Royal Eye Hospital Explained

The Royal Eye Hospital was established in 1857 by John Zachariah Laurence and Carsten Holthouse as the South London Ophthalmic Hospital.

The hospital originally consisted of two beds in a house in St George's Circus. An adjoining house was acquired and the enlarged facilities were renamed the Surrey Ophthalmic Hospital in 1860. Three years later it became the Ophthalmic Hospital, with a further name change to the Royal South London Ophthalmic Hospital in 1869. In 1892 following the opening of a new enlarged building, designed by the architects Young and Hall, still in St George's Circus, it finally became known as the Royal Eye Hospital.^[1]

After the NHS

In 1948 the hospital was incorporated into the newly founded National Health Service (NHS). It was originally allocated to the King's College Hospital GroupDuring the reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, the REH was reallocated to the St Thomas' Hospital Group. After the provision of Ophthalmic medicine had taken in-house by St Thomas' Hospital, such services were stopped at the St George's Circus site. The building was used by local area health authorities before being left derelict and then demolished. The site is now occupied by McLaren House, which is one of hall of residences for students at London South Bank University.^[2]

Notable staff

At least two matrons trained at The London Hospital in Whitechapel under Matron Eva Luckes:^[3]

• Margaret Islip (1860–1923), matron from 1892 Islip had worked under Luckes as a sister at Pendlebury Children's Hospital, before she trained under her between 1884 and 1886.^[4]
• Kate Elizabeth Norman (1864–1945), matron, from 1898 to 1926.^[5] Norman trained between 1892 and 1894, and also worked as a sister at Moorfields Eye Hospital before becoming matron at the Royal Eye Hospital.^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Royal Eye Hospital . Discovery . TNA . 12 February 2022 . English.
2. Web site: Lost_Hospitals_of_London . ezitis.myzen.co.uk . 12 February 2022.
3. Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons'? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
4. Margaret Islip, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/2, 25; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
5. 13 March 1926 . Royal Eye Hospital . . 22 . 1089 . 236 . www.rcn.org.
6. Kate Elizabeth Norman, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/4, 37; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London.
7. Matrons Annual Letter to Nurses, No.6, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.6, March 1899, 20; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London.
8. Kate Norman, RG13/368, 131; The General Record Office, The England and Wales Census 1901 for Southwark, London; The National Archives, Kew [Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed on 14 December 2017]
9. Kate Elizabeth Norman, RG14/1781, 391; The General Record Office, The England and Wales Census 1911 for Royal Eye Hospital, St Georges Circus, Southwark, London; The National Archives, Kew [Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed on 14 December 2017]