Table Of ContentNINETY YEARS OF SERVICE
HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 1884-1974
By David A.J. Williamson.
M.D. ,F.R.C.P. ,D.C.H.
Honorary Consultant Paediatrician
April 1990
CONTENTS
Foreword
I. Preface
II,“Voluntary” Days.
III.In the N,H.S.
IV,Special Departments.
V. Staff,
VI.League of Friends.
VII.Paediatrics in Wessex.
VIII. Memories.
IX. The Last Lap.
Appendix I. Hospital Staff.
Appendix II. The Work Load,
Analysis of Admissions and Deaths for the Year 1931
FORWARD
by
I.C.S.Normand. D.M. ,F.R.C.P.
Professor of Child Health.
David Williamson’s fascinating account of Southampton Children’s Hospital will be a source of nostalgia for all who knew
or worked at Winchester Road but it is far from being just a nostalgic memoir. To many it may come as a surprise to learn
how Southampton for so long has kept in the forefront of ideas and practice in the care of sick children. Above all we read
a story of extraordinary professional devotion and commitment from a staff of minuscule size by modern standards but
who, because of their common ideals, achieved so much for their small patients with such limited resource behind them.
It is now fifteen years since the Children’s Hospital closed but the tale of continuing expansion and innovation in services
has not changed. In particular the Children’s Unit increasingly functions as a tertiary and research centre as befits its
position as the only University hospital along the South Coast. Inevitably some of the intimacy has gone but there still
remains a real sense of the happy family bound together in its pursuit of excellence for the care of sick children.
We must all be grateful for the care and labour David Williamson has put into this volume that provides us with such fine
examples of service over ninety years.
PREFACE
When my successor, Dr Chris Rolles, suggested that I should write a short history of the old Southampton Children’s
Hospital while there were still some of us about who could remember the place, I agreed with some misgivings, knowing
the fallibility of my own and, I suspected, other peoples memories. It did however seem important to try to record
something about the place, of which I, for one, had so many happy memories and which was typical of many similar
institutions of it’s period.
This booklet falls naturally into two unequal halves, divided by the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, For
the first section I have had to rely very largely on documentary evidence while for the second I have called upon my own
and other people’s memories and I am most grateful to the very large number of persons who have helped me in this
respect. A letter to the ‘Echo’ produced an excellent response from many ex-staff and patients. I am particularly grateful to
those of my colleagues who have supplied me with contributions about their own departments. I would specially like to
record my debt to the late Mr Norman McKeith who not only gave me some fascinating insight into the working of the
hospital in the thirties, but also undertook some individual research for me. The current officers in the Health Service
locally have been most helpful but sadly I have to record that the Service as a whole seems to have little regard for
historical material. A great many quite basic documents have apparently been destroyed though a few remain in the
District offices and some are preserved in the City Archives, I am most grateful to Mr E.J. Ives who lent me his own copies
of the Annual Reports of the H.M.C. and to Miss M.A. Mulady for supplying me with a complete set of Children’s Hospital
Annual reports which had come down to her via the nursing hierarchy, Both have been invaluable.
I have also received a large number of photographs only a few of which has it been possible to reproduce here. However
we intend to collect a selection of these together into an album which will be kept in the Department at the General
Hospital; others together with various source documents will be deposited in the City Archives for safe keeping. I am
indebted to The Southern Evening Echo for allowing me to reproduce photographs on pages 7 & 11,
I would like to record my appreciation of the help given me by Sue Jacob and others at the Department of Teaching
Media at the General Hospital for’ the art work and also to The Charlotte Frances May Foundation for their generous
financial support which has made the publication of this booklet possible.
“VOLUNTARY DAYS”
The first half of the nineteenth century saw the founding of children’s hospitals in most of the big cities on the continent of
Europe from St Petersburg to Constantinople. Curiously, Britain lagged somewhat behind. With the exception of the Royal
Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women in 1816 and the Manchester Hospital for Children in 1829 most of our
children’s hospitals were founded in the second half of the century. The Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond
Street, which opened in 1852, was quickly followed by similar hospitals in most industrial cities in the country but it was
not until July 1884 that the Shirley Children’s Hospital and Dispensary for Women was founded.
The objective was to provide a service for the people of
Shirley and neighbouring parishes and thus to relieve the
pressure on the South Hants and Southampton Hospital
which already had a children’s ward. The original provision
was “for the treatment of children suffering from any disease
not of an infectious character as In and Out patients, and of
women suffering from diseases peculiar to their sex as Out
patients”. In 1888 the last phrase was modified to “all women
suffering from disease irrespective of its nature” while ten
years later the net was extended still further to include “old
men of 60 years of age and upwards as Out patients”.
The prime mover of the Shirley hospital’s foundation was a Dr
C.G. Beaumont a general practitioner in Shirley. He was
supported by the local vicar, the Rev A.D Burton, who
became the first chairman of the Managing Committee and
Mr Andrew Barlow a local philanthropist who provided
valuable financial help. Members of the Barlow family featured as strong supporters of the hospital for many years. The
first Hon. Treasurer was Commissary-General W.L.M. Young C.B. of 56 Winchester Road and the first Hon. Secretary,
Captain Murton. The all male Managing Committee consisted of a further nine local worthies.
