British Hospital for Mothers and Babies: Attendance registers

Reference Number(s)	GB 1538 RCMS/80/2
Dates of Creation	4 March 1948-16 October 1980
Language of Material	English
Physical Description	2 bound volumes

Scope and Content

Two registers, recording the attendance of midwife pupils at lectures on midwifery, obstetrics, paediatrics and public health held at British Hospital for Mothers and Babies (4 March 1948-16 October 1980).

Administrative / Biographical History

The Home for Mothers and Babies opened in two converted houses in Wood Street, Woolwich on 11 May 1905. The original hospital had beds for twelve in-patients. Midwives also attended outpatients in their own homes.

Midwifery pupils with at least a year's experience of general nursing were admitted for a minimum of six months training. When pupils had completed their training, they were expected to work as district midwives. A building fund was started to raise money to build a new and larger hospital.

In 1912 a proposal was received from the British Lying-In Hospital, Holborn, for the amalgamation of the two institutions. This was formally approved by the Charity Commission on 29 January 1915. The British Lying-In Hospital closed in May 1913. The Home for Mothers and Babies was renamed the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies and was placed under the control of a newly constituted Managing Committee with representatives of both institutions. In practice it continued much as before with the same objects, the same methods, and the same staff, but enriched by the endowments of the British Lying-In Hospital.

A site in Samuel Street, Woolwich was purchased in 1914. The first stone of the new building was laid in 1920 and the first stage of the new hospital was opened in March 1922. The second stage of the building was completed in 1929. An important part of the work of the hospital was the holding of both antenatal and postnatal clinics.

The hospital was badly damaged by bombing in 1940. An evacuation hospital was set up in Pednor House, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, which was loaned by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry then insisted that the administration of the hospital should be handed over to Buckinghamshire County Council. Rather than submit to this condition, the evacuation hospital was moved in March 1941 to a privately owned house, Moatlands, situated at Brenchley in Kent. Moatlands was purchased in 1944.

In 1948 the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service and became the responsibility of Woolwich Group Hospital Management Committee. Moatlands was vacated in 1953 when the beds were transferred to Saint Nicholas Hospital, Plumstead. The hospital was transferred to Greenwich and Bexley Area Health Authority in 1974 and to Greenwich Health Authority in 1982. It closed in 1984.

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions may apply if material includes personal information of living individuals. All other records are open to research by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For further information about accessing the collection and visiting the reading room, please contact: archives@rcog.co.uk

Conditions Governing Use

If you wish to reproduce this material, apply via the College Archivist: archives@rcog.co.uk

Acquisition Information

There is no record of the date or source of acquisition before the collection was deposited at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in May 2011.

Custodial History

This collection was originally deposited at the Royal College of Midwives. It is now held under the terms of a service level collection care agreement at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Other Finding Aid

Further details of the contents of this material are available on request.

Related Material

Additional records of the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies are held by the London Metropolitan Archive (Reference no. H14/BMB).

Note

Catalogued by Clare Sexton, Project Archivist in accordance with ISAD(G).

Subjects
Women's health
Midwifery
Midwives
Women
Health
Education
Health education
Obstetrics
Paediatrics
Corporate Names
British Hospital for Mothers and Babies

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British Hospital for Mothers and Babies: Examination papers, 1965-1976

Reference Number(s)	GB 1538 RCMS/80/3
Dates of Creation	March 1965-18 November 1976
Language of Material	English
Physical Description	1 bound volume

Scope and Content

Notebook, containing ts obstetric nurses examination papers on midwifery and paediatrics set by the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies (March 1965-18 November 1976).

Administrative / Biographical History

The Home for Mothers and Babies opened in two converted houses in Wood Street, Woolwich on 11 May 1905. The original hospital had beds for twelve in-patients. Midwives also attended outpatients in their own homes.

Midwifery pupils with at least a year's experience of general nursing were admitted for a minimum of six months training. When pupils had completed their training, they were expected to work as district midwives. A building fund was started to raise money to build a new and larger hospital.

In 1912 a proposal was received from the British Lying-In Hospital, Holborn, for the amalgamation of the two institutions. This was formally approved by the Charity Commission on 29 January 1915. The British Lying-In Hospital closed in May 1913. The Home for Mothers and Babies was renamed the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies and was placed under the control of a newly constituted Managing Committee with representatives of both institutions. In practice it continued much as before with the same objects, the same methods, and the same staff, but enriched by the endowments of the British Lying-In Hospital.

