CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL HAMPSTEAD

The surviving records of the Children's Hospital Hampstead.

• <corpname>Home for Incurable Children, 1875-1919</corpname>
• <corpname>Northcourt Hospital and Home for Sick Children, 1919-1928</corpname>
• <corpname>Hampstead Hospital for Children, 1928-1929</corpname>
• <corpname>Children's Hospital, Hampstead</corpname>

Details of the transfer of these records to the Archives Centre have not been recorded, but it is thought either that they were preserved with the administrative records of the Hampstead General Hospital or left in the basement of the house in College Crescent and cleared when it was sold.

The Children's Hospital Hampstead (originally known as the Home for Incurable Children) was founded in 1875 in order to address the "difficulty experienced in obtaining admission at any hospital in the Metropolis for children suffering from incurable diseases". Originally situated at 33 Maida Vale, the hospital cared for sick children up to the age of 16, after which they were "returned" to family or friends. The children suffered from a variety of ailments, including spina bifida, epilepsy and rickets, but those with infectious diseases were not admitted.

The Home for Incurable Children moved to larger premises at 2 Maida Vale in 1883, and in 1904 moved to its permanent home "Northcourt" at 40 College Crescent, Hampstead. By 1919, many diseases which would once have rendered their sufferers incurable could be treated, and the hospital changed its name to Northcourt Hospital and Home for Sick Children. There were further changes of name: the hospital became known as the Hampstead Hospital for Children in 1928, and the Children's Hospital Hampstead the following year.

At the outbreak of the second world war the hospital was requisitioned by the war office. Throughout the war years various plans were proposed for its future use, including a merger with Hampstead General Hospital. The hospital eventually joined the Royal Free Group when the NHS came into being in 1948, and the building was used firstly as the School of Nursing Preliminary Training School (PTS), and then as a nurses' home until its sale in 1990.