The celebrated John Hunter was one of the eminent men who have been connected with St. George’s Hospital. He was appointed surgeon in 1768, and always took an active part in its management. Here on October 16th, 1793, his life was suddenly terminated. He had long disputed a matter of right with his colleagues, and in an altercation he was flatly contradicted, when a trifling address might have turned aside the quarrel. He rushed into an adjoining room and there fell into the arms of Dr. Robertson, one of the physicians, and his life was gone in an instant.
The increasing prosperity and demand on the Hospital proved at last that the old building did not afford the necessary accommodation, and accordingly its destruction was resolved on. This was effected in 1827, and the present building erected from designs by Wilkins. The old front was towards Hyde Park; the new one faces the Green Park, and is rendered imposing by its bold and massive tetrastyle portico, supported by square columns. Besides its numerous wards, here are a chapel, museum, lecture-room, and private apartments. The museum, so valuable to the surgeon, is not adapted for the public, unless to point a moral to the vicious and unwary. The mere curiosities are interesting; among them is the half-sovereign taken from Mr. Brunel’s windpipe, by Sir Benjamin Brodie, presented by its proprietor; the hide of the cow from which Jenner took the first vaccine matter; a packet of needles, which came simultaneously from the frame of a young lady, money and knives from patients’ stomachs, and other similar relics.
One regular fund is yet wanting to render the institution complete. Many a fellow-creature, who is entirely destitute, enters here, and, when recovered, re-enters the world, without a roof to shelter his weakened frame, or the wherewithal to obtain the common necessaries of life. Of late this has been to a certain extent remedied. A porcelain slab has been let into the wall (a corner-stone of faith it has been called) bearing the simple inscription—“In aid of those patients who leave this Hospital homeless and in need.” Ought such an appeal to rest solely on the charity of the busy multitudes passing by? To announce such a fund would, I believe, ensure its success.
In the burial-ground of St. George’s parish at Bayswater, is a headstone inscribed—
“Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. James Clarke,
who died June 9th, 1811, aged 85 years.
During fifty-one of which he discharged the duties of Chaplain
to St. George’s Hospital, with credit to himself, and benefit to
the Institution.”
St. George’s Hospital formed a theme for one of Miss Landon’s poems.
St. George’s Place, till of late years, consisted of old-fashioned houses, about two storeys high. About 1827 the first improvement was made by the opening of Wilton Place, and gradually these old houses have been pulled down to make room for superior ones. Towards the upper end, these houses were detached. In one of them lived a Captain Warner, one of the heroes of Quebec. About 1829, Liston lived at No. 7, and at No. 12 for many years resided Mr. Richards, a well-known London auctioneer, who died here in 1810.
At No. 14 resided for many years the mother of Mr. Justice Burton, to whom belonged the freehold of this strip of land. She died here in 1799. Her son, Mr. Justice Burton, resided for many years in the house at the west corner of the entrance to the Barrack. Bred to the law, he became Recorder of Oxford and a King’s Counsel, and in July, 1778, was appointed one of the judges of Wales and Chester. He represented Woodstock and Oxford in several Parliaments, supporting the ministry of William Pitt, and at last became Father of the Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn. He died in Brook Street, December, 1832, aged 89. The freehold mentioned was originally vested in the Laremar family. The first one of whom anything is known, was one William Laremar, captain of the Loyal Rebecca, a ship trading to Virginia in 1676, a time when the colony was disturbed by the rebellion of Nathaniel Bacon; the use of the vessel was given to the governor, Sir William Berkeley, by whom Laremar was appointed Commodore in St. James River, and was “maynly instrumental in the suppression of that rebellion and mutiny,” for which good service he received compensation from the Admiralty, the secretary of which was then Samuel Pepys. From the Laremars the property passed to the Burtons, from them to the Coles, and it is now enjoyed by Owen Blayney Cole, Esq. Liston also resided at 14 many years; and the next house was once tenanted by the Tathams, one of whom married Adam Adolphus, brother of the celebrated counsellor.
In No. 3 of the present houses lived General Campbell, an old Peninsular veteran. He died in June, 1852. No. 10 is the residence of Mr. Coningham, M.P. for Brighton, and 11, of James Goding, Esq.
The “White Horse Inn” was formerly established on the site of No. 11.; afterwards it was removed to the corner of the entrance of the Foot Barracks, but was pulled down in September, 1856, with three houses, one of which was Liston’s. Nos. 15 to 20 were built in 1849–50.