Timeline

1716

Banker Henry Hoare, writer William Wogan, wine merchant Robert Witham and the Rev. Patrick Cockburn meet in a coffee house to propose the creation of a charity to assist the ‘poor, sick and needy’ in the Westminster area.

1719

The ‘Trustees and Managers of Charity for Relieving the Sick and Needy’ agree to rent a private house in Pimlico for £22 per year, which they name ‘Westminster Infirmary’. This is the first hospital to be founded in England since the Reformation, and the first in the world to be funded entirely by public donations and subscriptions.

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1724

The Infirmary moves to larger premises in Chappell Street (now known as Broadway) and is renamed the Westminster Broadway Infirmary.

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1735

The infirmary moves again, to three houses at the junction of James Street and Petty France. Services include a room near the hospital’s front entrance where people injured in accidents can come and be treated quickly – a precursor to a modern A&E department.

1834

The hospital moves to a large purpose-built site at Broad Sanctuary, opposite Westminster Abbey, accommodating 106 inpatients. The first operation under general anaesthetic is performed at the hospital by Hale Thompson in 1847. 

1939

The hospital moves to a new larger location on Horseferry Road. During the Blitz it is used as a casualty clearing station and major accident unit. The building suffers bomb damage but continues operating throughout the war. 1

1948

The Association of Friends of Westminster Hospital Group is founded, in the same year as the NHS, to ‘provide comforts and amenities for Patients throughout the Hospitals in the Group not available under the National Health Scheme’. The Friends provide shop and tea trolleys, items and equipment for wards, a Patients’ Library, and other services for patients and staff. Many of these are still offered by the current Friends more than 70 years later!

1993

Westminster Hospital closes and reopens as Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, at a new site at 369 Fulham Road. The Friends of Chelsea & Westminster Hospital is founded in the same year, taking over from the old Association of Friends. Today it has more than 150 members, and since 2009 it has awarded more than £1.5m in grants to hospital departments.

2015

West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth, west London becomes part of the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Since 2012, the Friends have funded six‘ Butterfly Rooms’ (specially decorated side rooms for patients receiving end of life care) at West Middlesex, and another seven at Chelsea & Westminster.