Cot plaque from the Great Ormond Street Hospital

Cot plaque from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, the Lady's Pictorial Children's Diamond Guild Cot 1900-1904, London, England, 1904

This plaque shows that a cot was sponsored by “The Lady’s Pictorial Children’s Diamond Guild”. Sponsoring beds was a common practice at the Great Ormond Hospital for Sick Children and this plaque records the generosity of The Lady’s Pictorial magazine, which ran from 1881 to 1921. The Great Ormond Street Hospital was opened in 1852 to care for sick children. It was a voluntary hospital and relied entirely on donations and charity. Women who bought the magazine were of a social class who had spare time to donate to charitable causes as for the most part they were not expected or allowed to work. It is shown here with tow other cot plaques (1986-1444 and 1986-1446).