The London Hospital

[auspirograph]

So this begs the question as to what "50, Currie Wards" actually means. Was Davis Ward a ward under the administration of Currie Ward (thus taking the designation '50 Currie Wards"?) and was it just the postal address rather than the ward actually occupied by Stephenson (i.e. Davis a private ward) or what? Perhaps this needs further research. I think too many assumptions are being made here.

In assessing the question to the nature of Currie ward of the London Hospital in Whitechapel that the 16 October 1888 letter by D’Onston to the City Police was referring to, it is important to take into account that his 1889 admission only records his staying at Davis ward. This indicates that they were two separate wards during the Whitechapel murders.

According to the 1889 annual report of the London Hospital [LH/A/15], the Davis ward was on the second floor. It comprised of 4 small wards for men and two for women these wards being known by numbers.

’50, Currie Wards’, the return address of D’Onston letter to police, was situated on the second floor of the Grocer’s Company wing of the Hospital suggesting 50 wards but the Currie ward at the time did not have such arrangements as the smaller Davis wards. I think that it would indicate a bed number in a traditional hall-type hospital ward as shown in contemporary photographs and as Currie ward is known to be a large arrangement.

The crossing out of D’Onston’s ward placement during 1888 from Currie to Davis wards in red was Victorian hospital best practice for the transfer of patients from general to recuperative wards. This is consistent with D’Onston’s recorded diagnosis of Neurasthenia requiring eventual rest in a smaller ward arrangement. It is also consistent with the mistakes that are made by researchers taking D’Onston’s word on his hospital administrative statements found in his police file. That is, his claim of Davis as a ‘private’ ward, which did exist, but was not private in a modern sense. London Hospital wards during the Victorian period were not private arrangements but a free public hospital in a slum area of the East End with private paying patients not introduced until the 1930’s.

Here is a small diagram of the layout of the hospital as a guideline. It is not the best but simply to give an idea of its wards in Victorian times.

[Jon Guy]

Joseph Merrick

Hello Auspirograph

Having looked at the layout of the Hospital I hope you don`t mind my adding to your post that Joseph Merrick`s room was on the ground floor of the East Wing overlooking Bedstewad Square.

Interestingly, St Phillips Church, seen at the back of the Hospital in your diagram, was the church that Merrick famously made a model of from cards, he could just see it from his room.

[Gideon Fell]

auspirograph, many thanks for that detailed reply that defines the wards and their nature. So we know that Currie and Davis Wards were on the same floor, but were they in the same wing? As small private (i.e. not main public wards but smaller ones offering more privacy) wards they may still have come under the jurisdiction of a main, or general, ward. Thus they might have taken the postal address of the main ward where all the mail for patients was received. It's all very complex and involves some speculation but do we really have evidence here of a major hoax or fabrication by anyone?

[auspirograph]

Gideon Fell,

As I recall, Currie ward was on the East Wing so seperate to Davis. I cannot give a source for that right now but I think that is right. I appreciate your interest and yes, I would agree it is far from speculating that fabrication has been commited. Mistakes and misreading in this case perhaps but at this stage only the Maybrick 'diary' has any remote evidence for being a hoax. Apologies to all Maybrick supporters.

Jon Guy,

Thanks for that, an interesting discussion on this is what was intended and the imput of such as yours knowing London as you do, I'm an Aussie, is most helpful to filling out dry spaces. After all, the London Hospital was central to the Whitechapel murders with such elements as Foster's diagrams of the murder of Catherine Eddowes and the Openshaw letter. I think that D'Onston has much to offer for a better understanding of this neglected Whitechapel institution but it is common knowledge, he was not Jack the Ripper.

I didn't know that about Merrick's creating his model on the St Phillips Church, fascinating.

[auspirograph]

For anyone who may still be interested, just a few clarifying points. I've been looking at this a bit closer and it is really more complicated than can be imagined, harder still at this remove in time with again missing records although there is enough surviving to make an educated guess I suppose.

