Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1836 the parish of St George-in-the-East became a Poor Law parish, administered by 18 elected Guardians, who took over the workhouse between Prusom Street and Princes Street (later renamed Raine Street) which had been built about  ten years earlier.

In 1844 the workhouse was extended and, in 1871, an infirmary was added.

In 1893 a Nurse Training School was established at the Infirmary.  

By 1913 the term 'workhouse' was discontinued (a cosmetic change) and most workhouses became designated 'institutions', but the Raine Street workhouse (also known as the Old Gravel Lane Workhouse) remained known locally as 'The House'.

During WW1 patients were transferred to the St-George-in-the-East Infirmary from the Bethnal Green Hospital, when the military authorities took over the latter for the use of wounded servicemen.

In 1925 the parish of St George-in-the-East joined the Stepney Poor Law Union.

In 1930 the LCC took over control of the workhouse building and converted it into the St-George-in-the-East Hospital, with 406 beds.

In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS under the Stepney Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.

It closed in September 1956, when it had 280 beds, and was used temporarily as a shelter for Hungarian refugees following the Hungarian uprising.


Present status (March 2008)

The Hospital building was demolished in 1963 and the site redeveloped for much-needed housing in the area.  St Peter's Church which was opposite the Hospital is still there.