Museum & Herb Garret
Tales from Old St Thomas’ Hospital Wards: Sailors & Syphilis
Posted: July 18, 2024
Content Warning The following blog includes a discussion on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that can remain latent in the bloodstream for decades if left…
Find out more
Featured Object: Matron’s Board from St Thomas’ Hospital
Posted: October 31, 2022
When did St Thomas’ Hospital have its first matron? What were the duties of sisters at the hospital? Why did nursing need to be reformed in the 19th century? Want…
Find out more
Featured Object: Leech Jar
Posted: October 31, 2022
What was the 19th-century leech craze? Why did St Thomas’ Hospital use over 50,000 leeches in 1822? Want to learn more? Read the full blog. See our Featured Objects playlist on YouTube…
Find out more
Why Did Nursing Need to be Reformed in the 19th Century?
Posted: September 29, 2022
The first matron recorded at St Thomas’ Hospital was Goodwife Waymond, who took up her role in 1553, when the hospital reopened after the reformation. Her name is the first…
Find out more
Nurses’ Uniforms in the 1800s to 1900s
Posted: February 3, 2022
Through the centuries, the garb of the healer has been of great significance, and it has seen many changes. From shaman robes to the scrubs we recognise today, these uniforms…
Find out more
Leeches: An Early Nineteenth-century Obsession
Posted: December 9, 2021
In 1822 St. Thomas’ Hospital used over 50,000 leeches for medical bloodletting, over 31 times more than just four years previously. It is a remarkable increase in use, and one…
Find out more
Doctor Gerald Macaura’s Blood Circulator
Posted: December 9, 2021
Are you suffering from headaches? Stiff joints? Paralysis? Deafness? These days such an extensive list of ailments would require a complex variety of treatments, ranging from pills to physical therapy…
Find out more
Environment and Single-use Devices in Medicine
Posted: December 9, 2021
Today, medicine is responsible for approximately 4.5% of global greenhouse emissions, which, somewhat ironically, contribute to a lower standard of health and living globally. The key contributor to this figure…
Find out more