The London Hospital during Victorian times was made up of wings, divisions of wings, subdivisions and ward blocks consisting of seperate wards. Trying to locate one patient during the Whitechapel murders is really harder than it seems at first glance because although D'Onston's true registers are correct in their ward placements, the hospital's design and ward arrangement was fragmentary. It is made complex in the designation of wards to blocks and wards with similiar names. It's amazing any letter could find a patient residing there let alone 120 years later but it was workable for the staff at the time but confused outsiders.

To clear up an inconsistency above (sorry about that folks), Currie ward or wards is known to be on Grocers Wing and is likely was both a Ward block and a seperate ward in that block with the same name. There are other examples. '50, Currie Wards' does not appear to be a bed number as it is known Currie was not numbered as other wards were so it is possibly a postal address for that block. That would explain why D'onston's City Police letter is written differently to his hospital register entry and crossed out after he was transferred. Grocers Wing was the newest block on the hospital site due to previous overcrowding and had a capacity of 800 beds, the London was a large Whitechapel institution serving mainly poor relief medical care for the East End.

Davis ward, where D'Onston was, appears to have been actually a ward in the Davis Wards block according to nurses who worked there at the time. Although there is no direct source, Davis Wards is likely placed on the East Wing because the care of children and surgical cases were seperated from other medical patients on the hospital's site.

It's all complicated by previous research and published misrepresentations in support of a suspect who happened to be residing in London Hospital during the murders. Considering that, it is easy to see how D'Onston's documentation could be misread but not how it could be further and definately stated as being 'official records' that support someone else's mistake.

I hope that's all clear, well it is complicated...

[Stewart P Evans]

Most Interesting

Most enlightening Spiro, for those who may be interested here's a shot from above and to the rear of the London Hospital.

[Stewart P Evans]

Above Shot

Apropos of the above shot - Buck's Row and the Board School are at the top right of the image.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stewart,

Fantastic photograph.

Any idea of the date?

Regards,

Simon

[Stewart P Evans]

Date?

Hi Stewart,

Fantastic photograph.

Any idea of the date?

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon, no I have no idea of the exact date, but it's obviously early 20th century, perhaps our resident East End experts have some idea.

[John Bennett]

Hi Stewart, good to see you back.

Dating this photo is a tough one as I personally cannot see anything in it which helps pinpoint a decade at least. Others may, however.

Is this picture a 'stand alone' job or was there more to it? That could help if we had a wider view.

JB

[Stewart P Evans]

Periphery

Hi John, nice to 'see' you too. Yes there is more around the periphery of this photo but the main part of it is shown. Perhaps Rob or Colin may have some thoughts on it.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stewart,

One clue to dating your photograph must be the altitude from which it was taken.

To my eye it's too high to have been taken from the top of a church, so I'm thinking possibly a balloon or an aeroplane [aeronautical buffs please step forward].

It would be appreciated if you could post the picture again showing all the peripheral detail. It's the best photo I've yet seen for understanding the layout of White's Row, Great Eastern Square and Buck's Row [and all the side streets] in relation to the Whitechapel Road.

Regards,

Simon

[Robert]

This link mentions aerial views.

http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=3934&inst_id=23

I've no idea what Swedish drill in the massage dept means!

[Rob Clack]

Hi John, Stewart, Simon,

My best guess is 1920s.

Simon I've seen aerial photographs that were taken from around 1901. Aerial photography by aeroplane took off just after the first world war when aerofilms was formed.

Rob

[Chris Scott]

Hi guys
I think the key to getting a rough date might be the buildings that lie behind the hospital, specifically the area between Oxford Street and Newark Street.
If you look at the section of the photo below, the dark building in the top left corner is St Philip's Church. ON the 1894 ordnance survey map the section to the immediate east of the church is open ground but in the photo a sizeable five storey building has been erected around two angles of the corner.
Similarly, further east, past the small park, the terraced houses of 1894 have been replaced by a large institution. The style of architecture suggests that this an extension of the hospital. The photo is obviously later than 1894 and if one could find out when these two buildings were erected it would give a clearer idea
Chris