SAINT THOMAS' HOSPITAL: BABIES HOSPITAL

• <corpname>St Thomas' Cornwall Babies Hostel, 1924-1927</corpname>
• <corpname>St Thomas' Babies Hostel, 1927-1965</corpname>
• <corpname>Psychiatric Day Hospital for Children and their Families, 1965-?</corpname>

The buildings, no. 35 Black Prince Road, London SE11, were used from the end of the First World War until 1922 as a model Day Nursery. At that date wards were opened for the treatment of children with dietetic disturbances, with a scheme for training Nursery Nurses. The lease of the building was presented to St. Thomas' Hospital in 1924 by Mrs E. Mitchison, in memory of her son, Lieutenant Anthony Mitchison. From 1924 to 1927 it was called St Thomas' Cornwall Babies Hostel, since it stood on land belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall. It was renamed St Thomas' Babies Hostel in 1927, when it became affiliated to the Association of Nursery Training Colleges.

During the war the hostel was evacuated first to Cricklade, Wiltshire, from 1939 to 1942, and then to Grays, near Guildford, Surrey, from 1942 to 1946.

In August 1962 a day hospital for disturbed children under five and their parents was started three days a week at the Babies Hostel. From 1965 the hostel was devoted entirely to this work. It was renamed the Psychiatric Day Hospital for Children and their Families.

The records listed below all date from before April 1965 and are therefore records of the Babies Hostel.