The Friends and the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society
The donation by the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society to the Friends Music Project
The Friends of the Royal London Hospital are very grateful to the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society (MCSS)1 for their second year of sponsorship of the Friends Music Project.
The MCSS, like the Friends, is a charity exclusively devoted to the Royal London Hospital. It was founded in 1791 to provide surgical items and welfare benefits which were beyond the resources of the hospital. The charity was originally named ‘the Samaritan Society’ by a surgeon to the hospital, Sir William Blizard FRS (1743-1835). He chose the Society’s name from the parable of the Good Samaritan2. He was President of the Royal College of Surgeons and founder of the London Hospital Medical College – the first organised medical school, in England.
It was Blizard who had the motto ‘Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto’ from the comedy Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor), by the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer (Terence), inscribed above the rear entrance of the medical school3. Those words, by that author, at that time were provocative. The slave trade was at its height and Terence had been an African slave born in Carthage (in today’s Tunisia). He was bought by a Roman senator, taken to Rome and educated. The Senator, impressed by his abilities made him a ‘libertus’ (free man).
There have been various translations of the motto. A modern translation is ‘I am man and nothing that is human is foreign to me’. However, Blizard was said to favour the version ‘I am a man (hence) all calamities that touch mankind come home to me’. Whichever version is preferred, the equality of human relationship is clear. Blizard was said to be a deeply religious man who had real concern for the social & spiritual welfare of the poor. He had ‘a character that happily unites science with benevolence and professional skill with the exercise of humanity’.
The change of name of the Samaritan Society to the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society, took place over a hundred years later. The Society had received extremely generous donations from Mr James Hora, a Hospital Vice-President, in memory of his first wife Marie-Celeste Hora. In her young life she went with him to Australia, devotedly sharing the many hardships endured by early colonists, before he became rich. She died aged 48 in 1875, an unhappy woman. It was said that he was filled with remorse that he had neglected her. In an attempt to assuage his guilt and to perpetuate her memory, he asked that her name be added to that of the Samaritan Society (NB. formerly the hospital’s maternity ward was also named after her). There are two public memorials to Marie Celeste Hora - a stained glass window in Westminster Abbey and a small tablet in St Margret’s Westminster4.
The Society’s investments have been carefully nurtured by generations of dedicated trustees and custodians. Foremost among them are Sidney Holland 2nd Viscount Knutsford (the legendary fundraiser for the hospital - ‘the Prince of Beggars’) and his descendents including Michael Holland-Hibbert the 6th Viscount who died on 3rd January 2025, aged 98. They all served the Hospital and the Charity with distinction. While he was chair of the MCSS Trustees, Michael also supported the creation of the Friends of the Royal London Hospital Charity. He was present at the inaugural meeting in November 1979 and he was mindful of the complementary functions of each charity. Until this year the MCSS maintained the James Hora Home in Horace Evans House and it has provided numerous grants to a large variety of causes which relate to the needs of those using the Hospital.
Now, through the Friends Music Project the MCSS is underwriting the provision of live music in the foyer, on the wards and elsewhere in the hospital to hearten patients & staff. The repertoire is varied and the volunteer musicians range from school children to internationally recognised professional musicians. To date there have been 220 recitals, comprising about 180 musicians & 200 singers from 10 schools & choirs. The music is estimated to have been heard by at least 100000 people using the hospital. In addition, there are about 200 videos with more than 90000 hits at; https://www.youtube.com/@richardgardner1990/videos.
Over the last 230 years countless patients and many others have benefited from the foresight of Sir William Blizard and the generosity of the benefactors of the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society Charity. The Society is continuing the tradition of helping the Friends and the Friends activities complement the work of the MCSS - just as the 6th Viscount Knutsford envisaged. Needs may change - but the tradition continues.
Professor Trevor Beedham. President. Friends of the Royal London Hospital & Trustee of the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society. March 2025
References
1) The Marie Celeste Samaritan Society Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2023
2) Holy Bible. Authorised Version. The Gospel according to Luke Chapter 10 V 2537.
3) London Pride; The Story of a Voluntary Hospital by A. E. Clark-Kennedy; 1979 Hutchinson Benham Ltd.
4) https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbeycommemorations/commemorations/marie-celeste-hora