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In 1839 the Council of King's College London was persuaded by Robert Bentley Todd (1809-1860), a physician at the College, to lease a disused workhouse in Portugal Street near Lincoln's Inn Fields and the Royal College of Surgeons, and convert it for use as a hospital. This was the first King's College Hospital and it opened in 1840. Its purpose was to provide King's College medical students with a place in the near vicinity of the College where they could receive instruction by their own professors. The Council of King's College London became the supreme governing body of the Hospital, largely through a Board of Governors, with the right to appoint all medical staff. A Committee of Management undertook the day to day administration and appointed lay officers. The Sisterhood of St John the Evangelist provided all nursing and catering for the Hospital between 1856 and 1885. A second hospital was opened in 1861 on the site of the first extended hospital. A Medical Board was subsequently established at the College to oversee the academic work and teaching. By 1900, the changed nature of the surrounding area of the Hospital and the fact that about a third of patient admissions came from South London, led to a Special Court of the Governors, in 1903, adopting a proposal to move King's College Hospital south of the river Thames. In 1904 an Act of Parliament was obtained to remove the Hospital to Denmark Hill, on land purchased and presented to the Governors by Hon William Frederick Danvers Smith, later Lord Hambleden. A foundation stone was laid in 1909; that year King's College London was incorporated into the University of London and the Hospital established as a separate legal entity. At the same time the Committee of Management took over responsibility for teaching in the School of Advanced Medical Studies, bringing into existence King's College Hospital Medical School. The Faculty of Medical Science remained at the College providing pre-clinical training, while the Hospital Medical School provided clinical training, the latter being recognised as a School of Medicine by the University of London. The new Hospital was opened in 1913. From 1914 to 1919, the Hospital became the Fourth London General Military Hospital and a large part of it was taken over for military uses. In 1923 a Dental School and Hospital was established within the Hospital. In July 1948 the National Health Service Act came into operation. A King's College Hospital Group was recognised as a teaching group managed by a Board of Governors and responsible to the Minister of Health. In 1948 the King's College Hospital Group consisted of King's College Hospital, Royal Eye Hospital, Belgrave Hospital for Children, Belgrave Recovery Home, and Baldwin Brown Recovery Home. From 1966 the King's Group consisted of King's College Hospital, Belgrave Hospital for Children, Belgrave Recovery Home, Baldwin Brown Recovery Home, Dulwich Hospital, St Giles Hospital, and St Francis Hospital. In 1974, due to the reorganisation of the National Health Service, the Board of Governors of King's College Hospital Group was disbanded, and replaced by a District Management Team. The King's Health District (Teaching) was thus formed as one of the four Districts in the Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham Area Health Authority (Teaching). The second reorganisation of the National Health Service took place in April 1982, resulting in the King's Health District (Teaching) becoming a new Health Authority, the Camberwell District Health Authority. In 1983 King's College Hospital Medical School was reunited with the College to form King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry. The Hospital came under the management of the King's Heathcare Trust in 1993. The United Medical and Dental Schools (UMDS) of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals merged with King's College London in 1998, creating the Guy's, King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine.

The General Board was a committee of representatives of the teaching staff that was officially recognised by the Council in 1870. The General Board was chaired by the Principal and comprised the most senior representatives of each department or faculty board, who were styled Deans. The purpose of the General Board was to guide educational policy and provision in areas such as syllabuses and examinations, and was answerable to the College Council. In 1910, the General Board was renamed the Professorial Board of the University of London, King's College. This followed the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908 that had incorporated King's in the University of London, separated and made independent of the College, the Hospital and School, and legally divided the remaining departments into two institutions: a secular University of London, King's College, and the Theological Faculty, heir to the title of King's College London. During this period of division until 1980, both institutions retained separate Professorial Boards. The reunification of the two halves of King's in 1980 witnessed the restructuring of these Professorial Boards as a single Academic Board, constituting the main academic committee of the College.

