Dr Jelley of Homerton

This is where crazy Dr Jelley's surgery used to be.
Location: 172/174 Homerton High Street, Hackney
Description: This is where Dr Henry Percy Jelley ran a hospital for the working class folk of Hackney and Homerton.
He was born in 1866 in Devon, studied medicine in Edinburgh, and opened his surgery here in 1911.
In an age when the poor could barely afford to visit the doctors and there was no health insurance, Dr Jelley provided an amazing service to locals. He would charge very little but would dispense rememdies and drugs and advice in a matter of seconds to hundreds of visitors.
He was called the threepenny doctor and boasted of being able to treat over 100 patients an hour!
He was an eccentric and much loved part of the East End, and ther are many stories of his exuberance.
He would ride around Hackney in his horse and cart with a sign offering 50 to any girl who would marry his son.
Because sometimes his diagnoses and remedies were a bit dubious (you've got a female boil there thats got to be got rid of - the mail boils are chasing it all around your body), he did spend time in prison for an illegal abortion.
He was much loved by the locals.
Tours: Great London Eccentrics Tour
Themes: Medical

This is where crazy Dr Jelley's surgery used to be. |
Ranking This Month: 936/3019
Pages Hit This Month: 55
Your Comments:
Other places nearby:
The Middlesex Hospital», 4.5km
St Mary's Hospital», 5.9km
Queen Elizabeth Hospital», 6.2km
Sir Morrell Mackenzie born here», 2.8km
St Christophers Hospice», 8.7km
The discovery of Penicillin», 5.9km
Whipps Cross Hospital», 2.8km
Joseph Lister lived here», 4.7km
Florence Nightingale's House», 5.4km
Lionel Lockyer's Monument», 3.5km