Benjamin Golding

Benjamin Golding (7 September 1793 – 21 June 1863) was a British medical doctor and the founder of the West London Infirmary which later became the Charing Cross Hospital. He wrote the history of that hospital and of St. Thomas's Hospital, originally in Southwark. He was known for his dedication to serving the poor.

Early life and family Benjamin Golding was born on 7 September 1793 in the town of St Osyth in Essex, England. He was the youngest son of the sixteen children of John Golding (1766–1831), a well-off tanner and landowner. Only eight of his father's 16 children lived into adulthood. He enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in 1811, where he attended the lectures of Dr James Gregory, and in 1813 started as a medical student at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Also in 1813 he received his MD from the University of St Andrews where degrees could be awarded from written testimonials.

In 1822, Golding married Sarah Pelerin Blew (1799–1873), They had nine children but several did not survive to adulthood.

In 1820, he published the Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark, a topic he was devoted to for much of his life. By the early 1830s and at a cost of about £20,000, they established the Charing Cross Hospital.

He remained active in the hospital councils and in the management of hospital affairs until his attendance became less frequent towards the end of his life.

Selected works Burns and Scalds. 1814. An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, London, 1819. The Origin, Plan, and Operations of the Charing Cross Hospital. Allen & Co., London, 1867. Edited by his son George B. Golding.