A site in Samuel Street, Woolwich was purchased in 1914. The first stone of the new building was laid in 1920 and the first stage of the new hospital was opened in March 1922. The second stage of the building was completed in 1929. An important part of the work of the hospital was the holding of both antenatal and postnatal clinics.

The hospital was badly damaged by bombing in 1940. An evacuation hospital was set up in Pednor House, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, which was loaned by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry then insisted that the administration of the hospital should be handed over to Buckinghamshire County Council. Rather than submit to this condition, the evacuation hospital was moved in March 1941 to a privately owned house, Moatlands, situated at Brenchley in Kent. Moatlands was purchased in 1944.

In 1948 the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service and became the responsibility of Woolwich Group Hospital Management Committee. Moatlands was vacated in 1953 when the beds were transferred to Saint Nicholas Hospital, Plumstead. The hospital was transferred to Greenwich and Bexley Area Health Authority in 1974 and to Greenwich Health Authority in 1982. It closed in 1984.

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions may apply if material includes personal information of living individuals. All other records are open to research by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For further information about accessing the collection and visiting the reading room, please contact: archives@rcog.co.uk

Conditions Governing Use

If you wish to reproduce this material, apply via the College Archivist: archives@rcog.co.uk

Acquisition Information

There is no record of the date or source of acquisition before the collection was deposited at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in May 2011.

Custodial History

This collection was originally deposited at the Royal College of Midwives. It is now held under the terms of a service level collection care agreement at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Other Finding Aid

Further details of the contents of this material are available on request.

Related Material

Additional records of the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies are held by the London Metropolitan Archive (Reference no. H14/BMB).

Note

Catalogued by Clare Sexton, Project Archivist in accordance with ISAD(G).

Subjects
Women's health
Midwifery
Midwives
Nursing
Nurses
Women
Health
Education
Health education
Examinations
Corporate Names
British Hospital for Mothers and Babies

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British Hospital for Mothers and Babies: Visitors book

Reference Number(s)	GB 1538 RCMS/80/4
Dates of Creation	19 October 1960-30 June 1984
Language of Material	English
Physical Description	1 bound volume

Scope and Content

Ms visitors book of the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies, containing the signatures of individuals that attended events held at the hospital, including anniversaries and staff reunions, as well as the opening of the premature baby unit (11 May 1961), a visit made by the Elizabeth, Queen Consort of George VI (also known as the Queen Mother) (17 November 1965) and the opening of the new delivery suite and teaching department (7 April 1971), with photographs of the Queen Mother.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Home for Mothers and Babies opened in two converted houses in Wood Street, Woolwich on 11 May 1905. The original hospital had beds for twelve in-patients. Midwives also attended outpatients in their own homes.

Midwifery pupils with at least a year's experience of general nursing were admitted for a minimum of six months training. When pupils had completed their training, they were expected to work as district midwives. A building fund was started to raise money to build a new and larger hospital.

In 1912 a proposal was received from the British Lying-In Hospital, Holborn, for the amalgamation of the two institutions. This was formally approved by the Charity Commission on 29 January 1915. The British Lying-In Hospital closed in May 1913. The Home for Mothers and Babies was renamed the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies and was placed under the control of a newly constituted Managing Committee with representatives of both institutions. In practice it continued much as before with the same objects, the same methods, and the same staff, but enriched by the endowments of the British Lying-In Hospital.

A site in Samuel Street, Woolwich was purchased in 1914. The first stone of the new building was laid in 1920 and the first stage of the new hospital was opened in March 1922. The second stage of the building was completed in 1929. An important part of the work of the hospital was the holding of both antenatal and postnatal clinics.

The hospital was badly damaged by bombing in 1940. An evacuation hospital was set up in Pednor House, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, which was loaned by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry then insisted that the administration of the hospital should be handed over to Buckinghamshire County Council. Rather than submit to this condition, the evacuation hospital was moved in March 1941 to a privately owned house, Moatlands, situated at Brenchley in Kent. Moatlands was purchased in 1944.

In 1948 the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service and became the responsibility of Woolwich Group Hospital Management Committee. Moatlands was vacated in 1953 when the beds were transferred to Saint Nicholas Hospital, Plumstead. The hospital was transferred to Greenwich and Bexley Area Health Authority in 1974 and to Greenwich Health Authority in 1982. It closed in 1984.

