In Pictures: St Bartholomew’s hospital over the years as institute celebrates 900 years

St Bartholomew’s Hospital, the UK’s oldest working hospital is celebrating its 900 year anniversary this year.

This milestone happens in the same year as the National Health Service (NHS) turns 75 years old.

The central London hospital, which was founded in 1123, has survived the Reformation, Great Plague, the Great Fire of London and two World Wars, making it one of the oldest in the world.

In this time, the hospital has been home to some of the most important figures in the history of nursing and medicine, achieving a range of significant medical breakthroughs and firsts.

This includes William Harvey, who was the first to correctly describe the systemic circulation of blood around the body and Percival Pott, the first to identify an environmental cause for cancer.

Also Ethel Gordon Fenwick, who, after  30-years campaigning for the state-registration of nurses, was named State Registered Nurse No.1 at the age of 62; and, more recently, Geoffrey Keynes, whose experimental work in the 1920s for breast cancer treatment is now a standard part of treatment.

To mark this 900 year milestone two new landmark projects – a Breast Cancer Centre, to act as a central hub for specialist breast surgery and services, and a clinical research facility, which will provide life-saving treatments for patients, transforming healthcare in East London, which the hospital and wider Barts NHS Trust serves – will be funded through a fundraising campaign led by Barts Charity, aiming to raise over £30m

We’ve taken a look at some pictures of St Bartholomew’s Hospital recorded over the last century.