Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children


The Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children was based in Haggerston in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London. In 1996 the hospital became part of The Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, later renamed Barts and The London NHS Trust. In 1998 the services previously carried out by the hospital were transferred to the Royal London Hospital.

History

The hospital was formed in 1942 by the amalgamation of two institutions founded in the mid-Victorian era.
One of its origins lies in the Dispensary for Women and Children, founded in Bethnal Green in the East End of London by two Quaker sisters, Ellen and Mary Philips, in 1867. The following year it moved to premises in Hackney, re-focused on pediatrics, and was re-named the North Eastern Hospital for Children, opened by Princess Louise. The hospital continued to expand and a substantial new building was opened by Princess Beatrice in 1902. This organisation became the Queen's Hospital for Children in 1907.
The other main origin of the 1942 hospital was the East London Hospital for Children, founded by the newly married couple Sarah Maud Heckford and Dr. Nathaniel Heckford in 1868. They had met while assisting patients during the cholera epidemic in 1866. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first English female doctor, was a visiting physician there In 1932 it was re-named the Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital for Children.
A new site, known as the Banstead Wood Country Hospital, opened in 1936. The Queen's Hospital for Children amalgamated with the Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital for Children to form the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in 1942.
The Shadwell site closed in 1963, the Bethnal Green site closed in 1996 and the Banstead site closed in 1998. Rydon Homes and Family Mosaic Housing Association started to redevelop the Bethnal Green site in 2014. A time capsule was discovered there in December 2014, containing newspapers, a catalogue of donors, a hymn sheet and a ribbon from the opening ceremony performed by Princess Beatrice in 1902. by August 2016, the redevelopment was complete, and 24 homes stood on the site of what had been the QE Hospital for Children.