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions may apply if material includes personal information of living individuals. All other records are open to research by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For further information about accessing the collection and visiting the reading room, please contact: archives@rcog.co.uk

Conditions Governing Use

If you wish to reproduce this material, apply via the College Archivist: archives@rcog.co.uk

Acquisition Information

There is no record of the date or source of acquisition before the collection was deposited at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in May 2011.

Custodial History

This collection was originally deposited at the Royal College of Midwives. It is now held under the terms of a service level collection care agreement at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Other Finding Aid

Further details of the contents of this material are available on request.

Related Material

Additional records of the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies are held by the London Metropolitan Archive (Reference no. H14/BMB).

Note

Catalogued by Clare Sexton, Project Archivist in accordance with ISAD(G).

Subjects
Women's health
Midwifery
Midwives
Women
Health
Events
Ceremonies
Corporate Names
British Hospital for Mothers and Babies

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Records of the Royal Maternity Charity

Reference Number(s)	GB 1538 RCMS/81
Dates of Creation	20 March 1857-11 November 1948
Language of Material	English
Physical Description	2 boxes

Scope and Content

This collection comprises a scrapbook, correspondence, deeds and printed annual reports, relating to the work of the Royal Maternity Charity (20 March 1857-11 November 1948), together with midwives and nurses badges and a stamp, showing the coat of arms.

Administrative / Biographical History

The 'Charity for Attending and Delivering poor Married Women in their Lying in at their Respective Habitations', later known as the 'Lying-in Charity for Delivering Poor Married Women at their Own Habitations' and finally as the 'Royal Maternity Charity for Delivering Poor Married Women in their Own Habitations', was established in March 1757. Its main instigator was James Le Cour, an 'eminent jeweller' of Huguenot descent.

The Charity offered a service to 'sober and industrious' married women 'destitute of help in time of labour'. It supplied them with medicines, provided midwives for 'common cases' and surgeon accouchers or physicians for more 'difficult cases', allowing them to give birth more safely and comfortably in their own homes.

Those paying a yearly subscription became 'Governors' of the Charity, able to recommend a certain number of cases for every guinea donated. Initially, general meetings or 'courts' of Governors were held every quarter 'to receive the report of the Committee and regulate the affairs of the Charity'. A smaller Committee and Officers were elected annually to oversee day-to-day management. By the mid nineteenth century a pattern of Annual General Meetings and General Committee meetings was supplemented by those of a Medical Sub-committee, chaired by one of the Physicians, and other sub-committees, such as a Finance Committee.

Early meetings were held in various coffee houses and taverns in the City of London, mainly Will’s Coffee House in Cornhill and the Bank Coffee House, Threadneedle Street. From the 1840s the Charity had its own premises in Finsbury Square, in 1918 moving to offices in John Street, and subsequently to 46 Bedford Row.

By the late nineteenth century the Charity employed the voluntary services of 'Visiting Ladies', 'for the purpose of lending material assistance in addition to medical, in cases of great necessity and destitution'. These ladies visited cases and handed out relief from the Charity’s Samaritan Fund. In 1905 a further venture was a 'Training School for Midwives', preparing them for the new CMB examination. This was based at the house of the then Head Midwife in Paddington, with lectures being delivered by one of the Charity's Physicians.

After the First World War there were several other agencies providing a similar service, and the Charity was advised by the Ministry of Health to affiliate with another organization. Its investments were transferred to the official trustee of charitable funds, and were used for grants to the Central Council for District Nursing in London. The Charity wound up its affairs in 1949.

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions may apply if material includes personal information of living individuals. All other records are open to research by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For further information about accessing the collection and visiting the reading room, please contact: archives@rcog.co.uk

Conditions Governing Use

If you wish to reproduce this material, apply via the College Archivist: archives@rcog.co.uk

Acquisition Information

There is no record of the date or source of acquisition before the collection was deposited at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in May 2011.

Custodial History

This collection was originally deposited at the Royal College of Midwives. It is now held under the terms of a service level collection care agreement at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Other Finding Aid

Further details of the contents of this material are available on request.

Related Material

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists also holds the minute books of the Royal Maternity Charity dating from 1761 to 1949 (Archive reference: S60)

Note

Catalogued by Clare Sexton, Project Archivist in accordance with ISAD(G).

