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The League has always honoured its past while looking to the future. This website provides information about The Royal London Hospital and relevant available publications, material from the annual journal of The Royal London Hospital League of Nurses - The Review, and articles from the Clinical Progress (formerly Nursing Progress) series published by the present nursing staff of the NHS Trust.
Current news about Barts and The London Trust can be found on the Self-guided walks and personal memories of living in the East End and working at The London Hospital. Oral history from 'Old Londoners' Tape recordings of memories of training and working at The London are being made by The President of The Royal London Hospital League of Nurses. Duplicate copies have been lodged with The Royal College of Nursing History Society. Anyone interested in participating in such recordings should write to The President, The Royal London Hospital League of Nurses, c/o Post Room, The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, LONDON E1 1BB A Portrait of Mrs Arabella Donne, Matron, London Hospital 1798-1804 Mrs. Donne was appointed on January 16th 1798 as the first Matron to have charge of the East and West Ends of the hospital, as previously there were two Matrons - one for each end. According to the minutes of the House Committee, she left on June 5th, 1804. The artist's name R. Broad, the date 1830, and the sitter's age 72 at the time the portrait was painted, appear on the painting. The frame carries the taint carving - first Matron of London Hospital. The portrait was donated to the Archives by members of the Kewley family in the Isle of Man, through the assistance of Mrs. Holt, nee Constance Biddulph, a former Regional Nursing Officer in North West England. Mr. Michael Kewley, who is Clerk to the Commissioners of Port Erin, Isle of Man, and his sister inherited the portrait from their father John Louis Kewley who died in 1999. The family believe he inherited the painting from his aunts, three of whom were nurses. Jonathan Evans, Archivist, confirms the records show that two sisters named Kewley trained at the London.
Jonathan Evans also comments that the style of dress portrayed, with the turban and neck ruffs, were fashionable in the period of the Napoleonic Wars, when Mrs. Donne was Matron of the Hospital. The Executive Committee of the League agreed to make a donation towards cleaning the painting - by using the money from programme sales before the Annual General Meeting -together with any other offerings members may care to make. Taken from the Review 69 (July 2000). The following expand on items carried in the Review.
The hat belongs to the Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum. This style was introduced in 1895 and was current until1930. In dark green plaited straw with
The dark green uniform of a private staff nurse, including this hat was modelled by one of the League Executive members. The Leather-covered carrying case has a label on the inside which reads "Please return to London Hospital Whitechapel E Nurse Newman 25 56 10. Research in the Archives shows a Mary Newman joined the Private Staff on completing her training in October 1907. Some of the cases she attended, in their homes around the south east of England in 1909, included a man of 67 with a heart condition, a woman of 34 with tonsillitis, a woman of 36 with haematemesis and a young man of 23 after circumcision. More about what it was like to be on the Private Staff can be found in memoirs about nursing at The London such as Miss Broadley's books. A brief history of developments at The London and The Royal London Hospital is also available on this site. Mary Newman finally left in February 1940 and in her final report Miss Reynolds, the Matron, wrote that she was a "very good nurse and a most loyal worker.... Left after 341/2 years faithful and loyal service." Joseph Merrick's Hat (the 'Elephant Man') The hat was worn from about 1884 by Joseph Carey Merrick who died in 1890. Owing to his physical deformities he was known as the 'Elephant Man'. The surgeon Sir Frederick Treves took an interest in Merrick.
The hat was conserved by Michelle T Harper in May 1995 as part of her post-graduate diploma in Textile conservation. The original hat belongs to The Medical College, a replica made by Michelle is on display in the Archives. Books about Joseph Merrick can be ordered from booksellers. In 2004 A reprint of Sir Frederick Treves 1923 reminiscence 'The Elephant Man' together with photographs and commentaary was published by the Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum. A summary of the main events in the development of The Royal London Hospital, year by year, is available here, together with details of the Archives and Museum which are open to the public. The copyright for the photographs on this page belongs to the Royal London Hospital Archives. Page last updated by DEB on 24/05/06 |
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a wide brim it is decorated with a band of ruched dark green silk-satin fabric. Such hats were used "when nursing royalty". With the hat was an 18cm long hatpin with a clear glass 'diamond' in a metal fitting at one end and two starched cotton ties to hold it in place. The hat was conserved for The 
The hat is a brown/black velvet peaked cap, with a piece of grey/brown twill-weave wool fabric stitched around the lower edge to form a flap to mask the face and lower part of the head. At the front of the flap is a small rectangular window to enable the wearer to see out.