Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1916 the Holborn Poor Law Union workhouse at Mitcham was requisitioned by the War Office for use as a military hospital.

The Holborn Military Hospital had 954 beds, of which 176 were for patients with scabies, 64 for those with cerebrospinal fever (meningitis) and 30 for limbless men awaiting final discharge.

In July 1917 Princess Helena Victoria opened a recreation hut for the patients, which had been provided by the Y.M.C.A.

In September 1918 the cooks and cleaners, nearly 100 in number, were on strike following a dispute over one of their number being transferred by the Matron from one job to another.  The women, who had recently joined the Union of General Workers, were also dissatisfied with their rates of pay, which were less than in most military hospitals, and had made a request for an increase to their employers, the Holborn Board of Guardians.  The strike posed a problem for the nursing staff since the Hospital's 900 patients still had be fed.  (It is not known how the matter was resolved, but it may be that the military had to send for a contingent of W.A.A.C.s to replace the strikers.)

The Hospital closed in 1919.


Present status (July 2011)

After the war the workhouse buildings remained empty until the 1920s, when they were used for industrial purposes.  By the 1980s they had been demolished and modern industrial units built on their site.