| AdminHistory | The French Hospital was originally designed for 80 inmates, who by the Charter were to be 'the poorest sort of their nattion' and who from the first were mostly elderly, though for a time younger disabled people were occasionally admitted. Until 1783 there were also patients suffering from mental distress, a constant source of worry to the administration and far from comfortably accommodated. In the 1730s two additional wings were built, and by 1760 no less than 230 'pauvres' were being accommodated. The Hospital was never, and was not intended to be, a hospital for treating temporary illness. From 1734 the charity administered by the Corporation was extended to external relief ('out-gifts') for indigent refugee families and for infirm persons awaiting their turn for vacancies as inmates. |
| PublnNote | A comprehensive register of inmates and applicants was drawn from this archive and published as; Charles F. A. Marmoy (compiler), 'The French Protestant Hospital: extracts from the archives of "La Providence" relating to inmates and applicants for admission, 1718-1957 and to recipients of and applicants for the Coqueau Charity, 1745-1901', Huguenot Society Quarto Series, volumes 52 and 53 (London, 1977). |