Memorial Stone, French Hospital La Providence, Rochester, Kent, England, UK Editorial Photo

Memorial Stone commemorating the founding at La Providence of the French Hospital for the relief of poor protestant Huguenot refugees in 1718, Rochester, Kent, England, UK. The French Hospital was founded in 1718 in Finsbury on behalf of poor French Protestants and their descendants residing in Great Britain. Since 1959 it has been located in Rochester, Kent and today provides almshouse accommodation for Huguenot descendants.nAffectionately known as La Providence from as early as the 1720s, the hospital for poor French Protestants and their descendants was one of the earliest foundations to improve the welfare of London’s needy immigrants, and one of the first in Britain to provide sympathetic care for the mentally ill.