The King's College London Old Students' Association, founded in 1920, became the King's College London Association in 1952. The Association caters for alumni from King's College and the colleges with which it has merged. It organises social and other events, offers careers advice to students, and raises money for the College. Smaller groups reflect the interests of alumni in particular subjects or from particular countries. The Association produced magazines for alumni including, from 1987, the publication In Touch .

King's College London Association of University Teachers, which originated in 1917 and had over 850 members in 2001, is the trade union recognised by King's College London to represent academic and related staff. It is part of the national Association of University Teachers, a trade union and professional association which negotiates salaries and conditions of employment for members, represents their views on professional matters in higher education, and provides advice and other services.

The Centre for Medical Law and Ethics, part of the School of Law, was opened in 1978 to undertake research, organise teaching and publish papers concerning issues in medicine involving law and ethics. It draws on the expertise of staff in numerous schools and departments including medicine and theology and offers undergraduate course units and an MA and Diploma programme. Teaching is also provided to students in related programmes in the School of Medicine including the MSc in Palliative Care, while the Centre publishes occasional papers and the periodical, Medical law review .

The Centre for Medical Law and Ethics, part of the School of Law, was opened in 1978 to undertake research, organise teaching and publish papers concerning issues in medicine involving law and ethics. It draws on the expertise of staff in numerous schools and departments including medicine and theology and offers undergraduate course units and an MA and Diploma programme. The Living Wills Working Party was set up between the Centre and the charity, Age Concern, in 1985, as an early exercise in methodological appraisal of the subject and comprised a forerunner to the Living Wills Project run by the Centre and the AIDS charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust, to measure and evaluate the demand for advanced legal directives and powers of attorney pertaining to medical treatment of terminally or chronically-ill patients.

Between 1831 and 1988 the role of College Secretary evolved from Secretary to the Principal and Council to become a senior administrative officer of the College. Throughout the period the College Secretary had responsibility for servicing the Council, its main standing and special subcommittees, and the Academic Board. In the 1960s, the post of Academic Registrar was reorganised to reflect the coordinated responsibility for student admission and examinations with the Department.

The College employed four Secretaries between 1828 and 1919: Henry Nelson Coleridge (1828); Henry William Smith (1829-1845); John William Cunningham (1845-1895), and Walter Smith (1895-1919).

In 1967 a committee was appointed to be responsible for establishing a computer service for King's College London, this became the King's College Computer Unit. Dr D C Knight was appointed as Computing Manager and plans were made to convert a former Chemical Engineering Laboratory to house a small computer for the joint use of King's College London and the London School of Economics, linked to a main computer at the University of London Senate House. In October 1969 the Computer Centre at King's was officially inaugurated. From May 1968, the King's College Computer Unit published a newsletter suggesting that King's College London would be provided with a computer of its own; this was intended for use within academic departments, for administrative staff, research, data processing and information retrieval.

In 1980 the centre became King's College Computer Centre and no longer required use of the main University of London Computer Centre. In 1985 King's College London merged with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College, having facilities on the Strand Campus, Kensington Campus and Chelsea Campus. The Strand site also contained the Humanities Computing Laboratory, (now removed to the Centre for Computing in the Humanities).

The Centre provided advice and support for Computer Assisted Learning applications and support and assistance for members of the College wanting to use facilities of external computer centres, including the University of London Computer Centre. By 1988 the King's College Computer Centre had expanded and was managed by the Director of Computer Services and had eight separate divisions; Humanities and Information Management, Science and Engineering, Communications, KCSMD, Management Information Systems, Microsystems and Computing Services Development, Systems and Operations. From 1985 the Director reported to Information Services and Systems.

Following several restructurings the Centre has been variously known as ISS Computing Centre [1990], Information Systems (2002) and IT Systems (2006), sitting within Information Services and Systems department.

