The hospital was founded by Dr
John Bunnell Davis in 1816 as the Universal Dispensary for Children. In this first incarnation the hospital was located at St Andrew's Hill, in the now demolished
Doctors' Commons in the
City of London. The name of the hospital was changed to the Royal Universal Dispensary for Children in 1821. A new building, designed by
David Laing, was built near
Waterloo Bridge in 1823, and, after a foundation stone was laid by the
Duke of York, the hospital moved into the new premises in 1824. It became the Royal Universal Infirmary for Children in 1824, the Royal Infirmary for Children in 1843 and the Royal Infirmary for Children and Women in 1852. The hospital underwent a further name change to the Royal Hospital for Children and Women in 1875. By 1903 concerns over bed space remained: an article in the
British Medical Journal raised the concern that the Waterloo site left little room for extension. In 1903 a foundation stone for a new hospital was laid by
Helen Duchess of Albany who had promoted fundraising efforts. Between 1903 and 1905, to the designs of
Sir Charles Nicholson, the current premises was built at a cost of £45,000 to house an outpatients' department and inpatient accommodation of 90 beds at the corner of Waterloo Bridge Road and Stamford Street near
Waterloo station. It became the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women at that time. The ward was decorated with
Doulton picture tiles depicting nursery rhymes and fairy tales; Greene (1987) wrote that after the hospital closed the tiles were re-sited in the St Thomas's Hospital collection. The hospital joined the
National Health Service in 1948 as part of the nearby
St Thomas' Hospital group of hospitals (now
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust). The Royal Waterloo Hospital closed on 27 July 1976. ==Notable staff==