history

Mildmay’s origins go all the way back 1866 in response to a cholera epidemic that was sweeping through London's East End.

Some twenty-six years later a hospital was built right in the heart of where the epidemic hit hardest. It was in memory of Mildmay’s founder, The Reverend William Pennefather, who had put his life at risk to help some of the poorest families in London where others turned a blind eye.

The hospital continued Pennefather’s mission to serve the local community as a charitable foundation.

In 1948, Mildmay Mission Hospital was incorporated into the NHS, but later became a casualty of government cutbacks that targeted ‘uneconomic’ small district general hospitals. It was closed down.
 
Undeterred Mildmay mounted a successful campaign to allow Mildmay Mission Hospital to re-open it’s doors as an independent Christian charitable hospital.

Our HIV+AIDS journey
In February 1988, Mildmay opened Europe's first AIDS hospice unit at its London hospital. Pioneering work overseas swiftly followed - in response to escalating statistics, nightmare scenarios and direct approaches for help.                         

By 2006 our services had extended to resource-limited settings in sub-Saharan Africa, including significant operations in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Our international training programmes had impacted on an even wider stage, also reaching out to Eastern Europe. Mildmay teams continue to mobilise whole communities against this disease, developing local partnerships and helping to build in-country capacity that is sustainable.

In 2008 Mildmay UK moved out of the old Victorian hospital building and is now housed in a newly refurbished centre which is more in tune with pioneering service we provide as well as being more cost effective.

Want to know more? Click here to scan through the years 1985-2009 in which we highlight selected achievements.