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Thomas Guy
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Thomas Guy, detail of an oil painting by John Vanderbank, 1706
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Thomas Guy, detail of an oil painting by John Vanderbank, 1706
Thomas Guy, detail of an oil painting by John Vanderbank, 1706

Thomas Guy

British philanthropist
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Born:
1644/45, Southwark, London, Eng.
Died:
Dec. 27, 1724, London
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Thomas Guy (born 1644/45, Southwark, London, Eng.—died Dec. 27, 1724, London) was the founder of Guy’s Hospital, London.

A bookseller from 1668, dealing largely in Bibles, Guy ultimately amassed a fortune from printing and shrewd investments. In 1704 he became a governor of St. Thomas’s Hospital, Southwark, and he paid for the construction (1707) of three new wards. In the 1720s, finding St. Thomas’s still overcrowded, he built Guy’s Hospital across the street. He was member of Parliament for Tamworth from 1695 to 1707; he also was chosen sheriff of London but declined to serve.

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