Lying-in is an archaic term for childbirth (referring to the month-long bed rest prescribed for postpartum confinement).

[1] The General Lying-In Hospital was an initiative of Dr John Leake, a physician, and the site chosen was on the north side of Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, then on the outskirts of London.

[2] With a view to expansion, the governors bought a lease of a plot of ground with 100-foot frontage on the east side of York Road, Lambeth in the early 1820s.

[3] Two houses on the north side of the hospital, known as the Albany Baths, were converted into a nurses' home (i.e. staff accommodation) in 1907; this facility was re-built between 1930 and 1933 as a modern red brick building with a mansard roof, designed by E. Turner Powell.

It was restored and refurbished in 2003 at a cost of £4.27 million financed in part by a grant from the Guy's and St Thomas' Charity.