh ancestry. 1852 the family moved to Hampstead and GMH attended Highgate School where he flourished. At Oxford University he converted ...

Person, Poetry, Religion, Ireland

4 memorials
Garraways Coffee House

Garraways Coffee House

Garraway claimed to be the first to sell tea to the public, but not, as far as we can tell, at the Change Alley site, where he moved his coffee house after the Great Fire of 1666, replacing another...

Building, Community / Clubs, Food & Drink

2 memorials
World War 2

World War 2

Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do visit the picture source web site - it has a fascinating collection of maps.  And we enjoyed these photos of current WW2 ev...

Event, Armed Forces, Tragedy

376 memorials
Ellen Terry

Ellen Terry

Born in Coventry. From an acting family her stage career started at age 8. When 17 she retired from the stage to marry artist G.F. Watts, 30 years her senior. Her desire for the stage was greater t...

Person, Theatre

4 memorials