The Hahnemann Hospital 39 Bloomsbury Square

The Hahnemann Hospital at 39 Bloomsbury Square was established on 16.10.1850 and closed on 31.8.1852, having seen 9024 patients.

The objects of the Hahnemann Hospital were:

To relieve the poor who suffer from acute diseases by receiving them as in patients.

To give relief to out door patients.

To afford facilities to the Medical Student or Inquirer, for obtaining knowledge of the homeopathic doctrine and practice, at the bed side of the patient, by clinical lecture and by lectures in the Hahnemann School attached to the hospital.

Patients were admitted on the order of the Governor or by payment of £3 15s a month, out patients were nominated by guinea subscribers or on payment of a guinea per anum. Otherwise, William Leaf and his friends financially supported the Hahnemann Hospital at 39 Bloomsbury Square.

Patrons: Christian Karl Josias Bunsen, Brigadier General G Frith, John Talbot 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, Thomas Egerton 2nd Earl of Wilton

President: Robert Grosvenor

Vice Presidents: Thomas Roupell Everest, William Leaf, Charles Powell Leslie, James More Molyneux and David Wilson.

Trustees: William Leaf and Charles Hunt,

Honorary Secretary: William Warne and John Anderson

Treasurer: William Leaf

Auditors: Frederick Sandoz,

Management Board:  William Henry Ashurst, William Thomas Berger, A E Blest, W A Case, John Chapman, Clare, Edward Cronin, J M Douglas, John Epps, G H Fletcher, John Fowler, Gill, Joseph Glover, F L R Suss Hahnemann, Sydney Hanson, Thomas Higgs, JT H Johnstone, Charles Powell Leslie, John Miller, Augustus Henry Moreton, G P Nichols, Charles William Pasley, Paterson, A P Phelps, George Rogers, J Rogers, Frederick Sandoz, W Stephenson, Samuel Sugden, Allan Templeton, Major Tyndale, William Warne, A Wilkinson, S Wilson and many others.

The Staff and Medical Council of the Hahnemann Hospital included: James Chapman, Edward Charles Chepmell, Paul Francois Curie, Robert Ellis Dudgeon, Thomas Engall, George Fearon, G H Fletcher, Robert Hamilton, Joseph Hands, Sydney Hanson, Amos Henriques, Henry Kelsall, Joseph Kidd, Joseph Laurie, Henry Victor Malan, Mathias Roth, Phillip Sandoz, James John Garth Wilkinson, David Wilson, George Wyld,

Subscribers: James Spiers,

In 1835, William Leaf instituted a small hospital at Paul Francois Curie‘s house, but due to the ‘great rush’ of patients, a larger establishment was required. The Hahnemann Hospital was founded in 1850 but it came to an end shortly afterwards because of the ‘discord of the doctors attached to it’.

On 22.1.1852, The Homeopathic Times records a schism in the Hahnemann Hospital, caused by an advertisement placed for Clinical lecturers in the local newspapers, and the appointment of Paul Francois Curie andAmos Henriques.

These appointments led to the resignation of John Chapman, Edward Charles Chepmell, Joseph Hands and David Wilson. The grounds for contention were that the Hahnemann Hospital was founded to eliminate medical cliques, and to promote medical equality. It was felt that by awarding Paul Francois Curie andAmos Henriques the title of Clinical Lecturer and Professor, this rule was breached.

The Association for the Protection of Homeopathic Practitioners and Students had just been founded in 1851, and its members included George Atkin, Francis Black, John Chapman, Paul Francois Curie, John James Drysdale, Robert Ellis Dudgeon, George Fearon, Edward Hamilton, William Hering, C. B. Kerr, Joseph Laurie, John Ozanne, John Rutherford Russell, David Wilson and many others.

John Chapman, Edward Charles Chepmell, Joseph Hands and David Wilson felt strongly enough about the issue of medical cliques and elitism to resign, but the overwhelming feeling of the rest of the staff was in full support of these principles. Apparently, there had been some ill feeling inherited from the earlier establishment under William Leaf, and as Paul Francois Curie andAmos Henriques were not prepared to abandon their titles as Clinical lecturers, a schism occured.

The times were difficult, as the Management Board were most eager to professionalise the Hahnemann Hospital in the eyes of the public, and to attract as many medical students and supporters as possible. This move may well have helped in this regard, but the schism definitely did not.

This painful and difficult issue was finally settled when Paul Francois Curie caught typhus from a patient at this hospital and died in 1853.

The Hahnemann Hospital at 39 Bloomsbury Square closed shortly therafter, leaving the way open for the unification of the British Homeopathic Profession, which came together under the new London Homeopathic Hospital at 32 Golden Square.