Ellesmere Hospital, Weybridge, Surrey
This hospital was built in 1850-3 by Joseph Clarke. It was called The Metropolitan Convalescent Institution (MCI). It was founded by Theodore Monro, a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He was appalled at the lack of convalescent facilities for the sick poor. He arranged to have patients from London sent to recover with families in Harrow Weald, where his elder brother was vicar. A meeting in 1841 formally brought the MCI into existence. The old workhouse at Carshalton was refurbished as a temporary home. By the late 1840s a fund had been started to raise money for a purpose-built home in the country. Lord Ellesmere became president of the charity in 1850. He donated 5 acres of land at Walton on Thames. This is a very early example of this type of hospital. It served its original purpose until 1963.
