The wards at Cane Hill underwent a name change after WWII when the NHS was attempting to remove the image and stigma associated with the Asylums, scraps of paper from around the site revealed their meanings and the names chosen by the Superintendent, Alex Walk.
Alleyn: Founder of Alleyn’s College Of God’s Gift, Dulwich.
Andrewes: Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, whose tomb is in Southwark Cathedral.
Blake: William Blake, Poet, Artist and Mystic, lived in Lambeth.
Browning: Robert Browning, born in Camberwell.
Chaucer: Well-known association of The Canterbury Tales with The Tabart Inn and The Kent Road.
Cruden: Alexander Cruden, author of the Concordance to the Bible, buired in Southwark, with a memorial in Southwark Cathedral.
Dickens: Many scenes from his books are set in Southwark and Bermondsey.
Donne: John Donne, Poet and Dean of St. Paul’s lived for a number of years in Peckham Manor House.
Ellis: Havelock Ellis, Essayist, Reformer and Psychologist lived for many years at Herne Hill.
Faraday: Michael Faraday, famous Scientist, pioneer of Electricity (and therefore of EE and ECT) was born at Newington Butts.
Guy: Thomas Guy, Bookseller, founder of Guy’s Hospital.
Harvard: John Harvard, lived in Southwark, emigrated to New England and founded Harvard University.
Hill: Octavia Hill – one of the founders of the National Trust.
Hogarth: William Hogarth, Engraver and Painter.
Jenner: Edward Jenner, discoverer of Vaccination. This was at one time the Infectious Diseases Ward.
Johnson: Dr. Johnson is associated with South London through Barclay’s Brewery at Bankside and the Thrale’s House at Streatham.
Keats: John Keats, the poet, was a Medical Student at Guy’s.
Keller: Helen Keller, Writer and Social Worker.
Kings: King’s Hospital in South London.
Lidgett: Rev. John Scott Lidgett was a strong advocate of the formation of the Wesley Guild
Lettsom:Â Dr. John Coakley Lettsome founded the Medical Society of London in 1773.
Mapothar:Â Dr Edward Mapother: Highly respected physician of his day, starting his career at Long Grove Hospital, worked closely with war veterans who suffered from shell shock.
Olave (On later maps renamed Guy, which is different to the then closed Guy ward): Olave St Clair Baden-Powell, Baroness Baden-Powell became Chief Guide for Britain in 1918 and world chief in 1930.
Queens:Â Â Queens’ College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
Nightingale: Florence Nightingale, who came to be known as “The Lady with the Lamp”, was a pioneering nurse, writer and noted statistician.
Pugin: Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work on churches and on the Houses of Parliament.
Paxton: Joseph Paxton English gardener, designer, writer and creator of one of most famous buildings of Queen Victoria’s reign, the Crystal Palace.
Ruskin: John Ruskin is best known for his work as an art critic, sage writer, and social critic, but is remembered as an author, poet and artist as well.
Rossetti: Dante Gabriel Rossetti  was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He was the brother of poet
Shaftesbury: Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury styled Lord Ashley from 1811 to 1851, was an English politician and philanthropist, one of the best-known of the Victorian era.
Salter:Â William Salter (1804-1875) was an English portrait painter of the 19th century.
Turner:Â Joseph Mallord William Turner was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism.
Vincent: Â Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist.
Vanbrugh: Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace.
Unwin: Sir Raymond Unwin was a prominent and influential English urban planner.
Wren: Sir Christopher Wren was a 17th century English designer, astronomer, geometer, and one of the greatest English architects of his time.
Wesley: John Wesley was an Anglican minister and Christian theologian who was an early leader in the Methodist movement.
York: House of York
Zachary: Â Zachary Macaulay, a Victorian abolitionist. He helped found the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery (later the Anti-Slavery Society) in 1823.