Alfun, who built the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, was the first hospitaller; he used daily to beg for the relief of the poor in Smithfield.
The Hospital remained attached to the Priory until its dissolution. Four centuries after the foundation of the Hospital, the Mayors, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of London prayed the King to commit the government of the Hospital to their hands; the Hospital was transferred to them, 1547, and the King endowed it with 500 marks, upon condition that the citizens of London should contribute an equal sum.
The endowment was enlarged by Edward VI.; the charges of the Hospital for one year in his reign amounted to £855. The number of persons relieved by the Hospital at that time is not known, but it appears that 900 persons were assisted by it in the five following years after the renewal of the foundation. About 1660 the Hospital relieved annually 300 diseased persons, at an expense of £2,000. In 1729, the expense was; £10,245, and the patients 5,028. At present, not much less than 100,000 cases annually receive the best professional care and attendance; it is open day and night to receive accidents or other special cases. The number who can be accommodated within its walls at one time is nearly 500.
The government of the Hospital is vested in a President, Treasurer, &c.; the Treasurer has a house within the Hospital. Connected with the Hospital are three Physicians, and an Assistant Physician, and as many Masters and Assistant Surgeons, an Apothecary, besides dressers and subordinate officers. There is also an Hospitaller or Vicar of St. Bartholomew the Less.
The Hospital escaped the fire of 1666, but having become ruinous by age, in 1729 the greater part was pulled down.
The rebuilding was commenced in the following year, but not completed till 1770. It is on the south side of Smithfield; the principal entrance being under an arch, erected 1702, over which is a statue of Henry VIII., with two figures representing Lameness and Disease. The main building or quadrangle is three stories high; on the first floor of the north wing is the grand hall, 90 feet by 35 feet and 30 feet high—it is used for court meetings, &c. The grand staircase was painted gratuitously by Hogarth; the subjects being the Good Samaritan, the Pool of Bethesda, Rahere laying the foundation, and a sick man carried on a litter attended by monks. At the back of the west wing are the Lecture Room, Medical Theatre, Anatomical Museum, Dissecting Rooms, &c. The Library is considered superior to that of any other Hospital as a Medical Library, and contains some thousands of books.
