Tottenham Jewish Hospital

Brief History of the Jewish Home and Hospital (1901-1995)

Long before the time the NHS was introduced in this country in 1948, care in the community relied on charity.

The Poor Law was a system to provide relief for the poor. This meant they would enter a workhouse. The reality for people forced to be admitted was they had to endure great hardship with harsh conditions. Inhabitants were treated very badly. It is no wonder that most people would do anything to avoid the workhouse. 

During the mid-19th century, Jewish inhabitants of workhouse infirmaries were not allowed to practice their faith and were forced to eat food that was forbidden by their faith. The early 1880s saw efforts to establish a Jewish Home for ‘Incurables’, which began in earnest. 

The Jewish Home and Hospital for ‘Incurables’ was established in 1890 in Victoria Park, Hackney. Faced with overcrowding and financial hardship, 1895 had new leadership at the Hospital. It was decided it was more sensible to move the Hospital to a new, larger site rather than try and repair the current Home. 

In 1897 land was purchased in Tottenham with the site also leased by Tottenham Lager Beer Brewery (until its closure in 1903). Building began in 1899, opening in 1901. It was consecrated by the Chief Rabbi on 30 June that year, who said:

‘This noble structure has the well-deserved designation of a palace’. (Quoted in The Jewish Home and Hospital at Tottenham, by Jeffrey and Barbara Baum, 1984.) The official opening took place on 3 July 1903, attended by H.R.H. Princess Louise and her husband, the Duke of Argyll. 

The Hospital closed in 1995. The building was kept but converted into flats.

The role of the Jewish Labour Movement

A lot of funding for new Home in Tottenham came from members of the Jewish Labour Movements, including Whitechapel and Spitalfields Costermongers Union, the Isle of Dogs Progressive Club and The London United Cap Makers’ Union. A huge open-air procession organised by the Unions took place on 12 September 1897. This became an annual fundraising event until 1903.

Further resources

‘The Jewish Home and Hospital at Tottenham’ by Jeffrey and Barbara Baum. In Heritage No.2, An Historical Series of the Jewish Inhabitants of North London. Jewish Research Group of the Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. 1984. pp.19-103.

Tottenham Lager Beer Brewery and Ice Factory 

During its early years, the huge plot of land occupied by the Jewish Home and Hospital was also partly leased to the Tottenham Lager Beer Brewery and Ice Factory. 

In 1881 the Austro-Bavarian Brewery Lager Beer and Crystal Ice Company opened, located on the site of the old school, Grove House, between Tottenham High Road and Portland Road. The British Library notes: “For most of its history, it was staffed entirely with immigrant German-speakers and their English-born families. In 1886 it was renamed the Tottenham Lager Beer Brewery. It closed in 1903”.

The Tottenham Lager Beer Brewery’s beer clearly did well at various trade competitions – with their Export Pilsen and Lager winning medals and merits in Barcelona, London and Adelaide from 1884-1888. The brewery was managed by Otto Vollman who was listed as living at Grove House - which was right next to the brewery - from 1885-1901.