Download this summary catalogue (PDF) ›FRIENDS OF KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL

Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB0100 KCLCA KH/FR

Title

FRIENDS OF KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL

Date(s)

Created 1955-1988

Level of description

Sub-fonds of King's College Hospital

Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk, or size)

4 files

Context

Name of creator(s)

King's College Hospital Friends

Administrative / Biographical history

The earliest reference of what was later called the Friends of King's College Hospital, was in the annual report of 1903, which mentioned the "Needlework Guild" contributing 604 garments and £42 cash for "comforts of the ward" that year. The members of the Guild were local ladies. In 1910 the Guild made and donated a large amount of linen to the Hospital, including blankets, sheets, pillowcases and towels. In 1917 Dowager Viscountess Lady Esther Hambleden formed from the Needlework Guild, a 'Ladies Association', whose main object was to collect money for the Hospital and for the patients' comforts. The Association raised money for the Hospital, made 400 blackout curtains in World War Two, started and staffed a canteen, gave money for improvements to the Nurses' Home, opened a flower shop and was responsible for flower arrangements in the Hospital. Viscountess Lady Hambleden served as Chairman of the Friends from 1917 to 1944, followed by Dowager Lady Stanley 1944-1947, and the Hon Katherine Acland 1947-1966. From 1966 the Chairman held a three year term of office. In 1961 the Ladies Association and the Ladies Association of Belgrave Hospital for Children became the Friends of King's College Hospital, its basic principles remaining the same: to provide amenities and comforts for the benefit of patients and staff of King's College Hospital. All its members are volunteers. The Friends established the Kingfishers, a junior branch specially concerned with raising money for child patients, with its own Committee.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

King's College Hospital.

Content & structure

Scope and content

Minutes of monthly meetings, meeting papers, correspondence and annual reports of the Ladies Association and the Friends of King's College Hospital, 1955-1966; minutes of monthly meetings and annual reports the Friends of King's College Hospital (incorporating the Kingfishers), 1976-1988.

System of arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Conditions of access & use

Conditions governing access

Administrative and committee papers are closed for 30 years from the last date on file.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive Services, King's College London.

Language/scripts of material

English

Finding aids

Handlist available in the reading room of the College Archives.

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Description control

Rules or conventions

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.

Date(s) of descriptions

Mar 2000