The original Medical Staff consisted of Dr Beaumont and Dr E.J. Chamberlain L.R.C.P. both local practioners living
nearby. The consultants were Dr W Maclean C.B., M.D. Consulting Physician and Mr T. Longmore C.B., F.R.C.S.(Later
Surgeon General Sir Thomas Longmore), Consulting Surgeon. Both were on the staff of the Royal Victoria Hospital at
Netley being Inspector General of Military Medicine and Professor of Surgery in the Army Medical School respectively.
The R.V.H. at Netley with 1200 beds had been founded in 1866 and was the medical headquarters of the army, including
the Army Medical School. It is probable that the services of these consultants were obtained by Commissary-General
Young who was also on the staff of the R.V.H. Mr J. McLachlan who commanded the Garrison Artillery was the surgeon
dentist. The connection with the R.V.H. had lapsed by the turn of the century.
The first home of the hospital was a pleasantly situated little white house at 38, Church Street Shirley, next to the
Wesleyan Chapel, which was rented for £38.10s.10d per year. At that time Shirley was still a country village three miles
from Southampton. The hospital provided four beds for children as well as the out-patient facilities mentioned above. The
number of beds was increased to six after a period and later to seven. The hospital was run by the Lady Superintendent
who was supported by another nurse, a maid and a part-time charwoman.
In 1887 a Ladies committee was set up. Members of the committee would make weekly, later monthly, visits to the
hospital and liaise with the matron passing on her requests to the Managing Committee.
During its first eleven months there were only 25 in-patients (13 boys and 12 girls) admitted to the hospital.
Their diagnoses were listed as follows:
Medical. Surgical.
Bronchitis. Acute rheumatism. Fracture of thigh. Lupoid ulcer of
Croup. Chronic rheumatism. Dislocation of face.
Ophthalmia, Paralysis. elbow. Hip joint
Dyspepsia. Cataract. disease.
Typhoid fever. Scalds. Necrosis.
Dysenteric diarrhoea. Burns. Rheumatoid
Cystitis. Abscess. arthritis.
Contracted
tendon.
All the medical cases are described as ‘cured’ but two of the surgical were only ‘improved’ and three were still in hospital.
In addition 217 children and 37 women attended out-patients having a total attendance of 1597 and there were also more
than 60 dental cases.
Thereafter most, but not all, of the Annual Reports of the Managing Committee give details of the cases admitted together
with the number of out-patients treated. In analysing these statistics (Table I) it is often difficult to be sure of the true
nature of the diagnoses stated. (Table II). It is also difficult to know if there was any form of clinical selection.
TABLE 1 - Average Number of Admissions per Annum.
Period 1884-1908 1909-17 1927-36 1884-1908 1909-17
Diagnosis Age
TB, 5 9 10
Rheumatism 2 10 15
Nephritis - 1 4
Under 1 year 3 2
Respiratory 6 8 47
1-4 years 23 8
D&V - 2 12
5-9 years 26 34
Other infection 2 1 9
10+ years 12 11
Malnutrition 5 6 15
Ophthalmia 1 -
Accidents 4 5 46
Length of Stay.
Abscess 5 6 20
Under 2 weeks 29 20
Surgical (Hot) 7 11 23
2-4 weeks 12 26
Surgical (Cold) - - 54
1-3 months 17 30
Ts&As 20 27 413
Over 3 months 3 1
Other E.N.T. - 3 94
Orthopaedic 4 6 22
Other inc. Skins 5 10 62
In-patients Treated during 1899-1900
Table 2 -
NO SEX AGE ADMITTED DISCHARGED DISEASE. RESULT
1 M 8 years May 2nd July 4th Eczema Cured
2 M 6 years June 17th July 12th Pneumonia Cured
3 F 4 years June 18th July 16th Injury to leg Cured
4 M 2 years June 20th Aug 2nd Debility Cured
5 M 6 years July 9th July 18th Circumcision Cured
6 M 4 years July 23rd Aug 1st Circumcision Cured
7 F 6 years July 27th Aug 13th Abcess of the neck Cured
8 M 12 years July 30th Aug 14th Adenoids and enlarged tonsils Cured
9 F 3 years July 31st Sept 15th Phthisis Improved
10 F 4 years Aug 2nd Aug 18th Adenoids and enlarged tonsils Cured
11 M 9 years Aug 9th Oct 9th Typhoid Cured
12 M 7 months Aug 10th Aug 25th Diarrhoea and sickness Cured
13 F 5 years Aug 14th Sept 28th Fractured femur Cured
14 F 3 years Aug 16th Oct 29th Rachitis Improved
15 M 1½ years Aug 18th Sept 3rd Diarrhoea and sickness Cured
16 M 12 years Aug 20th Oct 20th Hip joint disease Improved
17 F 9 years Aug 24th Oct 5th Consumption Cured
18 F 9 years Sept 2nd Oct 9th Bright’s disease Cured
19 M 6 years Sept 14th Oct 8th Axilliary abcess Cured
20 F 3 years Oct 6th Oct 29th Adenoids and enlarged tonsils Cured
21 F 5 years Oct 9th Nov 19th Enteric fever Cured
