The Royal Hospital of St Katherine was founded in 1147 by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen. It was built near the Tower of London. On 5 July 1273 Queen Eleanor, widow of Henry III, granted a new Charter, and from that time on the work of general nursing gradually ended, and the Hospital maintained the old and infirm, and a school. In 1825 the Hospital Church and Precinct were bought by the directors of the St Katharine’s Dock Company, and the area cleared prior to the excavation of the Dock. The Foundation was moved to Regent’s Park, near Gloucester Gate. For the purposes of this story I have assumed that St Katharine’s remained a large hospital for the sick, and that on the building of the Dock it was simply moved eastwards, to Poplar. I have placed it on the site of the much smaller Poplar Hospital for Accidents, which was, of course, in existence in 1905.
Miss Lewin was the instructor at the Bath Club in 1905, but May’s invitation to Lord Oulton might well have caused problems, since the Ladies’ Display was only open to males who were relatives of members.
Mary Cholmondeley’s Red Pottage was first published in 1899.
Lady Hermione Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood trained at The London Hospital, Whitechapel, 1899-1900. Her photo, with caption, was in ‘The Lady’s Realm’ of June, 1904.
Will Crooks, the working class MP, was born in Poplar in 1852, elected to the London County Council in 1892, became Mayor of Poplar in 1901, and was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Woolwich in 1903.