St. George’s Hospital.—A number of gentlemen of the medical profession, dissenting from the system of management carried on at Westminster Hospital, broke off their connection with it, and engaged Lanesborough House for a new institution, conducted under their own auspices.
Lanesborough House is described by Pennant as the country house of the eccentric nobleman immortalised by Pope:—
“Old politicians chew on wisdom past,
And totter on in business to the last,
As weak, as earnest, and as gravely out,
As sober Lanesbro’ dancing with the gout.”
He caused the following quaint distich to be inscribed on the house front in reference to its situation:—
“It is my delight to be
Both in town and country.”
The allusion of Pope to the dancing propensities of this nobleman is curiously borne out by the fact, that when Prince George of Denmark died he sought an interview with the widowed Queen, and advised her to dispel her grief by following his favourite amusement. Not till disabled entirely by the gout did he give up this relaxation. The “Golden Gallery” around the dome of St. Paul’s was gilded at his expense.
Lanesborough House was of red brick, three storeys high, with one small doorway, approached by three or four steps to the centre; the new authorities added two wings, also of red brick, and on January 1st, 1734, the institution was opened, having been established on October 19th, 1733.
One of those who took a leading part in this foundation was John Allen, apothecary to the household of George I., George II., and George III. successively. He remained a governor till his death, on March 17th, 1774. Another staunch supporter was the celebrated anatomist, Cheselden, the friend of Pope and other literary men. Some of his greatest operations were performed here. He was also surgeon to Chelsea Hospital, and in its graveyard lies buried.
The hospital gradually increased in wealth and usefulness, till in 1784 the governors issued advertisements asking for increased aid to prevent its decay. This arose from the fact that a large legacy left by a Mrs. Crayle caused an idea to be spread abroad that further aid of this kind was hardly wanted. Its legacies had been a main source of income; they now fell off, and the Crayle bequest being reversionary, the income rapidly fell, and at Christmas, 1783, the institution was above £1,900 in debt; but a third of the profits of the Handel Festival held in Westminster Abbey in 1784 enabled the governors to overcome their difficulties.