Leith Hospital was situated on Mill Lane in Leith, Edinburgh, and was a general hospital with adult medical and surgical wards, paediatric medical and surgical wards, a casualty department and a wide range of out-patient services.

[1] The hospital was demolished in 1822, although part of the wall can still be seen today, forming the boundary between the Kirkgate and south Leith Kirkyard.

[2] In the late 18th century the Human Society, which promotes lifesaving intervention, established a presence in Leith, at first in Burgess Close and Bernard Street and then in Broad Wynd.

Founded by Dr. Andrew Duncan (1744–1828), the dispensary consisted of a consulting room, a small laboratory and a single bed.

[6] Donations made towards the hospital included £1,000 from the estate of John Stewart of Laverockbank,[7] but it was several years before agreement could be reached about the best site and for work to start.

The first consulting physician to the hospital was James Scarth Combe (1796–1883), best known for his 1822 description of pernicious anaemia some years before that of Thomas Addison (1739–1860) whose name remains associated with the condition.

[11] At the start of the 20th century, Leith was a modern busy hospital, at last able to meet the health needs of the community which it served.

[15] In 1906 the first output of fully qualified physicians from Edinburgh University arrived and of these both Jessie Gellatly and Agnes Marshall Cowan joined the staff of Leith Hospital.

The vacated site which fronted onto Great Junction Street was bought by the hospital in 1911 in the hope that it might be used for future expansion.

The Quintshill Rail Disaster in May 1915 resulted in 226 fatalities of whom 214 were soldiers of the 7th Battalion (Leith’s Own) Royal Scots on their way to Gallipoli.

Many individual benefactors supported the hospital by endowing beds, in memory of relatives killed in action in the First World War.

Seventeen years later, the Leith Community Treatment Centre opened in Junction Place, offering a reduced range of services.

[28] Dr Mabel Ross was house physician in 1904[28] and Jessie Gellatly and Agnes Marshall Cowan were appointed in 1906.