Comments on: The Last Of The London

By: Lesley

Lesley — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 19:32:31 +0000

Hello GA. This brings back sad memories. I walked past the facade last year. How sad it looked. Sadly my mum died in the London. It was like I was 11 years old again. Such a shock for us.
So interesting to read though. Many thanks all those hard working people who kept it going. Lx

By: David Phillips

David Phillips — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 20:20:05 +0000

The place I was born too.

By: sprite

sprite — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 22:47:15 +0000

Yes, Mary, the statue of Queen Alexandra is now at the back of the main building, on the site of what once was the Luckes home (where most of us were housed as first year student nurses). It has been cleaned and restored but does not cut as proud a figure as when it occupied the centre of the square in the middle of the old hospital.

I trained there between 79 and 83, and gave birth to my only daughter there in 89, on a ward that used to be the leukemia ward in my student days…. it was really strange to remember all the people who had died and in which bed, at the very time new life had just come out of me. I remember taking her to the balcony overlooking the square, thinking at last I was coming out of a cycle of death towards life…. but little did I know that I had just put my finger in the clockwork of what turned out to be the biggest pandemic… and AIDs became my unchosen career by default.

I could tell many a tale…but find it difficult to organize such memories in a readable and attractive form.

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 17:58:40 +0000

So lovely to see these images. I love the photo of the 2 little girls, the youngest has quite a “modern” face. I wonder if they made it to adulthood?

I have nothing but the fondest memories of The London having spent three very happy years there as a student in the early 1970s. The old EastEnders are wonderful people.

It is very interesting to read the memories of fellow “blog followers”. I particularly like Paul Loften’s story, but I have to agree with Malcolm that Tower Hamlets Council are just biding time in order to sell The London to developers. History seems to mean nothing in London anymore – it is all about money!

Does anyone know what has happened to the statue of Queen Alexandra that was in the garden?

By: Dorothy Flint

Dorothy Flint — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 16:03:58 +0000

So many memories! I trainedin 1940s, and am sad to see the state the hospital has fallen into.My first ward was David Hughes, Children. That Christmas one little boy was allowed to stay because his home circumstances were not good. We worked hard, but it was so rewarding to see a patient made comfortable, and recovering. There were the sad times of course, which you learnt to accept and to do your best for the patient and family. I hope the new hospital will have the same happy memories for all who work there

By: Georgina Briody

Georgina Briody — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 20:47:56 +0000

Richard, I remember a Sidney Crown. I first met him at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, some fifty years ago!!

By: Jill Wilson

Jill Wilson — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 18:46:51 +0000

Beautiful images and a great tribute too the nursing staff.

I remember a television series called Casualty 1907 which was set and filmed in the London Hospital and which really brought home just how dedicated the nurses were in those days. Before penicillin even something as minor as a cut finger could be fatal, and the storyline about the development of X rays was particularly fascinating as nobody knew about the horrific effects of radiation.

It certainly made one appreciate how far medical science has come since that time!

By: John Venes

John Venes — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:27:48 +0000

Great article. Sad to see the present state of the London -where my daughters were born and various family members were treated.
At least it is not being demolished, unlike so much of the area.

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 13:19:59 +0000

My father grew up at 13 Raven Row whic was a narrow alley directly behind the London hospital. He told me that when he was aged around 8 a street peddler came there and sold old Boer War Pith helmets The children gathered round the seller with his barrow and bought them for a penny and they all tried them on, running up and down the street shouting with joy and playing at being soldiers . The result was that a week later they developed Scabies from the helmets and were taken into a ward in the hospital which became full of shaven headed children. But since all the children knew one another there was an up side to being in the hospital. and they were brought jelly and ice cream by the nurses

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:32:39 +0000

Thanks for the update on The London. What a great image is the two girls. I have good memories of the psychiatry department in the seventies as a student. There were some great figures there, Sydney Crowne, Colin Parkes. Prof Pond (who informed me of the vagina dentata. It’s the little things you remember!)