Rahere founded St Bartholomew's Hospital after a vow in Rome, Henry VIII seized its income in 1539, and the City of London saved it weeks before the king died

Rahere was a courtier of Henry I. On a pilgrimage to Rome he fell ill, probably with malaria, and vowed that if he lived he would build a hospital for the poor. The hospital's Book of the Foundation says St Bartholomew appeared to him and chose Smithfield, a marshy field used for executing thieves. Rahere founded the hospital and priory in 1123 and ran the hospital for about 20 years, until his death about 1143. In 1539 Henry VIII closed the priory and seized its property and the hospital's. The hospital, valued at £371, was allowed to continue with no income. It was refounded in 1544 without funds and at one point ran short of bed sheets. Fearing plague, London's citizens asked the Lord Mayor to petition the king. In December 1546 Henry granted the hospital to the City of London. Letters patent of January 1547 gave it property and income. Henry died on 28 January 1547. The City was charged with funding care for 100 men and women. By 1600 the hospital owned 100,000 acres. In 1992 the Tomlinson report proposed closing it; a campaign gathered over a million signatures and it stayed open. It marked 900 years on the same site in 2023.