Subjects
Women's health
Midwifery
Midwives
Women
Health
Childbirth
Charities
Corporate Names
Royal Maternity Charity

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Case notes of Elizabeth Braine

Reference Number(s)	GB 1538 RCMS/82
Dates of Creation	11 November 1923-5 July 1924
Language of Material	English
Physical Description	1 bound volume

Scope and Content

This collection comprises two notebooks, containing case notes of Elizabeth Alice Braine, midwife in Brighton, Hove (11 November 1923-5 July 1924), listing the name, age and address of each patient that she attended in childbirth, as well as the date and hour that she arrived at the delivery, the time of birth, the presentation of the child on birth, the sex and weight of the child, the duration of each stage of labour, the name of the doctor if called, the reason if the doctor was called, the name of the pupil midwife present, the condition of the mother and child in the days immediately following the birth and the postnatal care provided, together with two printed certificates awarded to her by the St. John Ambulance Association for completing courses of instruction in home nursing (April 1915) and first aid (January 1916). Also includes five photographs, showing her in uniform (circa. 1910-1920), two nurses playing golf possibly apparently in India (circa. 1910-1920) and a group of women examiners’ dressed in overalls (10 November 1911), as well as the staff and patients on a paediatric ward of a unidentified hospital at Christmas time, possibly the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Norwich (circa. 1910-1920).

Administrative / Biographical History

Elizabeth Brain (fl. 1893-1980) was born in St. Pancreas London. She went on to become a midwife who practiced in Brighton and then Dudley in the West Midlands.

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions may apply if material includes personal information of living individuals. All other records are open to research by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For further information about accessing the collection and visiting the reading room, please contact: archives@rcog.co.uk

Conditions Governing Use

If you wish to reproduce this material, apply via the College Archivist: archives@rcog.co.uk

Acquisition Information

Deposited at the Royal College of Midwives by the nephew of the creator, Martin Braine.

Custodial History

This collection was originally deposited at the Royal College of Midwives. It is now held under the terms of a service level collection care agreement at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Other Finding Aid

Further details of the contents of this material are available on request.

Note

Catalogued by Clare Sexton, Project Archivist in accordance with ISAD(G).

Subjects
Women's health
Midwifery
Midwives
Women
Health
Childbirth
Postnatal care

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Papers of Miss Regina Girone

Reference Number(s)	GB 1538 RCMS/83
Dates of Creation	21 February 1955-5 February 1959
Language of Material	English
Physical Description	4 bound volumes

Scope and Content

This collection comprises an ms analgesia case book of Regina Girone, midwife at Cheltenham Maternity Hospital (21 February-7 May 1955), recording the names of patients that received analgesia during childbirth, as well as details on the stage of labour that administration commenced, the total time of use, other drugs used during labour, whether the patient was noisy, restless or quiet, whether the patient was quieter after the use of the apparatus, whether the patient needed help using the mask, if there were any side effects after labour and further remarks, also including notes on the mothers experience of using analgesia, alongside the sister's remarks upon administration, together with three ms registers of cases attended by Miss Girone whilst practicing around the area of Clevedon in Somerset (12 February 1956-5 February 1959), containing the personal details and pregnancy history of each patient, the presentation of the infant on birth, the date and hour of the birth, the sex of the child, whether the child was premature, the name of the doctor if called, if there were any complications during labour and finally any further remarks.

Administrative / Biographical History

Regina Girone (fl. 1940-1994) was a midwife who practiced at Cheltenham Maternity Hospital and then the area of Clevedon, Somerset. She died in 1994.

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions may apply if material includes personal information of living individuals. All other records are open to research by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For further information about accessing the collection and visiting the reading room, please contact: archives@rcog.co.uk

Conditions Governing Use

If you wish to reproduce this material, apply via the College Archivist: archives@rcog.co.uk

Acquisition Information

Deposited at the Royal College of Midwives by the solicitor in charge of administering the estate of the creator in 1995.

Custodial History

This collection was originally deposited at the Royal College of Midwives. It is now held under the terms of a service level collection care agreement at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Other Finding Aid

Further details of the contents of this material are available on request.

Note

Catalogued by Clare Sexton, Project Archivist in accordance with ISAD(G).

Subjects
Women's health
Midwifery
Midwives
Women
Health
Childbirth
Drugs

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