(In 1896 nine architectural practices submitted plans in the competition to design a new workhouse at Bagthorpe. This was to be a replacement for the old York Street Workhouse vacated and demolished prior to the excavations for the Victoria Station. The judges selected the scheme prepared by the Nottingham architects Arthur Marshall and George Turner. Over the years the former Bagthorpe Workhouse has been transformed into the present City Hospital - Editor).
The illustrated history of Nottingham City Hospital started in the early 1980s when, by chance, a collection of various items of historical interest came to hand. These comprised some original architectural drawings on blue paper (the ‘blueprint’?), a ledger of the cost of various items needed to run the institution and a story about Arthur Marshall, a local architect who had won the competition to design the new Bagthorpe Workhouse and Infirmary. He later saw his dream built, not only in Nottingham but also in Russia. These items were put on display in the out-patients department.
Several years passed before Paul Swift, one of the hospital porters, started taking an interest in the history of the hospital. He collected an increasing amount of fascinating material by exploring parts of the hospital rarely visited, and this gathered momentum until he had an embarrassment of riches. Various attempts were made to use this material to form the basis of a book on the history of the hospital to continue the story written by Dr James Macfie in 1984, but there were no volunteers - until now!
In spring 2001 the hospital Medical Director contacted Dr David Banks, a retired physician, and asked him to help the hospital celebrate the 100 years since the first patient was admitted, on 18 March 1903.
A committee was established with representatives from many parts of the hospital, including Paul Swift, now officially recognised as honorary archivist, and David Lowe from the Nottingham Evening Post. Many ideas were put forward for celebrating 18 March and the whole of 2003, including the production of a book using the facts and photographs, which had been collected by Paul. David Lowe, who had written a history of the General Hospital when it closed, agreed to provide the words to go alongside the pictures.
A lot of information was available about the first half of the 20th century but the more recent history was harder to come by so Dr Banks, as Chairman of the steering committee, wrote to colleagues and friends as well as prominent personalities in the hospital, for their impressions of their time spent working there. What a rich seam this proved to be! Many of the contributors had been in Nottingham in the 1960s and some even earlier.
There was such variety in these recollections. We had first-hand descriptions of life in a children’s ward as remembered by a patient who later spent several decades working in the hospital as a secretary. We heard anecdotes of car races around the campus by the doctors and a wonderful tale of a lion with kidney disease, which a local vet wanted to bring to the hospital for treatment! We were also told of the early attempts at cardiac surgery in Nottingham by one of the surgeons who carried out these operations with a great deal of success.
Many people responded to our request for information and anecdotes and they add a great deal to the interest of the book, helping to illustrate the incredible rate of change at the hospital over the last generation. The hospital has developed or redeveloped services, which were only a gleam in somebody’s eye, into major facilities open to all.
Readers with an interest in architecture will also find plenty to interest them because the hospital has witnessed extensive development over the years. We have an ‘H-Block’ which is not an H, we have an oncology unit built in one style, an endoscopy centre in another and a breast unit in its final stages of completion, looking very different again. The old maternity unit, which, was built in the 1970s, used the technique of spraying asbestos onto the beams despite the advice of one of the pathologists who was an expert in asbestos disease. It was replaced in the mid-1990s after he had been proved right. Fortunately QMC, which was to have had the same technique used in its building, escaped as the authorities in charge took note of the advice.
This vast collection of material needed considerable sorting and editing, a job taken on by David Lowe. His Evening Post colleague Tony Rose then put the words and selected photographs together on the pages and designed 116 colourful pages for a book The People’s Hospital for all to enjoy.
A great deal has happened during the 20th century. Man took his first flight in 1903 and now we all benefit from cheap fares across the globe. X-rays were only discovered in 1895 but less than 100 years later we are able to use them to show three-dimensional images of the living body in a CT scan. During this period the workhouse and infirmary has grown from an idea to a major teaching centre, passing through various phases of medical and architectural development. Arthur Marshall would be astounded to see the embellishments to his original idea.
The People’s Hospital will illustrate the changes in physical structure, which have taken place, but it will also show the continuing caring spirit, which underpins whatever the cosmetic changes, may be. We believe this is as strong today as it has ever been and is one of the powerful qualities of Nottingham City Hospital.
The hospital’s year of celebration is already underway and The People’s Hospital was published on Tuesday 18 March. Copies can be ordered from the hospital’s PR office (Ph: 0115 969 1169 ext 34532) and will be on sale within the hospital retail outlets and in city centre bookstores. They will also be available at the hospital Open Day and Carnival on Saturday 5 July. At just £5 per copy, we hope it will be an affordable gift or commemorative item for most people to enjoy.
Elizabeth
Reeson
Public Relations Manager
Nottingham City Hospital
April 2003
§ More information about the hospital’s centenary celebrations is published on its website: www.ncht.org.uk or is available from the PR team.
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