Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1916 Mrs Mary Coutts Michie, the wife of the Scottish artist James Coutts Michie, lent her very large mansion (built in 1894 to house the art collection of her former husband, wealthy mine owner and art collector George McCullough, who had died in 1907) to Mrs Harry Isaacs, Commandant of the Westminster /242 Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.), for use as an auxiliary military hospital.  After Mrs Isaacs had organised the building as a hospital, she named it after Mrs Michie.

The Michie Hospital, at No. 184 Queen's Gate, was officially opened on 13th March 1916 by Queen Alexandra.  Designated as Class A, it was affiliated to Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital in Millbank.

The Hospital had 168 beds for wounded and sick servicemen.  The nursing staff consisted of 11 trained nurses, and 40 full-time and 60 part-time members of the V.A.D.

In 1917 a small oratory (chapel) was added.  It was dedicated by the Bishop of London on 7th March.

By the spring of 1917 further bed accommodation was needed, and Major Leyland lent his house at No. 193 Queen's Gate for the purpose.  This annexe opened on 3rd April 1917 with 108 beds.  In May 1917 another annexe with 45 beds opened at No. 179 Queen's Gate.  The Hospital then had 321 beds, of which 61 were for officers.

In 1918, when further accommodation was required, Mrs Michie took over command of her own house while Mrs Isaacs took over a house lent by Mrs Seligman at No. 194 Queen's Gate (known as the Queen's Gate Hospital).

The Michie Hospital had the reputation of being one of the best V.A.D. hospitals in London, and was always full.  Of the 2,859 patients admitted there, only 5 had died.

The Hospitals closed in June 1919.  

Present status (July 2010)

No. 184 was destroyed by a high explosive bomb during WW2.  It site is now part of Imperial College's Blackett Laboratory building.

No. 193 has become an apartment block.

No. 179 was demolished in 1971 for the expansion of Imperial College.

No. 194 became the Queen Mary's Hostel for Nurses in 1921; in April the following year it became the headquarters and Nurses' Club for the Royal British Nurses' Association.  Today it is also an apartment block.