Bowring & Lady Curzon hospital – Bengaluru
Bowring & Lady Curzon hospital is one of the British raj’s contributions to Bengaluru in the late 1800s. It was built on the plan of the “LARABOISIERL” Hospital of Paris.
The Bowring Hospital and Lady Curzon Hospitals although were adjoining, existed separately during much of their earlier days.
The Bowring Civil Hospital (for men, established in 1867) was named after Lewis Bentham Bowring, the Chief Commissioner of Mysore and Coorg from 1862 to 1870.
The Lady Curzon Hospital (for Women and children, established during the late 1890s) was named after Lady Victoria Curzon, the wife of Lord George Nathaniel Curzon (Viceroy, 1899-1905) and the famous women of British royalty in India.
Victoria was the daughter of a fabulously wealthy real estate magnate from Chicago and was reared by her socially ambitious mother to be a stunning debutante in the highest social and political circles of Washington DC and London.
She instantly made an impression of beauty and respect that soon spread all over India. She gained the title vicereine, as the wife of the viceroy, a title of the British aristocracy.
In 1902, Lord Curzon organized the Delhi Durbar to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII, “the grandest pageant in history”, which created a tremendous sensation. At the state ball, Lady Curzon wore an extravagant coronation gown, known as the peacock dress, stitched of gold cloth embroidered with peacock feathers with an emerald in each eye and many precious and semiprecious stones sewn into the fabric.
Other than promoting fabrics and art objects in India, she took her vice-regal duties, founded and funded the Lady Curzon Hospital for women and children in Bangalore. Progressive medical reforms were initiated under the leadership of the Marchioness of Dufferin.
After not so long a time in India, the tropical climate, a prolonged near-fatal infection following a miscarriage and fertility-related surgery eroded her health and continued to fail rapidly. She died on July 18, 1906, at home in Westminster, London, 36 years old.
The Bowring & Lady Curzon hospital is presently catering to the need of the patients 24 x 7 x 365 days in providing quality health care.