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A campaign by Florence Nightingale and Edwin Chadwick led to the establishment of this board. It dealt with London's sick poor (but excluding those in Penge, for some reason), those with infectious diseases and those termed 'imbeciles'. Previously these cases were looked after in the workhouse infirmaries.  In 1930 its functions were taken over by the LCC by which time it had set up about 40 institutions. The full story is told here.

Our picture shows the magnificent 1900 Board's Head Office designed by E. T. Hall. It was on Victoria Embankment at the corner with Carmelite Street but had been demolished by the 1990s when post-modern offices were put up for the Daily Mail. Recently (2014) a block of quite stunning flatness has been erected.