Portcities London

reflecting our cultures

Maritime London Partnership

On this site:

Hospitals in the port

The hospital expands

The Poplar Hospital for Accidents was busy from the moment it opened. From that time, workers at the East and West India Docks (and from the 1860s, the Millwall Dock) did not have to travel far for medical attention.

The expanded Poplar Hospital, c. 1904. © NMM

The original Poplar Hospital for Accidents, 1936. © NMM

The final years

Poplar Hospital around 1950. © NMM

The photograph on the right shows the hospital after the war, around 1950. By then, the original hospital had been replaced by more functional buildings. The hospital was still very busy in this period.

The demolition of Poplar Hospital, 1982. © NMM

However, the demise of the inner London docks meant the end of the hospital, which closed in 1974.

Despite the protests of locals, who wanted to keep the building for the community, it was demolished in 1982. Housing now occupies the site.

• Poplar Hospital - the first hospital for dockers
• Ports and disease
• Containing smallpox in Victorian London