Abstract
This is a book which anyone interested in the history of London or of medicine will find invaluable. At its heart are seven carefully guided walks, each built round a theme that is discussed in an introductory essay. So, for example, we learn why the hospitals of St Luke's parish – where? – vanished; why those around Great Portland Street and Tottenham Court Road amalgamated or moved; and about primary care in Islington from 1780. These walks are accompanied by 125 excellent illustrations, many in colour, that provide a permanent record of buildings few will have noticed and which could easily be lost.
It would, however, be a grave error to think that this is ‘just another book of walks’ for it includes a series of 36 brief articles about subjects as diverse as ambulances, almoners, convalescent homes, finance and nurses' leagues. It also studies what might be called the dynamics of medicine, for the author is constantly asking why services appeared, migrated or vanished in response to developments in the city, the growth and movement of the population, immigration, financial pressure and scientific advances. So we find that many ‘specialist’ hospitals were founded by doctors who, for lack of influence, could not obtain appointments in the ‘general’ teaching hospitals, and that small hospitals managed by doctors ran harmoniously while those run by laymen were often the scene of bitter strife. Perhaps there is a lesson here for the NHS!
My only fear is that readers might be daunted by this welter of unfamiliar information, but this little book cannot be read in the ordinary sense of the word. Rather it is an invaluable guide to the growth and decline of innumerable small or forgotten medical institutions which, hitherto, have been ignored by historians.