1836

Lewisham Union

A workhouse, established in 1612 in a donated house, was rebuilt in 1817 (opposite the southern leg of the road Lewisham Park and now called the Waterloo block). The Lewisham Poor Law Union was formed in 1836, and the workhouse was enlarged, including cholera wards. It was run by a board of 20 guardians representing constituent parishes including Lewisham, Eltham and Lee. By 1865 it was more a hospital than a workhouse and in 1929 the Boards of Guardians were dissolved.

For its later life see Lewisham Hospital.

More information at Workhouses (whence comes this 1895 photo) and Lost Hospitals of London.

1884 map showing the area covered by all the different Poor Law Unions, including Lewisham.

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

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Lewisham Union

Commemorated ati

Lewisham Union

This plaque was originally erected on the newly-built separate Infirmary to t...

See other memorials in this area

Other Subjects

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its third session on 10 December 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted it and our image shows her holding the Spanish...

Concept, Social Welfare

1 memorial

Shelter

A charity that campaigns to end homelessness and bad housing in England and Scotland. Founded by Bruce Kenrick, it evolved out of the work on behalf of homeless people being carried on at St Marti...

Group, Social Welfare

1 memorial

Father Basil Jellicoe

Anglican vicar. Born Sussex, his father being a cousin of Lord Jellicoe. Worked in the slums of Somers Town, north London in the 1920s. He set up the St Pancras House Improvement Society and persu...

Person, Religion, Social Welfare

3 memorials

South Hackney Parochial Charities

South Hackney Parochial Charity was constituted under a trust deed dated 6th November 1900 as varied by the Charity Commission Scheme dated 27th September 1968. The charity’s main objective is the ...

Group, Benefactor, Education, Social Welfare

1 memorial

Foundling Hospital

England's first home for abandoned children. Established in 1739 by Captain Thomas Coram. From the Museum's Friends Update: "On the afternoon of Wednesday 25 March {1741}, the coat of arms designe...

Building, Children, Social Welfare

6 memorials