The Council was the principal governing body of King's College London between its foundation in 1829 and the reorganisation of King's that took place with the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908. This both incorporated King's into the University of London (thereafter redesignated as University of London, King's College), and legally separated the Theological Faculty, which retained subscription to the 39 Articles for academic staff and continued to be known as King's College London. The Council remained exclusively as the governing body of the Theological Faculty with additional pastoral responsibility for students and staff of both Colleges, but the government of the secular University of London, King's College, was transferred to a new Delegacy established in February 1910. Both Council and Delegacy also maintained separate Professorial Board, Finance and other committees. Following the reunification of the Colleges by Royal Charter in 1980, responsibility for the government of the whole College was returned to the Council.

The Dean has exercised a central pastoral function within King's College since the reorganisation that took place following the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908. This incorporated King's into the University of London and legally separated the Theological Department from the secular component of King's. The position of Dean was created as the head of the theological King's College London, although he also exercised pastoral responsibility in the secular University of London, King's College. The office was temporarily combined with that of Principal under Arthur Headlam until 1913, when they were separated. The Dean has always been an ordained minister elected by the Council and responsible for the spiritual welfare of students and staff. For most of this period he also undertook the supervision of potential ordinands for the Church of England, but this ceased shortly before the reunification of the two halves of King's, which was completed in 1980. The Dean's office continues to undertake pastoral duties, to run the Chaplaincy and College Choir, and to administer the Associateship of King's College (AKC) programme.

A Department of Nutrition was established at Queen Elizabeth College in 1945, one of the first of its kind in Europe. The Department was transferred to King's in 1985 upon the merger of King's and Queen Elizabeth. It is now part of the Division of Health Sciences in the School of Life and Health Sciences. The Department and its staff have participated with government agencies such as the Department of Health and Social Security and the Medical Research Council, in a number of influential projects and studies to determine the relationship between socio-economic status, nutritional intake and the health of sections of the British population, most notably, pre, and school age, children. The Department has also undertaken independent surveys including of postmenopausal women and low income families.

Materia medica and therapeutics were subjects taught from the inception of King's College. A Department of Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics was created in 1901, superseded by the Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry and Pharmacology in 1954. Pharmacology emerged as an independent department at King's College in 1965. Practical pharmacy classes were held in the Medical Department of King's from around 1871, and from around 1896 in the Chemistry section of the Technical Department at the South-Western Polytechnic (later Chelsea College which merged with King's in 1985), and instruction for the examinations of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain commenced in 1922 when the Chelsea School of Pharmacy was opened. Chelsea became the first institution recognised by the University of London to offer a degree in Pharmacy with the first graduate in 1926. The rapid expansion of teaching in pharmacy at Chelsea occasioned the opening of a pharmacognosy laboratory in 1927 and the creation of a separate Department of Pharmacy in 1933. Distinct departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Pharmacy, had emerged by 1957. Post-merger, the Departments of Pharmacology and of Pharmacy were part of the Faculty of Life Sciences, and the Biomedical Sciences and Health Sciences Divisions of the School of Life, Basic Medical and Health Sciences from 1991. The Division of Pharmacology and Therapeutics has been part of the School of Biomedical Sciences, and Pharmacy part of the School of Life Sciences, since 1998.

The first Professor of Zoology was appointed in 1836 in the Department of General Literature and Science. Zoology was taught in the Evening Classes Department at King's College from 1861 and Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in the Medical Department from 1874. Animal Biology was a component of the Department of Physiology, Practical Physiology and Histology in the Faculty of Science until Zoology and Animal Biology emerged as a department in the Faculty of Science in 1901. It was incorporated into the new School of Biological Studies in 1964 that also comprised the departments of Biochemistry, Biophysics, Botany and Physiology. This prevailed until the merger of King's, Chelsea College and Queen Elizabeth College in 1985, when Zoology and Animal Biology was absorbed within an enlarged Department of Biology, itself part of the Faculty of Life Sciences, and, from 1991, successively part of the Biosphere and Life Sciences Divisions of the School of Life, Basic Medical and Health Sciences. Since 1998 it has been part of the Division of Life Sciences in the School of Health and Life Sciences.

