Collection of the British Lying-In Hospital

The British Lying-In Hospital was founded in November 1749 by a group of governors of the Middlesex Hospital who were dissatisfied with the resources allocated by that hospital to lying-in women. In 1756 the name of the hospital was changed from 'The Lying-In Hospital for Married Women' to 'The British Lying-In Hospital for Married Women'. This was in order to avoid confusion with the City of London Lying-In Hospital founded in 1750 and the General Lying-In Hospital, later Queen Charlotte's Hospital, founded in 1751. In 1828 the hospital decided to start sending midwives to deliver out-patients in their own homes. In 1849 it moved to a new building in Endell Street, Holborn, England. By the beginning of the twentieth century the hospital was facing serious problems. Its buildings were unsatisfactory and old fashioned. It was in financial difficulties. The population of the area was decreasing and the teaching hospitals in the neighbourhood had opened maternity wards. Rather than rebuilding in the same area, King Edward's Hospital Fund advised amalgamation with another maternity hospital, preferably the Home for Mothers and Babies in Woolwich, England. Agreement between the two institutions was soon reached, though legal difficulties delayed the signing of the Charity Commission Scheme approving the amalgamation until 29 January 1915. The British Lying-In Hospital closed on 31 May 1913. [Source: www.aim25.ac.uk] Contents: Case note book, 1775-1778

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