22 M 7 years Oct 10th Oct 15th Circumcision Cured
23 F 12 years Oct 17th Oct 31st Adenoids and enlarged tonsils Cured
24 M 12 years Oct 20th Jan 17th Hip joint disease Improved
25 M 11 months Nov 17th Nov 30th Bronchitis Cured
26 M 9 months Nov 18th Dec 1st Diarrhoea and sickness Cured
27 F 11 years Nov 20th Jan 10th Typhoid and pneumonia Cured
28 F 6 years Nov 28th Jan 27th Chorea and burns Improved
29 F 3 years Nov 29th Dec 12th Adenoids and enlarged tonsils Cured
30 F 8 years Nov 30th Feb 27th Fractured femur Cured
31 M 1 year Dec 5th Jan 4th Burns Cured
32 F 5 years Dec 5th Jan 6th Influenza Cured
33 F 13 years Jan 3rd Mch 25th Boriasis Cured
34 F 12 years Jan 22nd Mch 8th Debility Improved
35 M 4 years Feb 14th Mch 22nd Rachitis Improved
36 F 10 years Mch 14th May 30th Emaciation Improved
37 F 3 years Mch 17th Mch 24th Adenoids and enlarged tonsils Cured
38 F 12 years Mch 26th May 26th Psoriasis Cured
39 F 2 years Mch 28th Apr 28th Rachitis
40 F 3 years Mch 29th Apr 30th Bronchitis and pneumonia Cured
41 F 13 years Mch 29th Apr 19th Chronic meningitis No improvement
42 F 4 years April 1st Apr 24th Bronchitis and pneumonia Cured
43 M 10 years April 14th Apr 26th Debility Improved
44 F 6 years May 17th May 23rd Adenoids Cured
45 M 1 year May 18th June 3rd Bronchitis Cured
46 M 13 years May 18th June 16th Hip joint disease Improved
47 M 7 years May 23rd June 18th Injury to leg Cured
48 F 6 years May 24th June 10th Ganglion of ankle Cured
49 M 3 years June 5th June 18th Pneumonia Cured
50 F 7 years June 8th June 16th Adenoids Cured
The Infant Mortality rate in Southampton was well over 100 per 1000 births and remained so until World War I and the
death rate for children under 5 was also over 100. Even as late as the 1930s the Medical Officer of Health reported that
36% of the children were undernourished, The main causes of death in childhood appear to have been gastro-enteritis,
measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria and whooping cough. Although the rules of the hospital forbade the admission of
infectious cases, several such are listed including diphtheria, scarlet fever and gonorrhoea. The Isolation Hospital was not
opened until 1900 although previously there was a small hospital on West Quay and a hulk moored in the river off
Freemantle which admitted infectious cases. Whether these included children is not known. The South Hants and
Southampton Hospital had a children’s ward which in 1893 admitted 150 children under 13 compared with only 42 at the
Shirley Hospital
During the first twenty years the number of admissions remained relatively stable at around 50 cases per annum.
(Appendix II.) Thereafter the numbers began to rise partly due to the rapid rise in the local population and to the increased
number of beds but also to the growing popularity of tonsillectomy, starting with 7 cases in 1899 and peaking at 606 in
1931, At first these children stayed in for nearly two weeks but by 1914 their stay had come down to about two days. The
first operation for acute appendicitis was in 1910, The indications for the admission of a sick child to hospital at that time
are not very clear: one might have expected more cases of acute respiratory infection but without oxygen or antibiotics
there was perhaps little advantage in hospitalisation. Out-patients were held twice weekly at first being increased to three
per week in 1904,
The hospital was, of course, funded entirely by voluntary contributions and the records for the early years show continual
problems with threats of enforced closure from time to time. The first year’s income was only about £200 while the
maintenance costs were £244. These included salaries and wages at £1.3s.0d per week, provisions £1.7s.0d per week
and medicine 7/6d per week. The main source of funding was from subscriptions, donations and a few legacies.
Subscribers of 5/- and donors of £1 were entitled to one ‘letter of introduction’ available for the ‘bona-fide poor’ only.
Patients had to provide their own clean linen and bottles for medicines.
Obviously,with money as tight as it was, every donation was important and was carefully recorded. In addition to financial
donations supporters made gifts in kind. ‘Pound Days’ too, where members of the public were invited to give a lb of any
suitable product e.g. groceries, were popular from an early date.
LIST OF GIFTS 1890
Freeborn, Mrs ...............................................................................Books, Old Linen LIST OF GIFTS RECEIVED ON POUND DAY.
