Records of St. Alfege's Hospital

Six registers of pupils training to become midwives or obstetric nurses at St. Alfege Hospital in Greenwich (later replaced by Greenwich District Hospital) (January 1941-August 1987), including the name and previous training of each student, alongside details of the lectures they attended, the work carried out, any sick leave taken and finally their examination results.

Saint Alfege's Hospital was established as the Greenwich Union Workhouse Infirmary. The complex was designed to house a total of 650 fit and 200 sick paupers but by 1851 the average weekly number of inmates had increased to over 1,000. By 1885 two new buildings for the chronically sick had been started and in 1889 a further two new ward blocks with provision for 250 beds were approved. Conditions in the infirmary were spartan and there was no operating theatre or table. In 1898 the infirmary was approved as a Training School for Nurses, taking some 40 to 50 trainees.Between 1918 and 1929 gradual improvements were made to conditions in the infirmary. In 1948 St. Alfege's Hospital became part of the National Health Service and was administered by the South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1960 the Regional Hospital Board issued a directive that the distinction between the two St. Alfege's Hospitals was to be abolished and that they should merge to become one comprehensive general hospital of 605 beds. In May 1963, the Minister of Health gave a Press Conference at which details of the new Greenwich District hospital were released. In 1972 St. Alfege's Hospital was replaced by Greenwich District Hospital.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Further records of St. Alfege's Hospital are held at London Metropolitan Archives (Reference no: H43)