Behind this plaque stood Colchester's main workhouse built in 1836–37. It housed the town's destitute poor, numbering around 150, most of whom were elderly and gave overnight shelter to the wandering homeless. The complex of buildings, included work rooms, eating and sleeping accommodation, a laundry and a hospital, covered a 3.6 hectare site. From 1929 the Poor Law was replaced by a Public Assistance Board and in 1938 the complex became St. Mary's hospital, run after 1948 by the National Health Service. It closed in 1993. At this hospital, in 1950, Norman Sydney Mason removed gas cylinders from an area occupied by patients threatened by fire and burned himself in the process. He was awarded the British Empire Medal by King George VI and also the Carnegie Medal.
