The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-03 00:00:00

The Royal Free Hospital.

Yesterday afternoon the annual meeting of the governors
of this hospital was held in the board-room of the institu-
tion, Gray's-inn-road. Mr. R. Brown was called to the
chair, and the advertisement convening the meeting having
been read by the Secretary,

The Rev. J. B. OwEN, chairman of the weekly board, pro-
ceeded to read the 37th annual report, of which the fol-
lowing is an abstract. It announced the gratifying fact
that his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had become a
vice-patron of the institution, and recorded an important
statement connected with the permanent interests of the
charity—namely, that the freehold had been purchased at a
cost £5,265 10s. 7d., the funds for which were procured
mainly through the munificent contributions and personal
exertions of Mr. George Moore. The committee had also to
report the steady progress of the hospital in its number of
subscribers, on whose support every charity chiefly and
most safely depends. The sanitary condition of the hospital
and premises had been greatly improved, and it was hoped
secured, by the completion of a perfect system of drainage
the year before last, at a cost of £1,500. The committee had
observed year by year a marked improvement in the cha-
racter of the nurses in that and kindred institutions as con-
cerned their increased proficiency, higher tone of moral
character, and social status. The committee ascribed that
fact as a practical tribute to the personal example and ex-
perience of an honoured lady whose gallant oversight of
the sick and wounded troops at Scutari was one of the least
alloyed among the many painful memories of the Crimea.
In proof of the yearly extending usefulness of the charity,
the committee reported a large increase in the number
both of in and out patients during the past year, the total
aggregate relieved being no less than 78,000. (Hear, hear.)
No remark on the part of the committee could add weight
to that significant statement, nor to the huge mass of
human suffering and misery alleviated by the medical
relief of which it was the exponent. Among the special
contributions noticed were those of Miss Cross, a tenth
donation .of £3OO ; a second donation of £2OO from the
trustees of the Small Debt Society ; a third donation of
£lOO from Mr. T. W. Erle ; a second from E. W. of £lOO ;
a third of 50 guineas from Messrs. Dent, Allcroft, and
Co. ; a very gratifying grant of £375 by the Lords Com-
missioners of her Majesty's Treasury, being part of a be-
, quest to her Majesty for the benefit of the poor of Loudon
by the late Madame de Lilly ; and the generous contribu-
tion of £5OO by the lion. Rustomjee Jamsetjoe Jejeeb-
boy, allotted and paid through Mr. IL W. Crawford,
M.P. for the City of London. The committee could not
adequately express their sense of the services rendered
to the institution by the long-continued supervision of
its medical superintendent and founder, Dr. William
Marsden. To his intrepid reliance, On the_ principle of a
free medical charity that, hospital and every other which
subsequently followed owed their existence. The commit-
tee congratulated Dr. Marsden on the yearly accumulated
triumphs of his prescient philanthrophy, and they felt that
such great public service demanded commemoration in some

more public shape than the insertion in the comparatively
obscure columns of an annual report. The incidental dis-
closures in the police-courts indicated almost daily the ab-
solute necessity of the hospital in one of the most densely-
populated districts in the metropolis. The number of ac-
cidents alone admitted into the wards during the past year
was no less than 398. One thousand three hundred of the
governors and subscribers had died during the year, and
the committee earnestly trusted that their places would be
supplied by other patrons. They reminded their sub-
scribers that the gates of the hospital were equally open to
native or foreigner, citizen or provincial. There was no
other restriction beyond the means placed at its disposal.
(Cheers.)
The balance-sheet of the treasurer for the past year
showed a total income, including the balance in hand at
the last January meeting, of £9,401 ss. The total expen-
diture had been £9,209 19s. 6d., leaving a balance in hand
of £l9lls. 7d ; out of the expenditure £2,759 7s. sd. was
for debts incurred in the year 1863, and which had now
been paid off.

General WATKINS, in moving that the report and
balance-sheet be adopted, approved, and entered on the
minutes, said that it scarcely needed any words on his part
to induce the governors to agree to that resolution. Every
one of them must be aware of the great benefit afforded
to the public by Dr. Marsden in founding the Royal Free
Hospital. At the same time, he did not stand alone in his
claims upon their esteem and gratitude. Great credit was
due to the medical staff—(hear, hear)—who had relieved
the astounding number of 991,000 sufferers during the
comparatively short period the hospital had been in exis-
tance. Their thanks were also due to the weekly board—
(hear, hear)—the members of which, while showing a con-
constant emulation to outdo each other in the discharge of
their arduous duties, yet worked together in the most effi-
cient and harmonious spirit.
Mr. G. S. PH ENE seconded the motion, which was una-
nimously agreed to.
Dr. O'CoNsoß, in moving a vote of thanks to the com-
mittee, coupled with a request that they would continue
their services for another year, bore testimony, as a medical
officer of the hospital, to the zeal and energy with which
the managing committee discharged their onerous and try-
ing duties. But for their labours the large number of
78,000 new cases could not have been admitted during the
past year.

Dr. ALEXANDER MARSUN seconded the motion; which
was unanimously adopted:

On the motion of Mr. W. WARRE, seconded by Mr.
J. Bowyer, thanks were voted to the aviditors, with a
request that they would continue their services for the
ensuing year. Votes of thanks were also passed to the
treasurer, Mr. Edwin Marsden, to the medical officers,
to the weekly board, and ;to the chaplain; to Mr. Phene
for his assiduous attendance to the wards in order to alle-
viate the sufferings of the patients, and to carry out every
suggestion of the founder, chaplain, or weekly board for
their comfort; and to the secretary Mr. Smith.
Mr. R. STEELE, in moving a vote of thanks to Dr. Mars-
don, the founder of the hospital, said he had had the pleasure
of knowing him for upwards of 30 years, and during that
long period had witnessed his almost unremitting labours
on behalf of that institution. These labours had enabled
him to overcome almost unparalleled difficulties, and from
year to year extend the usefulness of the charity. That
owisvas,
he felt certain, a greater satisfaction to Dr. Marhsdi en
ut
it
mind than any vote of thanks they could offer him,
b
was their duty to recognise gratefully and re
cordially
their sense of his great and valuable services.
.)
General WATKINS seconded the resolution,
carried amidst cheers.
was .8 y (
earshhseiicenhr: e the
seldom that in the life
hospital was established, and it
Dr. MARSDEN, in reply, said thavtast 0
toernt t on to a
interval,n
institution during that lon'g p
.Ith he had been enabled to do so,
of one man he should be enable;l:tdo.
caused by ill he---1 • far recovered that
however, he was now so
Ciriviethhias at
come to give his best services
long time to
he hoped for a
and he was happy
felt that the Royal Free Hospital had
to the institution. He
in what it actually performed,
good, not only
done great d
made other hospitals do in the same
what it had to say
but in
direction. It was the first to break down the barriers
which lay between
i the sufferers and the means of relief,
by throwing open its gates and admitting patients on their
own application. (Hear, hear.) That principle had now
been adopted by some of the oldest and greatest hospitals
in the metropolis, with, he would say, incalculable benefit
to the public at large. (Hear, hear.) He thanked the
meeting cordially for the good feeling they had expressed
towards him, and would continue to use his best efforts to
promote the interests of that noble institution.
The proceedings closed with wrote of thanks to the chair-