IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): H01/G
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: GROSVENOR HOSPITAL
Date(s): 1866-1971
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 3.41 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Pimlico and Westminster Institute | 1865 - 1873
Vincent Square Hospital for Women and Children | 1873 - 1884
Grosvenor Hospital for Women and Children | 1884 - 1907
Grosvenor Hospital for Women | 1907 - 1974
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Grosvenor Hospital was established in 1865 as the Pimlico and Westminster Institute, a dispensary for women and children. Its president until 1885 was the Earl of Shaftesbury. In 1873 property at 29 Vincent Square, Westminster, was obtained and the dispensary became the Vincent Square Hospital for Women and Children. In 1875 the house next door was also purchased, increasing the number of beds. Medical students were not admitted but from 1879 lady missionaries were allowed to attend for clinical instruction.
The Hospital was renamed the Grosvenor Hospital for Women and Children in 1884. The aims of the hospital were established as the treatment of women with diseases peculiar to their sex, and the treatment of children as out patients who had illness that were not contagious. Formal rules for the admission of inpatients were drawn up in 1885 - patients were charged 5 shillings a week if recommended by a subscriber, otherwise the fee was 10 shillings. Patients had to pay for their own laundry. Out-patients paid between twopence and a shilling per visit and had to bring their own medicine bottles.
In 1891 a third house was added so that the total accommodation was 18 beds and 3 private wards. A new outpatients department was built in 1895, while a new in-patients ward was completed in 1897, opened by Princess Louise. The new building provided 36 beds. An additional floor was added in 1905, providing a new operating theatre, anaesthetics room and separate bedrooms for the nurses. Further extensions were added in 1936 - 1938. In 1948 when the National Health Service came into being the Hospital became part of the St Thomas's Group. Administration was carried out centrally but the name of the Hospital was retained, and it became the gynaecological wing of Saint Thomas'. It was closed in 1976.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of Grosvenor Hospital, including General Committee minute books, 1877-1951; House Committee minute books, 1905-1940; Medical Committee minute book, 1897-1948; Ladies Committee minute book, 1880-1890; correspondence files, 1874-1947, including correspondence on the amalgamation with Saint Thomas' Hospital and correspondence regarding leases and use of hospital property; report of the Pimlico and Westminster Institute for the first 6 months of its operation, 1866; annual reports, 1874-1948; plans of the Mortuary Block, 1947; specifications for various facilities in the Hospital, such as the boiler, sanitation and so on, 1897-1934; admission and discharge registers, 1921-1962; patient's address book, 1939-1947; radium registers, 1933-1948; registers of operations, 1968-1971; financial records, 1875-1958; papers regarding endowments and donations, 1942-1950; scroll signed by Princess Louise after opening a new building at the Hospital, 1897 and photographs and postcards of the buildings and wards, 1920-1930.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
These records are arranged according to a classification scheme for hospital records: General Hospital Administration (A), Patients' Administration (B), Finance Office (D), Endowments (E), Miscellaneous items (Y) and Prints and Photographs (Z).
Conditions governing access:
These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.
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:
Transferred from the Archive Office at St Thomas' Hospital to the London Metropolitan Archives on 11 July 1967.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
See St Thomas' Hospital by E M McInnes (George Allen and Unwin, 1963) for more information.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: February 2009