Freemantle Gospel Mission..........................................................Flowers, Fruit and Vegetables
Gale, Mrs ......................................................................................Vegetables, Apples. Grapes, Flowers, Figs, Oranges
Geffcken, Mrs................................................................................Bottles Andrews, Mrs...........................Potatoes
Good, Mrs .....................................................................................Gooseberries Andrews, Mrs R.......................Tapioca
Griffiths, Mrs..................................................................................Toys and Dolls’ House
Hans, Mrs...................................................................................... Port Wine Barker, Mrs..............................Oatmeal
Harman, Mrs .................................................................................Flannel, Toys. Jelly, Flowers. Cake, Butter, Flannel Bailey, Mrs...............................Demerara, Sifted Sugar and Soap
Vests, Jersey Jacket
Barter, Mr ................................Tapioca, Flowers
Hay, Mrs Herbs, ...........................................................................Lettuce, Pictoral Papers, Magazines, Vegetables,
Flowers, Peaches, Two Sets of Sheets, Quilt, Bottles, Bartron, Mr ..............................Bacon, Biscuits, Stewing Pears
Flannel, Roses, Jug, Sweets, Flannel Sheets Brown, Mrs .............................Tea, Sugar
Mrs Hay’s Maid .............................................................................Toys Bush, Mrs................................Rice
Herbert, Mrs ..................................................................................Cakes, Sweets, Eggs, Fowls, Christmas Tree Buttermer, Mrs ........................Sugar, Sago
Hopcroft, Mrs ................................................................................Cakes, Biscuits, Oranges, Hot Cross Buns Butcher, Mrs............................Tea, Sago
Harvest Festival (per Mr Dunlop) ................................................Flowers, Fruit, Vegetables
Isted, Mrs ......................................................................................Toys and Jugs
Jacob, Mrs..................................................................................... Clothes Rail, Plants, Christmas Cards Cook, Mrs................................Tapioca
Ledhams, Mrs and Miss Weekly .................................................Gift of Flowers Collins, Mrs Grosett ................Cocoa
Lees, Miss..................................................................................... Flowers Cox, Mrs .................................Oatmeal, Linseed meal
Leveson, Mrs (per Mrs Hay) ........................................................New Nightdresses Coxwell, Miss .........................Tapioca, Rice
Lillingston, Mrs Innes.................................................................... Grapes Curtis, Mrs ..............................Tea, Sago
Lomer, Mrs ...................................................................................Fruit, Flowers, Three New Flannel Dressing Gowns,
Oranges, Grapes, Jam, Cake
Lomer, Miss Pearlie...................................................................... Doll Dacre, Mr ................................Groats, Tea, Barley
Mansell, Captain, R.N. .................................................................Pictoral Papers, Books Dacre, Miss .............................Sugar
Mansfield, Mrs ..............................................................................Old Linen Dashper, Miss ........................Tea
Mark, Mrs ......................................................................................Flannel Dressing Gown Davidson, Mrs ........................Tapioca
Martin, Miss Biscuits, ...................................................................Sponge Cakes, Scrap Book, Dolls, Picture Frames, Devenish, Miss........................Bacon, Sifted Sugar
Night Socks, Oranges
Dommett, Mrs..........................Butter, Sugar
May, Mrs .......................................................................................Biscuits
Matoss, Mrs ..................................................................................Flowers, Cakes,Oranges, Apples, Almanac, Bon-Bons
McQuhae, Mrs ..............................................................................Grapes, Sponge Cakes Franks, Mrs .............................Rice, Tapioca, Tea
Muyer, Mrs (per Mrs Hay) ............................................................Two Large Scrap Books
Murton, Mrs Dolls,......................................................................... Handkerchief, Knitted Cuffs Gale, Mrs ................................Tea, Coffee
Newnham, Mrs .............................................................................Vegetables, Raspberries, Flannel Jacket Gilbert, Misses ........................Jam, Butter, Biscuits
Ollivier, Mrs ...................................................................................Toys, Petticoat, Cuffs, Cake
Gordon, Miss ..........................Jam, Oatmeal
Oram, Mrs .....................................................................................Potatoes, Beans
Payne, Mr .....................................................................................Papers
Phillips, Miss .................................................................................Scrap Book Harman, Mrs ...........................Soap, Candles
Pullen, Rev ...................................................................................Flowers Hay, Mrs .................................12lb. Sugar, 12lb. Oatmeal
Randall, Mrs.................................................................................. Lemon Squeezer Hicks, Mr .................................Soap, Flour, Sugar
Reeves, .........................................................................................Mrs Cake Hopcroft, Mrs ..........................Biscuits, Sago
Richards, Mrs................................................................................ Cake
Hunt, Miss ...............................Soap, Tea, Rice, Figs
Richards, Miss Elsie .....................................................................Flowers, Cake, Oranges, Biscuits
Scott, Mrs .....................................................................................Flowers, Cooking Apparatus, Jam, Rhubarb (weekly),
Plants Ings, Mrs .................................Apples, Jam
Scovell, Mrs ..................................................................................Cake, Bath, Jam, Jelly, Oranges and Sweets
Pound Day Gifts 1894
Some of the gifts received in 1890
In 1903 there was a donation of £5 to renew all the house linen. Mrs Milne Stewart established the Linen League in 1910.
