CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC HEALTH

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: MCC/CL/MH
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC HEALTH
Date(s)	: 1905-1942
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.51 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Harefield County Sanatorium began as a private home and estate used as a hospital for wounded Australian and New Zealander servicemen from 1915 to 1918. After the war the owners of the estate sold it to the Middlesex County Council who converted it into a sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis. It was thought ideal for treating this disease because it was one of the highest points in Middlesex with plenty of fresh air. On the formation of the National Health Service it became a general hospital specialising in chest diseases.

Napsbury County Asylum was founded in 1898 by the Middlesex County Council and was constructed near London Colney, Hertfordshire, completed by 1905. It had space for 1,200 residents with long term mental illness.

Shenley Hospital, Radlett, Hertfordshire was opened on 31st May 1934 as part of the Middlesex Colony. Along with Napsbury Hospital it was established for the care of the mentally ill. The hospital was built on the site of Porters Park and provided accommodation initially for 1,047 and the full development of 2000 beds with 500 staff. It was planned on the villa system comprising of small nursing units ranging from 20-45 patients and had its own water supply treatment, sewage works and farm.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Department relating to health services, 1905-1942, including civil defence map of Middlesex showing hospitals, remand homes and approved schools; opening ceremony of Harefield County Sanatorium; and opening ceremony and rules and regulations for Napsbury County Asylum and Shenley Hospital. Also printing blocks showing Shenley Mental Health Colony.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

MCC/CL/MH/01: Mental health; MCC/CL/MH/02: Shenley Hospital printing blocks.

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 to these records rests with the Corporation of London.

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired with the records of its parent authority, the Middlesex County Council, and with successor authorities.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Papers of Shenley Hospital and Napsbury Hospital can be found at the LMA, reference H49 and H50. Further papers of Napsbury Mental Hospital are available at the Wellcome Library, reference GC/135, and papers of Harefield Hospital can be found at the Royal London Hospital Archives Centre and Museum.

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the Middlesex County Council please see Middlesex by Sir Clifford Radcliffe (2 editions, 1939 and 1953), LMA Library reference 97.09 MID; and The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex: 76 years of local government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965, by Middlesex County Council (1965), LMA library reference S97.09 MID.

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:
April to June 2009