Benjamin Golding (7 September 1793 – 21 June 1863) was a British medical doctor and the founder of the West London Infirmary which later became the

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is district general hospital and teaching hospital located in Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approxim ...

. He wrote the history of that hospital and of St. Thomas's Hospital, originally in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. He was known for his dedication to serving the poor.

Early life and family

Benjamin Golding was born on 7 September 1793 in the town of

St Osyth St Osyth is an English village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tendring District of north-east Essex, about west of Clacton-on-Sea and southeast of Colchester. It lies on the B1027, Colchester–Clacton road. The village is ...

in Essex, England. He was the youngest son of the sixteen children of John Golding (1766–1831), a well-off tanner and landowner. Only eight of his father's 16 children lived into adulthood. He enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in 1811, where he attended the lectures of Dr James Gregory, and in 1813 started as a medical student at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospita ...

, London. Also in 1813 he received his MD from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

where degrees could be awarded from written testimonials."Golding, Benjamin (1793–1863), physician"
by M. Waugh, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', 2004. Retrieved 16 March 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/10909 In 1822, Golding married Sarah Pelerin Blew (1799–1873), a member of the family that owned Bayley & Blew, who among other things were perfumiers.MacMichael, J. Holden. (1906
''The Story of Charing Cross and its Immediate Neighbourhood.''
London: Chatto & Windus. p. 289. They had nine children but several did not survive to adulthood.

Medical career

Golding began medical practice in 1815 at his house in Leicester Place,

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

, which was open particularly to the poor. It was at this time that he conceived the idea of a medical school being integral to a hospital, to ensure the needy were cared for in the present and future. In 1820, he published the ''Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark'', a topic he was devoted to for much of his life. By 1822, he had drafted his medical education plans. Golding gave particular attention to the sick poor in the district of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

in central London. With public support and help from friends, they raised over £6,000 and founded the West London Infirmary in

Villiers Street Villiers Street is a street in London connecting Strand, London, the Strand with Thames Embankment, the Embankment. It is partly pedestrianised; traffic runs northbound only up to John Adam Street, where vehicles must turn right. It was built by ...

in 1823.Imperial College 1845 - 1899.
Imperial College. Retrieved 17 March 2018. On 4 June 1825 he gained a licentiate of the College of Physicians.Benjamin Golding.
Munk's Roll, Royal College of Physicians. Retrieved 17 March 2018. By the early 1830s and at a cost of about £20,000, they established the Charing Cross Hospital. He remained active in the hospital councils and in the management of hospital affairs until his attendance became less frequent towards the end of his life.

Death and legacy

Golding died on 21 June 1863 in

West Brompton West Brompton is an area of west London, England, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary traced by Counter's Creek, probably marke ...

at age 63. He is buried at

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

, London. His tomb is a

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

monument with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Selected works

* ''Burns and Scalds''. 1814. *
An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark
'. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, London, 1819. *
The Origin, Plan, and Operations of the Charing Cross Hospital
'. Allen & Co., London, 1867. Edited by his son George B. Golding.

References

External links