A Trip Down Memory Lane: 1905-1945

1905

Five years after the Religious Sisters of Charity arrive from Ireland in Hackney to visit the “poor, sick and dying”, St Joseph’s Hospice opens on 15th January in Cambridge Lodge Villas, Mare Street.

1907

The first Annual Report is produced, showing that 212 patients had been admitted since opening. Tuberculosis, a disease which was rife in the slums of the East End, was the most common reason for admission.

1911

The Sisters praised “Friends of St Joseph’s”, those who supported the Hospice’s work through donations and collections, which included a concert in Holborn Hall, a “Pound Day” which raised £79 and a donation of £10 towards Christmas parties for patients from King George V, who had taken the throne the year before.

A 1913 newspaper feature, captioned ‘A Last Earthly Home’ 

1914

Work on a new Hospice building with more beds is abandoned when the First World War begins. Patients arrive from Europe who had been victims of horrific injuries: both soldiers and civilians.

A ward scene in 1915

1925

Waiting lists continue to grow and demand for beds increases. New wards are built, bringing the total number of beds to 75. In the same year, Alexandra of Denmark, former Queen and Patroness of St Joseph’s Hospice, dies, and her daughter Princess Victoria donates a crucifix in her memory, an heirloom which once hung over the bed of Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.

1932

The Hospice Chapel with its recognisable 100ft tower is opened. Much of Britain was facing economic depression at the beginning of the 1930s, and the Sisters reported a ‘constant strain to make ends meet’.

The newly built chapel features in the background of this 1932 photo. Visible in the foreground are balconies for patients with tuberculosis. 

1939

The Second World War begins. The building is requisitioned as a First Aid station for war casualties by local authorities, and the Sisters, their nursing equipment and patients who were well enough to travel were transferred to a house in Bath, Somerset.

Wartime staff during the requisition of the Hospice building

1944

The Hospice is badly damaged by bombing raids, a year after the horrific tragedy at Bethnal Green tube station. The nurses’ home was completely demolished, whilst roofs, ceilings, windows and doors were damaged or missing. The Sisters would not return to Hackney for a further two years.

The aftermath of a bombing raid on Mare Street, 1940