Memorial Details

Memorial Hospital 1914-18 1939-45

H51.08

HEXHAM

NY 936638

Eastgate

a. 1914-18
b. 1939-45

a. Opened by Prince Henry (later Duke of Gloucester) on Thursday 29th September 1921. Dedicated by Rev. J.V.C. Farquhar, B.A. This was Prince Henry's "first official ceremony", and on the same date the monument in the Abbey Grounds was also unveiled.

St. Wilfrid's Memorial Hospital (formerly a private house owned by Col. Jasper Gibson) which, when opened as a Cottage Hospital, had a male ward with 6 beds, a female ward with 6 beds, a ward with 4 children's cots, an operating theatre and X-ray room. The names of those commemorated are recorded on two memorial boards H51.26 and H51.27

Existing Victorian House.

None.

None.

The Hospital War Memorial Committee.

£15,000 estimated for Cross and Hospital.

By the Hospital Committee, Chairman Mr. James T. Robb, J.P., public subscription. See Note 1 below.

Hospital closed April 1st 1995 and was demolished.

1. The Elswick and Scotswood Workmen's War Relief Fund provided equipment for the hospital. £2,000 was given from surplus Red Cross funds, and they also supplied an ambulance. Viscount Allendale gave £250.

2. The Hexham Courant Supplement Sat. 21/10/1921 reads as follows:
“Royal Visit to Hexham. Prince Henry opens War Hospital and Unveils Memorial.
Loyal and enthusiastic Reception of King’s Son. A Memorable Day.
His Royal Highness Prince Henry, the third son of Their Majesties the King and Queen, undertook his first official ceremonial when he visited Hexham on Thursday last to open the War Memorial Hospital and unveil the War Memorial Cross in the Abbey Grounds”.
He was met by Mr. James Robb, J.P., the Chairman of the Hospital Committee and of the Hexham War Memorial Committee, at the hospital gates.
The total of the men who died is 221; they were mostly resident in the town and the country closely surrounding it. (( are from the local Territorial Battalion, 4th Northumberland Fusiliers.
At a town meeting of February 1919 the Committee secured the fine house and surrounding grounds for the establishment of a cottage hospital in Hexham.
When opened it had a male ward with 6 beds, a female ward with 6 beds, a ward with 4 childrens’ cots, an operating theatre and an X-Rays room.
The County Council Clinic was in a suite of rooms on the floor below, with an entrance from Eastgate. A baby born on that September 29th was named Henrietta after Prince Henry.

3. St. Wilfrid’s War Memorial Hospital. 1921 Purchased and equipped by Hexham War Memorial Committee, it opened on 29th September 1921. After that it was probably handed over to a trust to run it; it had a separate endowment to fund it.
1948. It was taken over under the National Health Act, with all the other properties which had been used for health purposes.
1974 It was taken into the Local Health Authority. Some money was paid by the Government into an independent Trust Fund by way of compensation. Northumberland had some £500,000 invested in a fund and paid out money arising from the income.
Hexham had a variation of the Order for the original endowment from the Charity Commissioners to use the money from the Trust Fund to make improvements to health services in Hexham, such as installing the hydrotherapy pool in the General Hospital.
The St. Wilfrid’s Hospital building was probably owned by the R.V.I. and Associated Hospitals Trust and when it was sold they would have to sell it for a realistic price, on a valuation set by the District Valuer. A similar instance was the Charlotte Straker Hospital, Corbridge which was sold for a favourable price because of its intended use, rather than by auction or to the highest tender. Geoffrey Whitehouse, sometime Chairman of the Local Health Authority, 23rd Jan. 1995