The members of this group undertook to provide all the linen and clothing required by the hospital. A local draper offered
special prices for certain items e.g. “Red Flannel Jackets for children of 3 to 18 years— Flannel at 1/6d per yard”. In 1891
some minor alterations and additions were made to the building but on the following year the hospital went through a
difficult period following “a constant change of matrons and several untoward circumstances”. At this time also, Dr
Beaumont left to be replaced by his partner, Dr W.G. Collins. He was joined in 1895 by Dr R.D.H. Gwillim and Dr Howard
Saunders; both became consultants after a few years. The latter later recalled his first operation, a tracheostomy on a
child with diphtheria performed with the aid of a candle-lit reading light held by a nurse. In 1899 for the first time the Hon.
Treasurer was able to announce that he had cash in hand at the end of the year. In its first fifteen years the hospital had
treated nearly 700 in- patients and 5000 outpatients but it remained a very small institution. Southampton was expanding
fast and was engulfing the village of Shirley. There was strong pressure for increased accommodation at the hospital. So
in 1900, in spite of continuing financial difficulties, it was decided to establish a Building Fund to be used either to enlarge
the existing house or to purchase a more suitable building for the hospital. In 1911 the original house was purchased for
£574 and alterations estimated to cost £1000 were proposed.
However in 1912 the Managing Committee received an option to purchase Anglesea House in Winchester Road for
£1000 so the plans to enlarge the house in Church Street were abandoned and the move to Anglesea House agreed. The
house which had been the home of Mr Crowther Smith one of the original members of the Managing Committee required
very little modification in the first place to provide ten beds. An appeal was made for furniture and ‘The Shirley Children’s
Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Aged Men’ was opened by Mrs Henderson on September 26th 1912 at an
informal ceremony and blessed by the Vicar of Shirley while the Band of the Borough Police played “admirable selections”
in the grounds. The original house in Church Street was sold to the Liberal Club for £500.
Prior to 1913 it had been the practice to close the hospital for six weeks each summer for the matron’s holiday during
which time the building could be cleaned; however in that year the closure was for two weeks only and after that it was
agreed that the practice should cease and a fully qualified sister be engaged to cover the period. However the wards were
subsequently closed on several occasions in the following years on account of infections such as German measles,
measles and erysipelas.
Further development had to be suspended during World War 1 but the work of the hospital continued as before. Rising
prices and an overdrawn bank balance caused much concern. There was increasing difficulty in recruiting nurses and
salaries had to be increased. Several of the medical staff were called up and were difficult to replace. Food rationing was
introduced in 1918, twelve persons being registered as resident at the hospital. Matron’s Christmas party was reduced to
a small tea party for in- patients and a few out-patients.
In May 1919 the medical staff proposed that the hospital should be enlarged by converting the existing waiting room and
doctors room into an additional ward. It was soon shown however that it would be more economical to build a new single
storey wing to house outpatients and some extra beds and it was proposed to install electric lighting. There was also a
suggestion that provision should be made for maternity cases but this was not agreed. Another suggestion was made that
the Vicarage next door should he purchased but this proposal was not acted on for twenty years. At this time a large
legacy from the late Mr J.F.Obree became available so it was decided to add a 15 bed ward above the proposed new
O.P.s at a total cost of £1631. The New Obree Wing was opened by H.R.H.Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest
daughter, who had become Patroness in 1920. She remained Patroness until her death in 1944. At Dr Saunders
suggestion the title of the hospital was changed from The ‘Shirley’.... to The ‘Southampton’ Children’s Hospital and
Dispensary for Women.
With the doctors returning to civilian life there were moves towards increased specialisation. In 1919 Dr Stewart started
an E.N.T. department and two G.P.s were appointed as Hon. Anaesthetist. In 1921 a new Out-patient department for the
treatment of skin diseases was set up under Dr Saunders and a Massage Department was added in charge of an
Honorary Masseuse. It was suggested that some second hand X-ray equipment should be purchased but this was
deemed to be too expensive and, as two other institutions in the town had such equipment, unnecessary. A ‘five wire
house telephone’ was donated in 1924.
Mr Walter Purvis joined the medical staff as Hon. Surgeon to replace Mr Nelson who had died and Dr Seager Thomas
became the first Honorary Pathologist. The E.N.T. department became increasingly busy and Mr Norman MacKeith took
over from Mr Stewart in 1926. The remainder of medical staff were still G.P.s practicing within about a mile of the hospital.
The first resident medical officer, Dr Laurel Heny, was appointed in 1929.
The inter-war period saw a marked increase in the number of cases treated. In the period 1920-1930 there was a five fold
increase in the number of children admitted while the number of out-patients trebled. No longer did children come mainly
from Shirley and adjacent perishes but the catchment area now included the whole of Southampton and increasingly from
places further afield. However the main cause for this increase was undoubtedly the growing popularity of adeno-
tonsillectomy; this operation and other E.N.T. cases accounted for 76.9% of surgical admissions. There was also a
greater diversity in the types of the other cases treated. (Table IIl). There was an increasing amount of ‘cold” surgery with
cases being admitted for radical cure of hernia, undescended testis, phimosis (circumcision).etc while on the “hot” side
there was a steady flow of appendicitis and small numbers of intusussception and pyloric stenosis many of whom died.
