OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL, for the treatment of diseases of the eye. The oldest is situated at the corner of King William Street, Charing Cross; was estab1ished in 1816, and treats about 6600 cases yearly, though its income does not exceed 800l. About 13,000 cases are received in the year at the London Ophthalmic, Bloomfleld Street, Moor- fields; and 1100 to 1200 at the Central Ophthalmic, Calthorpe Street, Gray's Inn Road.

Cruchley's London in 1865 : A Handbook for Strangers, 1865

OPHTHALMIC (ophthalmos, Gr., the eye) HOSPITALS, were established in 1804; that in Moorfields being the first. 
    It was founded in 1804; it has afforded relief to upwards of half a million persons suffering from diseases of the eye. The number of attendances annually at this hospital is about 80,000. In one year the new cases alone amounted to 17,000; among these above 350 persons afflicted with blindness from cataract and other analogous affections were restored to light. The average attendance daily is from 100 to 400. An amount of relief is confidently stated to be thus obtained far greater than that afforded by any similar establishment in Europe. The explanation may be found in the dense population by which it is surrounded, and the high reputation it has so long enjoyed, bringing patients from India, America, Australia, and our remotest colonies.
    The Royal Infirmary, Cork-street, was founded in 1804, by Sir Walter Waller  (originally Phipps, the celebrated oculist), submitting to their Majesties a plan suggested by the sufferings he was then endeavouring to relieve among the soldiers and sailors who had returned from the Egyptian Expedition. The late Duke of Wellington was president of the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, Chandos-street, Charing. cross, where patients are admitted without letters.

John Timbs, Curiosities of London, 1867