Miller General Hospital

The Miller General Hospital was a hospital in Greenwich, London from 1884 until 1974. It was developed adjacent to an earlier dispensary, and was the first British hospital designed with circular wards, and one of the first to have an X-ray department. History In 1783, the Kent Dispensary opened in a house in the Broadway, Deptford. It later (1837) earned royal patronage from Queen Victoria and became the Royal Kent Dispensary. In 1851, this was forced to move to a new building (completed in 1855; architects Brandon & Ritchie) nearby in Greenwich High Road. To mark the Dispensary's centenary in 1883, it was decided to build a hospital named after the Revd Canon John Cale Miller (1814-1880), vicar of St Alfege Church, Greenwich and a supporter of the Dispensary. The Miller Memorial Hospital opened in December 1884, with 25 beds. It was the first British hospital to have circular wards - 35 feet (11m) in diameter, so avoiding corners which might harbour stale air and germs (a theory championed by surgeon John Marshall) - designed by Keith Downes Young of the architects Young and Hall. There were two wards, named Beatrice Ward and John Penn Ward (John Penn and Sons was a prominent local employer). In April 1898, a new temporary out-patients wing was opened by philanthropist John Passmore Edwards, treating 50-60 people per day. In 1908, the Hospital was renamed the Miller General Hospital for South East London. Neighbouring land and properties were purchased, and work on a new extension began in 1911, a foundation stone being laid by William Legge, 6th Earl of Dartmouth. The new William Bucknell Wing was officially opened on 15 November 1912 by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, and increased the hospital's bed capacity to 76. The 4-storey building, which cost £23,000, included a purpose-built X-ray department - possibly the first in Britain - located in the basement, expanding on pioneering work started in 1896 by surgeon Thomas More.