The other common causes of death were pneumonia, meningitis, gastro enteritis and prematurity. Considerable use was
made of local convalescent homes particularly that at Testwood which closed in 1928.
To be admitted, a patient now required not only a referral letter from his panel doctor but also two introductory letters
which would last for one month though an O.P. attendance needed only one letter. A subscriber had at his disposal one
such letter for every 10/6d subscribed. The unfortunate parents would have to hunt around for a patron with letters to
spare before their child could be treated. However emergencies and accidents were treated without question. No charges
were made and a suggestion that 2/6d be charged for a dental gas was firmly turned down. The rules at this time stated
that “Only women and children of those parents who are unable from want of means or other urgent cause, to be suitably
treated elsewhere and who after medical examination are shown to be in need of treatment are to be admitted as
patients”. One subscriber complained to the committee that a child whose father earned £7 per week should not have
been treated at the hospital.
In 1936 revised rules state that the parents of patients who could afford to do so, were to be asked to contribute towards
the cost of treatment and maintenance. There was also mention of a Pay Bed ward but this does not appear to have been
established. Introductory letters were no longer required.
Before the war the hospital had largely relied on subscriptions and
donations for finance but with the increased size and turnover there was
a need to find much more money. The Linen League continued to be
very active and provided not only linen but furnishings for the new
nurses’ home. Pound Days also continued. The annual Carnival and flag
days were a valuable source of funds. Many of the local businesses
particularly the big shipping companies gave large donations but
important contributions were also made by a number of working men’s
organisations notably the Southampton Tramwaymen. A ‘Penny in the
Pound’ scheme whereby some employers deducted that amount from a
man’s wages as a form of health insurance was introduced to be
followed by other contributory schemes. Various new fund raising
schemes were introduced. A Children’s League was started in 1927 whereby individual schools in the neighbourhood
were encouraged to support a particular named cot. In 1928 the ‘Gugnunc’ cot was endowed. This was the first of several
such cots ‘Named in Perpetuity’ each costing the donors £600. Probably the last to be endowed was the ‘Reid’ cot to
commemorate Flight Sgt. John Reid who had been shot down over Germany in 1944. It is sad that all the commemorative
plaques for these cots were lost when the hospital closed in 1974.
In 1925 the first part of a new nurses’ home fronting Vinery Gardens was opened thus releasing accommodation in the
main building for a small ‘tonsil ward’ The remaining half of the nurses’ home together with a lecture room was completed
in 1931. Further expansion took place in 1927/9 The kitchen was enlarged and linked to a new ward kitchen above by a
‘dumb waiter’. The Shirley Wing was added to the front of the building providing a new department for Massage, electrical
and sunlight treatment together with X-ray on the ground floor and a 15 cot ward and sun balcony above, thus bringing
the total number of cots available to 45. New provision was made for the dispensary thus freeing space for a dressings
room in Out-patients. An oxygen tent was donated in 1938. In 1928 a number of ladies volunteered to provide teaching to
some of the in-patients, The hospital was visited in 1929 by H.R.H. Prince of Wales who was surprised at its small size.
In it’s Jubilee Year (1934) plans were made for a very large increase in
size to provide up to 100 beds; this was to be achieved in stages over a
number of years. An appeal was organised for Stage 1 to raise £5000 -
£6000 in order to build a new out-patients, a new theatre, a lift and to
make various other improvements. Number 5 Vinery Gardens was
purchased at the same time. At that time the theatre was upstairs by
Ward 1, The extensions were opened the following year by the Bishop of
Winchester Dr Garbett, bringing the number of beds up to 55. In 1940
Oakfield House a substantial Victorian building next door which had been
the Vicarage, and later belonged to Dr H. Carter, was purchased, It was
hoped that this would provide additional in-patient accommodation
though in the event it was used for administrative offices and
accommodation for senior nursing staff.
At the outbreak of World War 2 the children were evacuated to Lord Mayor Treloar’s Hospital at Alton but emergencies
continued to be admitted though they were transferred to Alton as soon as they were fit enough to be moved. Adults were
also admitted to Ward 2 but this practice ceased in 1942. The Children’s Hospital also acted as a First Aid Post and was
continually manned by stretcher bearers during the Blitz on Southampton.
