SPRINGFIELD HOSPITAL

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: H46/SP
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SPRINGFIELD HOSPITAL
Date(s)	: 1844 - 1990
Level of description	: subfonds View parent record
Extent	: 50.53 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Springfield Hospital

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Springfield Hospital was originally opened in 1841 as the Surrey Pauper Lunatic Asylum. The Surrey Justices of the Peace had formed a Committee in 1835 to look into the 'state and expense of pauper lunatics belonging to Surrey'. A new committee reported in 1837 that it was desirable to build an asylum 'as a measure of wise economy and enlightened humanity'. It was hoped that this would reduce the burden on the parishes of Surrey to maintain the insane. The site purchased in 1838 from Henry Perkins consisted of a house and estate known as Springfield Park (a total of 97 acres). The asylum was designed by Mr W. Moseley, County Surveyor of Middlesex (who had constructed the Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum at Hanwell).

Two new wings were built onto the north and east and by 1855 the asylum could accommodate 430 male and 534 female patients. Additional land to the east of the estate was acquired in 1864. A Cottage Hospital was opened in 1872 to deal with infectious diseases. Following the formation of the London County Council and Middlesex County Council in 1889, the overall question of provision of asylums in London resulted in Springfield being allotted to Middlesex County Council.

In 1897, a separate 'Annex for Idiot Children' was opened to accommodate 20 children under the provisions of the Lunacy Act of 1890, which sought to separate the treatment of mentally handicapped children from the treatment of the mentally ill. An Infirmary Block for the physically ill was opened in 1931.

In 1948 the Hospital was transferred to the National Health Service. In 2001 the Hospital became part of South West London and Saint George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Springfield Hospital, 1844-1990, including committee minutes and papers, annual reports, reports by the Commissioners of Lunacy and the Commissioners of the Board of Control, general administrative files, records of the League of Friends, admission and discharge registers, death, discharge and transfer registers, medical journals and treatment records, social histories of patients, staff records, financial records, plans of the hospital, photographs and publications.

Access & 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), Related Documentation (Y) and Prints and Photographs (PH).

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

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

ACC/3755, ACC/3767, ACC/3769, B05/158

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's 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