To mark its 900th anniversary, an exhibition about Barts Hospital has opened that tells the history of the organisation, from its early religious foundation to a charity and now a major NHS hospital.
Unique in being England’s oldest hospital still running on the same location, St Bartholomew’s Hospital first opened its doors to Londoners in 1123, but nearly closed when the dissolution of the monasteries took away most of its income. It was saved by the City of London, which took over the institution in December 1546, and was funded by charitable donations, and was finally absorbed into the NHS in 1948.
To mark the 900th anniversary of its founding, an outdoor display shows off records and documents from its long history, including some of the modern hospital as well.
Images from diaries, maps, ancient account books, images, and medieval records tell the stories of those who worked, lived, and died at the hospital over the last nine centuries.
An account of the drugs used at the hospital in the 1870s-1900 seems to suggest that a stay in hospital could be quite convivial, judging by how much champagne and claret is being ordered. Although the charcoal biscuits may have been less pleasant, while the recipe for Scurvy Grass Drink seems vile.
The hospital also has literary heritage, as it’s where Doctor Watson worked when he first met Sherlock Holmes, who at the time was working in the hospital’s chemical laboratory.
There are quite a lot of little nuggets of facts dotted around the display, and it can comfortably fill 20 minutes of anyone’s time.
The free exhibition is in Guildhall Yard and runs until 6th June, after which it will move to Aldgate Square, from 7th June until 5th July and finally – and most appropriately – the exhibition ends its run at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Square from 6th July to 1st August.
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