Copper engraving, anonymously engraved, but probably by B[enjamin] Cole. Uncoloured. Published as Plate 83 of Maitland's 'History of London, A New Edition, 1775'.
Plate size: 8 1/8 x 12 7/8 inches - 205 x 328mm. plus borders: 10 x 16 inches - 255 x 408mm approx.
Generally good condition throughout.
Founded around 1107, probably as part of the priory of St Mary Overie, Southwark, and subsequently named after St Thomas a Becket (canonised in 1173). Closed in 1540 at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Re-founded under Edward VI in 1551, re-named the Hospital of St Thomas the Apostle and granted to the Lord Mayor and City of London. Rebuilt by Sir Robert Clayton between 1693-1709. Among the regulations drawn up in 1700, patients were expected to attend chapel daily, were fined for dicing, gambling, swearing and or drunkenness. No mixing of the sexes allowed, and no more than one patient was to occupy a bed. In 1859 the site was acquired by compulsory purchase by the Charing Cross Railway Company. The foundation stone of the present St Thomas' Hospital was laid by Queen Victoria in May 1868; the new hospital opened in 1871. Source: The London Encyloedia, Ben Weinreb and Chritopher Hibbert, 1983.
See also: https://www.londonlives.org/static/StThomasHospital.jsp