During the air raids patients who were fit enough were brought down to the central corridor which had been specially
reinforced and put to bed on benches later to be used in Casualty. Seriously ill children had to remain in the wards up-
stairs accompanied by a nurse who was issued with a ‘tin hat’ for’ her’ own protection. In the event the hospital escaped
any damage in the air raids though some bombs and also an enemy aeroplane fell uncomfortably close. ln 1942 Dr
Margaret Desser the R.M.O., herself a refugee
from Czecho-Slovakia, and Dr K.Slaney received awards for bravery from the Ring for saving air raid casualties from the
rubble of a house. However once the worst of the Blitz was over children who had been evacuated from the city began to
drift home. The Hospital routine began to return towards normal and there were more admissions. The O.P. Department
remained active. Clinics for women continued until 1945 although in the previous year it had been agreed to delete the
words “and Dispensary for Women” from the title of the hospital. The nursing routines at this time were fairly rigid; children
were bathed on admission and had daily blanket baths. There was also the routine daily ‘head round’. Wounds were
dressed daily. But there was little time for nurses to amuse the children and visiting was restricted to one hour on
Wednesdays and Sundays. Babies’ milk feeds were prepared in the ward
kitchens where the food for the older children was also dished out. It was
a very basic diet with breakfast, lunch and tea and lights out at 7 p.m. In
addition to nursing duties the nurses, who were all resident, were
responsible for much of the cleaning and polishing in the wards and for
manning the telephone out of office hours. When the domestic was away
or at weekends the nurses would have to do the washing of nappies and
woollens in the little laundry next to the mortuary down the garden! The
nurses were also actively involved in various forms of fund raising. A key
person at this time was Mr Tee the porter/caretaker who not only took the
children to the theatre but was always available for many jobs about the
hospital and with his wife developed the garden to produce vegetables
and kept chickens.
Clinically the types of cases admitted resembled those before the war but with the advent of sulphonamides and later
penicillin the treatment of infections such as meningitis became possible. Small premature babies were still being
admitted for care and those with gastro- enteritis were nursed in the side ward of Ward 2 by the ward staff.
Even before the war was over plans were being made for further developments. In 1945 Dr C,E.M. Joad, the popular “Any
questions” philosopher, launched an appeal on the radio for funds which brought in £1,549 towards the proposed 25 bed
ward in Oakfield and an up-dating of the X-ray Department. In 1947 proposals were put forward to enlarge the hospital to
150-200 beds to include an infectious disease unit. The physiotherapy unit was moved to the Oakfield kitchen in order to
provide room for a small gastro-enteritis ward and a milk kitchen was also established.
The other major project which was suggested was the provision of a
convalescent home. Various properties were considered before it was
agreed to purchase Brixedone House at Bursledon for the sum of £15,750.
The deal was concluded on the 26th of June 1948 just days before the
inauguration of the N.H.S. This large country house with extensive out
buildings and grounds overlooking the upper reaches of the Hamble River
had been the home of the Thistlethwaite family before the war but had then
been commandeered, first to accommodate families made homeless by the
air raids and later by the Navy, who used it as quarters for W.R.N.S.
Several new appointments were made to the medical staff, Dr George
Ormiston was appointed Paediatrician in February 1947. He had done much of his post-graduate training in the U.S,A.
and had worked with Dr Alexis Hartmann in St Louis. He was expert in the field of water and electrolyte metabolism. Soon
after his appointment he set up a new Gastro- enteritis unit on the Ground floor in what had previously been the Massage
department. Dr Mary Copes who was already working in the area as a Child Psychiatrist was appointed to the Children’s
hospital in 1948. The number of junior medical staff was increased to three.
IN THE NHS
The introduction of the National Health Service in 1940 brought major changes to the administration of the old Voluntary
Hospitals such as the Southampton Children’s. National funding replaced the previous contributory schemes and
voluntary efforts. Administration became more centralised and professional. The Children’s Hospital thus became one of
the Southampton Group of hospitals, itself part of the South West Metropolitan Region whose headquarters were in
Portland Place, London. At that time there were only three general children’s hospitals in the South of England outside
London; Brighton, Bristol and Southampton the latter being the only one in the South West Metropolitan Region.
Our local managing authority was the Group Hospital Management Committee (H.M.C.) with Mr Frank Jennings as its
secretary and chief executive officer. Each hospital had its own House Committee (in our case combined with Romsey
Hospital) which took over from the old Managing committee but had decreasingly less power. Mr Bedford who had been
Chairman of the old committee continued as Chairman until 1955 when he was succeeded by Professor Rayment. In his
turn he was briefly followed by Dr G.Johnson of Romsey and Miss F Wright S.R.N. before Dr W. Angus a local G.P. took
over the committee for many years. Medical matters were dealt with by the group Medical Advisory Committee (M.A.C.)
comprising a number of hospital consultants, but it too had limited executive power. The medical staff of the hospital had
our own committee which met once a month. All medical committee meetings were held out of working hours and often
continued late into the night.
There were also great changes on the medical front. The previous medical staff, mostly local practitioners living nearby
and supported by others with specialist status, all of whom had given their services entirely voluntarily, were gradually
replaced by nearly whole time specialist consultants. Considering the magnitude of these changes they took place
remarkably smoothly with very little acrimony.
