This card shows the electrical department of the East London Hospital for Children at Glamis Road, Shadwell. The card dates from about 1910 and shows their X-ray equipment. X-rays were discovered in 1895 (Roentgen) and The London Hospital started using them in 1896. The East London Hospital opened its electrical department in 1902 so this equipment was very new. The dangers of long term exposure to X-rays were not then appreciated and the equipment is totally unscreened. For this reason many nurses and radiographers died from over exposure to the X-rays. The hospital was founded by Dr Nathaniel Heckford in 1868 and was originally housed in a warehouse in Ratcliffe. It was the first hospital in London to admit children under two years of age. A new, much larger, hospital was opened in 1877 but Dr Heckford did not live to see it as he died of consumption in 1871 at the age of only 29. In 1942 the hospital was merged with the Queen’s Hospital, Hackney Road to form the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children. It closed in 1963 and the building was demolished in 1967.