A priory for the Order of the Star of Bethlehem, built in 1247 on Bishopsgate at Liverpool Street, started admitting mental patients in 1357. This was probably the world's first institution to specialise in mental illness. It developed into a horrible place, known as Bedlam, dedicated to the commitment of the insane. In 1676 it moved to the London Wall site and it was this building that was adorned with the Cibber statues of Raving and Melancholy Madness. In 1815 Bedlam moved to the St George's Fields site (at that time owned by the City of London) in Southwark and, when in 1930 it moved out to a site near Beckenham, the Southwark buildings became the Imperial War Museum.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Bethlehem Hospital 1&2
Commemorated ati
Bethlehem Hospital - first
Site of the first Bethlehem Hospital 1247 - 1676. The Corporation of the City...
Bethlehem Hospital - second
Site of the second Bethlehem Hospital, 1676 -1815. The Corporation of the Cit...
Gift from Lord Rothermere
This plaque was unveiled a second time, during the 75th anniversary celebrati...
Harmsworth - IWM
In 1926 Harold Harmsworth, the first Viscount Rothermere, bought the grounds ...
Other Subjects
Dr John Arnoud Bell
Thame Cyclex have a page for a dentist of this name. Perhaps he was connected with, possibly had his surgery in, the Harley Street building at the time the Townsend plaque was erected.
1 memorial
Hospital for Tropical Diseases
The Hospital for Tropical Diseases was founded on an ex-naval ship in 1821, before moving to the Royal Greenwich Hospital, and thence to the Endsleigh Gardens site in 1920. Several further moves la...
1 memorial
Joseph Merrick / John Merrick
"The Elephant Man". Born Leicester. Began to develop severe abnormalities within a few years. By aged 17 his mother had died, his father and step-mother had rejected him, and failing to find a job,...
1 memorial
Prince of Wales's typhoid recovery
In 1871 the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) suffered an attack of typhoid fever (the illness of which his father had died 10 years earlier) while at his home, Sandringham in Norfolk. To everyon...
1 memorial
New Tunbridge Wells
Pleasure Gardens and Medicinal Well. Also known as Islington Spa.
1 memorial
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