King's College recognised the importance of external fund-raising during the 1970s, and the Development Trust was set up to co-ordinate efforts. This later became the Development Office in 1993 and recently the Development and Alumni Office. It helps organise funding bids and fund-raising among alumni and has a close working relationship with the King's College London Association (KCLA), which is an independent alumni body comprising volunteers, and which focuses on reunions and maintaining links between past and present students and staff.

The King's College London Engineers' Association was established in 1920 as the Engineering Branch of the King's College Old Students' Association, the department dealing with alumni that evolved into the current King's College London Association (KCLA). The organisation is still very active and helps facilitate contact between past and present students and staff.

The Finance Committee was one of the principal sub- committees of the College's governing Council, overseeing accounting, capital and departmental expenditure. Its main functions were transferred to the Delegacy Finance Committee in 1910, following the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908 that legally divided King's into secular and theological institutions. Following the reunification of the two halves of King's in 1980, responsibility for the government of the whole College was returned to the Council, with separate Delegacy and Council sub-committees being similarly recombined.

The original Charter of King's College London established a Corporation comprising the governors and proprietors of King's, including four perpetual ecclesiastical representatives, five perpetual lay governors and King's shareholders. The General Court was the Annual General Meeting of the Corporation at which a treasurer and auditors were appointed and new members of the Council elected. Fellows were admitted to the Corporation according to the new Charter of 1882. The Corporation and Council retained overall responsibility for the theological King's College London following the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908, while the secular side of King's was incorporated in the University of London under the broad direction of the University Senate and managed by a Delegacy.

The Joint Senior Common Room was established in 1957 to provide a social centre for male and female academic and related staff of King's College London.

King's College London Ladies Club, founded in 1970 for female members of staff and wives of members of staff, aimed to promote social contact and provide a meeting place.

The Library at King's College was established in 1831 and at first comprised a General Library of mainly common reference works on science, law, literature and theology, which was located next to the College Chapel. A separate Medical Library was also established which was only accessible to medical students. During the course of time, semi-autonomous subject or departmental libraries grew up located close to their relevant departments, particularly in the arts and humanities, containing less general and more specific subject titles. These, however, remained under the overall responsibility of the College Librarian. The General Library was augmented from time to time by major bequests and gifts, such as that made by William Marsden in 1835; some of Marsden’s books were later transferred to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (SSEES) as part of a University of London-wide library re-organisation (King’s received books from the former library of the London Institution in exchange). An important bequest was made by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1875, and these additions at first remained discrete named collections occupying their own space within the College Library. Total holdings in the General Library were approximately 50,000 by 1958, with 90,000 in the subject or departmental libraries. By 1970, this had grown to 275,000 books in total. Shortage of space was temporarily alleviated with the relocation of a number of libraries to the new Strand Building when it was opened during the 1970s, a period during which individual departmental collections were integrated (exceptions included the Music Library). The merger of King's with Chelsea and Queen Elizabeth Colleges in 1985, added further library space, particularly at Manresa Road in Chelsea, at which was also located the College's Rare Books and Special Collections until the closure of the Chelsea campus, when it was moved to the College's Hampstead site. The merger of King's with the United Medical and Dental Schools (UMDS) in 1998 further added to the Library's holdings of medical books, while its traditional strength in theological literature was enhanced considerably by the acquisition in 1996 of the 65,000 book and journal Sion College Library. The purchase of the leasehold on the former Public Record Office building in Chancery Lane from 2001 allowed for the bringing together under one roof of the Old Library, Embankment, Humanities, Music and Special Collections libraries. These are focused on the humanities, including music, law and the physical sciences and engineering. South of the River, the Franklin-Wilkins Library caters for medical, nursing and midwifery students and students of the biological sciences, management and education. The libraries at Denmark Hill concentrate on medicine, social policy, mental health and health care policy, and those at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals on the teaching of medicine in general. The Library is now part of the division of Information Services and Systems (ISS) which also includes Computing and Information Technology and Archive Services. The latter includes the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, which was founded in 1964 and which built upon the College's reputation in the field of Military and War Studies.