Bethlem Hospital is a royal foundation for the reception of lunatics,
incorporated by Henry VIII., and erected in Moorfields in 1553. That
building was pulled down in 1814, and the new hospital erected in St.
George’s Fields in 1815.
The old hospital was built on the plan of the royal palace of the
Tuilleries at Paris; and this fac-simile of his Palace, adopted for
such a purpose, gave so much offence to Louis XIV., that he ordered a
plan of St. James’s Palace to be taken, for offices in his own capital
of a very inferior description.
The present hospital is a noble and extensive building of brick. The
foundation stone was laid in 1812, on the 20th of April, upon the site
of the once celebrated Dog and Duck tavern and tea-gardens, which had
been subsequently occupied by the School for the Indigent Blind. The
plan was designed by Mr. Lewis, and the building cost about £100,000.
The front is truly magnificent; consisting of a centre and two wings,
forming a range of building five hundred and eighty feet in length.
The centre is surmounted by a dome, and adorned by an Ionic portico of
six columns, supporting the arms of the United Kingdom. The interior
is judiciously arranged, and is capable of accommodating two hundred
patients of both sexes, independent of two criminal wings which are
capable of containing about sixty patients, supported by Government.
The asylum is supported by the Bridewell estates, consisting of
property in London and Cornwall, as well as by voluntary contributions.
The following is a list of benefactions placed up in the hospital
towards the erection of the building.
£. _s._ _d._
Grants by Parliament 72,819 1 6
The Corporation of London 3,000 0 0
Bank of England 500 0 0
East-India Company 210 0 0
Trinity House Corporation 210 0 0
Worshipful Company of Mercers 210 0 0
---- ---- of Grocers 210 0 0
---- ---- of Drapers 210 0 0
---- ---- of Fishmongers 210 0 0
---- ---- of Goldsmiths 210 0 0
---- ---- of Salters 105 0 0
---- ---- of Apothecaries 100 0 0
---- ---- of Vintners 105 0 0
---- ---- of Cutlers 25 0 0
Sir Rd. Carr Glynn, Bart., President 105 0 0
Right Hon. Earl of Radnor 105 0 0
John Milward, Esq. 105 0 0
Right Hon. Lord Eardley 105 0 0
East-India Dock Company 100 0 0
Richard Clarke, Esq., Treasurer 100 0 0
William Willis, Esq. (a Trustee) 100 0 0
Samuel Long, Esq. 100 0 0
David Pike Watts, Esq. 100 0 0
Sir John Lubbock, Bart. (a Trustee) 100 0 0
Mrs. Rosamond Kinnersly 100 0 0
Thomas Allan, Esq. 100 0 0
Henry Thornton, Esq. 100 0 0
William Clarke, Esq. 100 0 0
Lord Arden 100 0 0
Earl Camden 100 0 0
Thomas Calverly, Esq. 100 0 0
Lord Bishop of Durham 100 0 0
George Musgrave, Esq. 100 0 0
E. N. 100 0 0
John Baker, Esq. 100 0 0
William Lewis Newman, Esq. 100 0 0
E. E. 100 0 0
William Pembroke, Esq. 100 0 0
Richard H. A. Bennet, Esq. 100 0 0
Miss Elizabeth S. Lawrence 100 0 0
Sir Robert John Buxton, Bart. 100 0 0