St Bartholomew's Hospital donors linked to historic slave trade

St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London’s oldest medical institution, has come under renewed scrutiny after an interior survey revealed that many of the benefactors honored in its Great Hall were financially linked to the trans‑Atlantic slave trade. The North Wing’s Great Hall, traditionally used by governors to record philanthropic contributions and draft wills, displays a series of elaborate commemorative boards painted in acrylic gold. Among the figures celebrated are the hospital’s namesake apostle, King Henry VIII and a number of 17th‑ and 18th‑century donors whose wealth derived from investments in companies that trafficked enslaved Africans.

Historical research indicates that these donors allocated funds to the hospital while simultaneously holding shares in enterprises built on the slave economy. The boards, which remain prominently displayed, now serve as a visual reminder of the institution’s complex legacy. The discovery has prompted calls for further investigation into how the hospital acknowledges this past and for potential reinterpretation of the commemorative displays.