4. St. Wilfrid’s War Memorial Hospital.
1921. Purchased and equipped by Hexham War Memorial Committee, it opened on 29th September 1921. After that it was probably handed over to a trust to run it; it had a separate endowment to fund it.
1948. It was taken over under the National Health Act, with all the other properties which had been used for health purposes.
1974. It was taken into the Local Health Authority. Some money was paid by the Government into an independent Trust Fund by way of compensation. Northumberland had some £500,000 invested in a fund and paid out money arising from the income.
Hexham had a variation of the Order for the original endowment from the Charity Commissioners to use the money from the Trust Fund to make improvements to health services in Hexham, such as installing the hydrotherapy pool in the General Hospital.
The St. Wilfrid’s Hospital building was probably owned by the R.V.I. and Associated Hospitals Trust and when it was sold they would have to sell it for a realistic price, on a valuation set by the District Valuer. A similar instance was the Charlotte Straker Hospital, Corbridge which was sold for a favourable price because of its intended use, rather than by auction or to the highest tender. Geoffrey Whitehouse, sometime Chairman of the Local Health Authority, 23rd Jan. 1995

5. The house had been owned by Jaspar Gibson Family.
In 2001 a stone was unveiled on the site of the old hospital, now a housing estate called “Gibsons Fields”. The stone reads:
Hexham War Memorial
Hospital 1923-1998
previously stood on this site,
purchased by public
subscription to honour the
Fallen of the Great War
1914-1918

6. The hospital was opened for patients as soon as it was ready in July 1921. The official opening would come later with the dedication of the cross.

7. In 2001 a stone was unveiled on the site of the old hospital, now a housing estate called “Gibsons Fields”. The stone reads:
Hexham War Memorial
Hospital 1923-1998
previously stood on this site,
purchased by public
subscription to honour the
Fallen of the Great War
1914-1918

8. "At a meeting of the committee of the Hexham War Memorial Cottage Hospital, Mr. James T. Robb presiding, Miss S.A. Barber, of Leeds, out of 62 applicants, was unanimously appointed matron. She comes with very high credentials. The hospital will shortly be opened, and will be a great boon to the neighbourhood."

Photos: C.N. Dallison

Photocopy of Prince Henry's autograph along with those of other dignitaries at the Opening Ceremony.

Programme for the Unveiling of the Monument by Prince Henry; Peace Celebrations leaflet in which Committees are appointed for fund raising events; United Service in Hexham Abbey grounds in which a collection would be taken for the War Memorial Hospital.

Hexham Courant Supplement Saturday, 01/10/1921 (copy framed in the entrance hall)

Hexham Courant 1919/1920 passim reports fund raising; 27/03/1920 reports donation of equipment; 27/09/1996 reports petition to save the hospital; 30/11/2001 reports unveiling of stone on site of hospital with photo.

Alnwick & County Gazette 10/01/1920 reports having raised £10,000, inc. £2,000 surplus from the Red Cross.

Newcastle Daily Journal 1920 passim report funding for various costs.

Hexham Parish Magazine Nov. 1921

Illustrated Chronicle 28/08/1919 reports purchase of house with photo; 26/09/1921 reports Prince Henry coming to open the hospital; 30/09/1921 reports opening with photos.

Evening Dispatch 30/09/1921 reports opening.

Newcastle Weekly Chronicle 05/07/1919 reports purchase of house, donations received totalled £2,517 5s; 1/10/1921 reports opening.

Hexham Weekly News 07/02/1919 reports proposals; 13/05/1921 reports thanks for various gifts; 01/07/1921 reports opening of the hospital to patients “on Monday next” and describes the hospital and its layout; 30/09/1921 reports opening.

Newcastle Daily Chronicle 11/12/1920 reports the appointment of matron named in Note 8 above; 12/09/1921 reports fund raising fete; 30/09/1921 reports opening of hospital.

Evening Dispatch 1921 09 30 Fri

Illustrated Chronicle 1919 08 28 Thu

The late Ken and Dorothy Southern; C.N. Dallison; J. Brown; Michael Newrick; J. Brown; George Nairn; Dorothy Hall

Alan Grint has researched the names on the Hexham memorials in his book The Faith and Fire Within, 2006, Ergo Press ISBN 0955275814 Contact:-Cogito books 01434 602555

 

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