hospitals for diseases of the eye in 1880-1903 London

[heathgirl]

I hope to see if there are any patient admission records, and welcome suggestions for hospital records to search. Person of interest had several operations on the eye(s) in this time period (operations mentioned in a livery document pertaining to his situation). He was not able to afford a fee. He lived in Wapping then Islington.

[Ruskie]

My first thought was Moorfields. Does the document you have mention this as the hospital he attended?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorfields_Eye_Hospital_NHS_Foundation_Trust - they appears to have been in operation in the time frame you are looking at.

It could be worth contacting them to see if they have an archivist or historical records and where they are deposited.

[Plummiegirl]

Or the Royal Eye Hospital which was in SE1 at St. Georges Circus (now long gone, even though a listed building!)

[heathgirl]

I wish I did but I don't know the hospital. I did look up Moorfields at National Archives, and as far as I could tell existing records are later. If someone has time to look as well perhaps they would come up with something different. I also think the other suggestion is just as good, closer location wise. I would like to know what it was obviously.

[Ruskie]

It looks like records for both Moorfields and the Royal Eye Hospital are held by the LMA:
(scroll down to the heading 'Special Hospitals')
http://www.rootschat.com/links/016ig/ 

I can't see date ranges for holdings so you might like to contact them to check.

Presumably this is what you found on the NA site:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/016ij/
It seems a bit vague and there is no mention of records of admissions. General records cover 1806-1993. You don't mention any timeframes of your person of interest.

I think contacting the LMA might be your best bet.

[jorose]

Lists on A2A of some of the records held for the Royal Eye Hospital

Royal Eye Hospital:
http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=074-h15&cid=2-9#2-9

In-patient's admission register; gives number, date, name, age, occupation, residence, disease, operation and remarks; most of volume unused  H15/RE/B/01/001  Oct 1863 - Nov 1866; Sep 1870 - Mar 1889

and

Patients' Records: In-patient case books  H15/RE/B/04-07  1893 - 1958

Records for Moorfields might be indexed in some places under "Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital".  Unfortunately when I checked on LMA's catalogue (http://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA?LOGONFORM ) I found this:

Records of the Royal London Opthalmic Hospital (later renamed Moorfields Eye Hospital), including papers relating to the centenary appeal; minutes of committees including the Appeals Committee, Building Committee, Management Committee, Drug Committee, Election Committee, Finance Committee, Governors Annual Meeting, House Committee, Medical Board, Organisation Committee, Special Appeal Committee and Select Committee on Changes Proposed in Medical Department; papers of the London Dispensary for the relief of the poor afflicted with diseases of the Eye and Ear; annual reports; annual reports of the London Infirmary for the Curing of Diseases of the Eye, financial records, leaflets, addresses and histories.

The only surviving patient records are surgeon's case books from 1879.

But definitely contact the LMA, in particular they might know if any related records exist for those who needed financial assistance - e.g. perhaps he had to be referred to the specialist hospital from somewhere else, and records of that hospital/institution survive.  When in doubt, follow the money!

[heathgirl]

Thank you for such detailed information. I have some leads now!

[queenwillow]

There is also Western Eye Hospital, Marylebone Road, NW1 which has been there since 1856

[heathgirl]

Have now printed off the list of records held at LMA. But I can't find anything on line to tell me where patient records might be for Western.