Royal Chest Hospital

The Royal Chest Hospital holds the distinction of being the first medical institution in the world dedicated entirely to the treatment of chest diseases. Founded in 1814 by physician Isaac Buxton, it began as a humble eight-bed infirmary in a small house on Union Street in Spitalfields. At the time, hospitals in London were typically general institutions that struggled to manage the specialized, long-term care required for conditions like asthma and tuberculosis, which were then known as consumption. By carving out a niche for these specific ailments, the hospital addressed a massive gap in early nineteenth-century medical care, providing targeted support for the respiratory issues that plagued the dense, industrializing city.