German Hospital
The German Hospital opened in October 1845 ‘for the reception of all poor Germans and others speaking the German language’. In the mid-nineteenth century the German immigrant population numbered about 30,000, the largest immigrant community in England. Many lived and worked in very poor conditions in the East End of London, and their lack of funds and the language barrier made obtaining medical treatment very difficult. The idea for a German hospital was devised by a German pastor and a doctor, and their work was taken up by the Prussian ambassador, the Chevalier Bunsen, who enlisted the support of the royal households of both England and Germany.
One of the most unique features of the German Hospital was the nursing provision. This came from the Protestant Deaconesses of the Kaiserwerth Institute near Wessendorf in Germany. They were considered to be among the best nurses available at that time, and indeed Florence Nightingale visited the Institute twice in order to learn more about their methods. The Deaconesses were almost certainly better at their work than most of their English counterparts, who had a reputation for drunkenness and a lack of care for their work. In 1851 one physician from a large London hospital declared that ‘the nurses are all drunkards, Sisters and all’, and said there were only two nurses whom the doctors could trust to administer medicine to the patients.
The two world wars caused the hospital a number of problems because of its German connections. During the First World War, the hospital stayed open and the Deaconesses were allowed to stay in post. However, many of the resident doctors had returned home to serve in the German forces and admissions had to be restricted. There was much tension in the local area, where attacks on German shopkeepers were common. The German hospital was supported by donations or subscriptions, many from Germany or the German community in England. As many of the German citizens in this country were either interned or repatriated, the hospital lost its major source of income and it took it until several years after the war before it was fully recovered.
The Second World War caused even more problems (see also St Leonard's Hospital), as in 1940 the Deaconesses were arrested and taken to Isle of Man for internment. The same thing happened to the Sisters based at the hospital’s convalescent home at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. As a German institution the hospital was the subject of many rumours and allegations, including storing munitions, spying and signalling to enemy planes. The nearby German church was accused of housing a radio transmission set larger than that of the BBC.
The hospital was also a victim of action, albeit unintentional, on the part of the German forces. Two bombs were dropped on the Hospital’s grounds, but luckily the damage they caused was limited as they did not explode.
The German Hospital eventually came under the control of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. This effectively brought to an end the era of the Hospital being staffed by and for Germans, and it was now German in name only. The advent of the NHS meant the end of the voluntary hospital system that up until then had been responsible for the provision of so many of the institutions in the City & Hackney area. The German had become part of the City and Hackney Health District in 1974 and for its last thirteen years it cared for psychiatric and psychogeriatric patients. During this time it continued to develop its work, such as its provision of emergency night-shelter facilities for psychogeriatric patients from the community. However, it closed in 1987, as the services it offered were transferred to the new Homerton Hospital.
To read the text in the images below, click on the relevant PDF document
Download PDF of image 5 - Florence Nightingale’s signature from the visitor’s book in 1853.
Images from the German Hospital
Postcard showing the exterior of the German Hospital in around 1936.
