Royal London Hospital Museum and Archives

The Royal London has a museum which is located in the crypt of a 19th-century church. It reopened in 2002 after extensive refurbishment and is open to the public free of charge.

The museum covers the history of the hospital since its foundation in 1740 and the wider history of medicine in the East End. It includes works of art, surgical instruments, medical and nursing equipment, uniforms, medals, documents and books. There is a forensic medicine section which includes original material on Jack the Ripper, Dr Crippen and the Christie murders. There are also displays on Joseph Merrick (the 'Elephant Man') and former Hospital nurse Edith Cavell. A former Curator of the Museum was the noted surgeon Thomas Horrocks Openshaw.

The Royal London's archives contain documents dating back to 1740, including complete patient records since 1883.

The museum is a member of The London Museums of Health & Medicine.

There is the model of a Church in the hospital that was built by Joseph Merrick who spent the last few years of his life at the hospital.

There is a video viewing facility where four films are currently available for viewing by Museum visitors:

• QED: the true story of the Elephant Man (BBC Television, 1997)

• 'Behind the shadow of Merrick' a film by David Hevey in which people with disabilities talk about their feelings about their own experience of life as spectacles (2008) 

• Not so much a training: more a way of life (nurse training at The London in 1968)

• Casualty 1906 (Stone City film 2006).

The Museum welcomes groups intending to visit either to view the display and/or to receive a guided tour. For more details on how to arrange for a group visit our group visits page here.

Admission is free, but donations are welcome.