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London Metropolitan Archives

GROVE PARK HOSPITAL


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): H39/GP

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: GROVE PARK HOSPITAL

Date(s): 1945-1993

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 1 linear metre

Name of creator(s): Grove Park Hospital
Grove Park Workhouse | 1896-1918

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Board of Guardians of Greenwich Union Workhouse applied for permission to expand the site towards the end of the 1890s but this was refused by the Local Government Board of Greenwich. Spicers Meadow was therefore bought in 1896 for five thousand and fifty pounds and plans were drawn up for Grove Park Workhouse to act as an overspill for the Greenwich Union Workhouse.

Thomas Dinwiddy was the architect, his plans were approved in 1897 (the plans were presented at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900 and won a Diploma of Merit). The foundation stone was laid in 1899.

The first Master of the Workhouse was Edward Tyler, working for an annual fee of one hundred and twenty pounds. The workhouse had room for 816 inmates whose work was to break up granite that was sold later to local councils. The workhouse, however, had been built in a remote site and the authorities found that they had difficulty recruiting inmates. The remaining story of the workhouse was an ever-changing one.

In 1914 the workhouse was used as a mobilisation / training centre by the Army Services Corps. In 1918 the workhouse was sold to the Metropolitan Asylums Board as a hospital for patients with tuberculosis (Grove Park Hospital). The Board soon decided that they did not want this facility and the buildings remained empty until 1926, at which time it once again became a hospital for patients with tuberculosis. A nurses' home was added in 1938. The hospital was bombed on 15th November 1940, two nurses were awarded the George Medal for rescuing patients from the debris. In 1945 the hospital became a centre for thoracic surgery. In 1977 Grove Park Hospital became a facility for patients with mental handicap.

Unfortunately, the buildings were not 'listed' by Greenwich or Lewisham authorities so that when the buildings were sold to a private contractor in 1992 much of the original construction was demolished. Only the frontage and main administration building remain (the road around the main administration building was named Thomas Dinwiddy Road, after the architect). The hospital site has now been redeveloped as a residential area.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Grove Park Hospital, including information and instructions for medical staff, 1964; architects plans mostly for upgrading and conversion of hospital, 1975 and subject files, 1954-1975, regarding various topics including Lewisham Group Hospital Management Committee reports, patient complaints, geriatric services, intensive care, nursing education, King's Fund patient survey, National Health Service (NHS) reorganisation and management schemes and structures.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

The records are arranged as follows: A = Administration, C = Staff Records.

Conditions governing access:

These records are open to public inspection, although under section 5(4) of the 1958 Public Records Act administrative records are closed for 30 years and patient records for 100 years.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: Depositor

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

ACC/3292

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: February 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Gerontology | Medical sciences
Hospital administration | Hospitals | Health services
Hospital architecture | Architecture
Hospital management | Hospitals | Health services
Medical history | Personal history | History
Nursing education | Medical education | Higher science education
Workhouses | Buildings | Architecture
Medical institutions

Personal names

Corporate names
Grove Park Hospital x Grove Park Workhouse | 1896-1918
Metropolitan Asylums Board

Places
Greenwich | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Hertfordshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe