Medical dates:

Medical character:

The Livingstone College Relief Hospital opened in August 1915.  It had 51 beds for wounded or sick servicemen and was affiliated to the Bethnal Green Military Hospital.

The Hospital closed at the end of 1918, having been open for 40 months, and the College returned to its proper work of training missionaries in elementary medicine, surgery and hygiene.

Present status (March 2011)

Livingstone College, named after the medical missionary Dr David Livingstone, had been founded in 1893.  The College opened in temporary premises in Bow.  In 1900 Knotts Green House (also known as Barclays House, after its owner), a large yellow brick 18th century mansion in Leyton, was purchased as its permanent site.

The College closed at the beginning of WW2 and its premises were occupied by the Army.  It re-opened in 1946, but moved to Reigate, Surrey, the following year.

The building remained empty until 1951, when it was bought by Leyton Borough Council.  A municipal apartment block - Livingstone Court - was built in the grounds of the College.

The mansion itself was leased as offices in 1954 for a few years until it was demolished in 1961.  In 1963 a 17-storey apartment block - Livingstone College Towers - was built on its site.

Livingstone College Towers was demolished in 1995 and the site of the College is now occupied by Greg Close.