LOST HOSPITALS OF LONDON

Princess Club Hospital
100-108 Jamaica Road, Bermondsey, SE16 4SG
Medical dates:

Medical character:
1914 - 1919

Convalescent (military)

In September 1914 the Princess Marie Louise Settlement, known as the Princess Club, opened an auxiliary hospital in its Club buildings at Nos. 106 and 108 Jamaica Road.  The Hospital had 36 beds for officers and was staffed by 8 nurses and 1 doctor.    It was affiliated to Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital at Millbank.

The King and Queen visited in June 1915, speaking with each patient.  They also visited the Hospital's roof garden.

In September 1915 the Hospital had 51 beds in three wards:  one with 22 beds, a newly added one with 23 beds and a convalescent ward with 6 beds.  No. 110 Jamaica Road had been added and contained a Massage Room and the 6-bedded ward on the first floor.  The ground floor was used as a Smoking Room and the second floor for stores.  Staff bedrooms and more storerooms were on the attic floor.  The basement contained a kitchen and its storerooms.  There was a mortuary in the garden at the back.

In May 1916 another ward was added and, by August 1916, No. 100 Jamaica Road had been acquired.  The Hospital then had 85 beds and 25 members of staff.  The operating theatre was located in No. 108.

In October the Hospital, which occupied Nos. 100 to 110 Jamaica Road, had been made into one continuous building.  The wards were at the rear, while the front part was occupied by nurses' quarters and stores. 

The Hospital closed in January 1919.


Present status (December 2009)

For a time after the war there was discussion about converting the Club premises into a children's hospital, but this never happened.

In 1919 the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society leased Nos. 100-104 in order to convert the buildings into shops.

By 1927 the Club had two clubs and a hostel for girls, offering sporting, leisure and craft activities.  By 1934 it had a membership of one thousand.

Around 1937 the Princess Club moved to new premises in South Park Road and, in February 1939,  the dilapidated building became a new settlement, Bede House.  In 1970 Bede House moved to new premises in Southwark Park Road.

Jamaica Road has been completely redeveloped and nothing remains of the old buildings.

  Jamaica Road  Jamaica Road
The site of the Hospital is now occupied by Bromfield Court, an apartment block under renovation in 2009.
References
(Author unstated) 1915 The King and wounded soldiers.  The Times, 14th June, 3.

(Author unstated) 1915  The care of the wounded.  British Journal of Nursing, 19th June, 524.

(Author unstated) 1917 List of the various hospitals treating military cases in the United Kingdom.  London, H.M.S.O.
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