Medical dates:

Medical character:

The Fifth London General Hospital opened in March 1915 as a Territorial Force military hospital incorporated within St Thomas' Hospital.

Initially, the military hospital was given 200 of the 484 beds in St Thomas' Hospital but, as the war progressed, wooden huts were built between the ward pavilions by the War Office.  The hutted wards could accommodate 302 patients.

By 1917 the Hospital had 60 beds for officers and 470 for enlisted men; most were surgical cases.

Recovering patients were encouraged to take up needlework and basket-making as a recreation and as a means of earning a little money.  In May 1917 the Hospital held an exhibition of work, featuring embroidered regimental badges, needlework pictures and other items.  The Hospital also published its own magazine.

More huts were added and, by the end of the war there were 94 beds for officers and 568 for men.  During its operational lifetime, some 11,396 in-patients had received treatment at the Hospital.

It was decommissioned on 31st March 1919.


Present status (April 2009)

The wooden hutted wards were removed after the Hospital closed.  St Thomas' Hospital continues in operation.