Dr George Ormiston (1947) and Dr Mary Capes (1948) had both joined the staff of the hospital prior to the ‘Appointed
Day’ and I was appointed Consultant Paediatrician in November 1949. Like Dr Ormiston,I had responsibilities in
Winchester as well as Southampton. At that time most consultant appointments were designated “maximum part-time”
i.e.9/11ths, so that we were able to have some private practice, In my case this never amounted to very much and later
when it was permissible, I opted to go full time. An important feature in those days was the Domiciliary Consultation which
was quite a formal affair with the G.P. nearly always present. As well as being a valuable perk for the consultant they did
give him a chance to meet the G,P,s and also an opportunity for him to see the inside of the patients homes,
At the Children’s Hospital in 1950 Miss Golay was matron and there were two main wards. Ward I. Gillespie, was divided
into two sections the main one in the front overlooking Winchester Rd. had beds along one side and cots along the outer
and there was also the ‘balcony’, which had previously been enclosed, providing 20 beds in all. In 1951 cubicles were
constructed along one side of the ward with the loss of 5 beds. At the top of the stairs opposite the ward kitchen there was
a small treatment room with a side ward for skin cases next door. The poor babies with generalised eczema there were
nursed naked with their limbs splinted to prevent scratching and painted all over with Gentian Violet. Next to the ward
kitchen there was a two-bedded sick bay for nursing staff which later became the treatment room: a severe case of
tetanus was successfully nursed there for several weeks. Nursing procedures were still quite primitive. With no Central
Sterile Supply service all instruments etc had to be sterilised on the wards. Urine specimens from infants were collected
by means of a glass bird feeder strapped on with ‘Elastoplast’ under the nappy.
At the back was Ward II, Obree, which accommodated 11 surgical and 12 ‘clean’ medical cases, Dr Ormiston’s small
gastro-enteris ward on the ground floor with Sister Hughes in charge had six cubicles. Dr Ormiston liked to have a
specimen of each baby’s stool on display in an enamel pie-dish at the foot of its cot, One nurse has complained that this
put her off rice pudding for life! Dr Ormiston retained sole charge of the unit until he retired.
Ward I was presided over by Sister “Bunty” Boyce a wonderful person in the very best traditions of her profession. She
would often be found still on duty late at night when one of her ‘treasures’ was in danger. She was adored by the children
as well as by their parents. The whole hospital was delighted when later she was awarded an M.B.E. in recognition of her
devoted service. She retired in 1966.
In 1948 12 children (900 p.a.) were still being admitted to Ward I for Ts
& As on alternate days but this ceased with the opening of the children’s
E.N.T. ward at the General. In the fifties infections such as poliomyelitis,
congenital syphilis and tuberculosis were still quite common. There was
usually at least one case of TB meningitis requiring daily intrathecal
injections of streptomycin in the wards. Miliary tuberculosis too was not
uncommon nor were bone and glandular T.B. due to the bovine bacillus.
Although most town milk was pasteurised, this often did not apply in
rural districts. Gastro-enteritis was still the dreaded complication for
hospitalised infants.
In most winters there was an epidemic of acute infantile laryngo-
tracheo-bronchitis. Sometimes this almost overwhelmed our facilities.
Every available cot would be occupied by a wheezing baby while
occasionally some had to be accommodated temporarily in odd boxes or drawers. Steam kettles and oxygen tents were
everywhere. The infant’s condition could deteriorate extremely quickly and it was always difficult to decide just when to
call in the E.N.T.surgeon to do a tracheostomy. One has vivid memories of Mr Alex Rusell, himself a severe asthmatic,
arriving in haste at the top of the stairs by Ward I wheezing as badly as the infant he had come to treat!
Cystic fibrosis had only recently been separated off from coeliac disease and most of the cases died in infancy. The
sweat test had not yet been invented. The cause of coeliac disease itself was still a mystery so that there was no effective
treatment. Cases of ‘pink disease’ were still quite common. These were particularly miserable babies with characteristic
itchy pink palms and soles. The condition disappeared as soon as it was shown to have been caused by mercury
poisoning from so-called ‘teething powders’. Childhood diabetes was much less common than it is to-day and there were
two schools of thought regarding the importance of strict dietary control.
We had very little to offer the unfortunate children with malignant disease. Those with various solid tumours had surgery
and probably radiotherapy at the Royal South Hants Hospital but those with leukaemia were usually sent home with a
prognosis of only a few weeks to live, often to be readmitted in their terminal phase. A development in the late fifties was
the gradual appreciation of the importance of non-accidental injury to children; with hind-sight it was apparent that many
such cases had been missed, sometimes being mis-diagnosed as infantile scurvy.
The streptococcal related disorders of acute nephritis and rheumatic fever were quite common. In both cases they were
treated by graduated bed rest .The progress was very gradual, starting in the case of rheumatic fever, with three weeks
flat on the back without pillows. After a week or so at Winchester Rd the children were transferred to Bursledon so that
Description:The original Medical Staff consisted of Dr Beaumont and Dr E.J. Chamberlain L.R.C.P. both local practioners living . The Infant Mortality rate in Southampton was well over 100 per 1000 births and remained so until World War I and the .. An appeal was made for furniture and 'The Shirley Children's.
