LONG GROVE HOSPITAL, EPSOM: RECORDS

This material is held atSurrey History Centre

Scope and Content

The records include annual reports of Commissioners of the Board of Control, committee minutes, financial records, admission registers, medical registers, civil registers, general registers, service patient registers, reception orders registers, discharges and transfers registers, departures registers, disease registers, death registers, post mortem registers, patients property registers, nursing records including matron's journals and night sister's report books, and staff registers. Only 16 case files of patients at Long Grove Hospital survive.

A detailed summary of the main series is below:

6251/1/ BOARD OF CONTROL 1948-1956

6251/2/ COMMITTEE MINUTES 1923-1967

6251/2/ London County Council Mental Hospitals Committee, Long Grove Sub-Committee 1923-1932

6251/2/ National Health Service Hospital Management Committee 1948-1967

6251/3/ FINANCE 1937-1967

6251/4/ PATIENT RECORDS 1907-1961

6251/4/ MEDICAL REGISTERS 1907-1948
Details include date of admission, civil register number, date of discharge, transfer or death, patient's name and whether private or pauper, marital status, occupation, age on admission, type of attacks, duration of attacks, aetiological factors, bodily state on admission, form of mental disorder and observations.

6251/4/ Transfer Admissions 1907-1931
6251/4/ Direct Admissions 1909-1921

6251/4/ Medical Registers 1921-1948

6251/4/ CIVIL REGISTERS 1907-1948
Details include the general reference number, serial status number, admission date, date of reception order, patient's name, county or borough to which chargeable, classification of whether private, Service or criminal, mode of admission and observations.

6251/4/ Certified Cases 1931-1946

6251/4/ Voluntary Cases 1931-1948

6251/4/ Temporary Cases 1931-1948

6251/4/ GENERAL REGISTERS 1948-1955
These were compiled under the Medical Treatment Rules, 1948. Details include admission date, general reference number, name, sex, age, whether voluntary, temporary or certified, whether a private, NHS or criminal patient, mode of admission, whether previously dealt with under the Lunacy Act, date of departure, discharge, removal or death and observations.

6251/4/ PATIENTS' REGISTERS 1951-1958
These registers of female patients were compiled during the 1950s and list those present at Long Grove hospital at a given date (the first date given for each register). They were subsequently added to until a new register was drawn up. Patients are grouped alphabetically but arranged by date of admission (the earliest year of admission being 1907). Some patients are listed more than once in each volume, indicating their re- admission to the hospital. The wards in which the patient was treated are shown by codes (E1, G2, HBH, F1 etc). Annotations in red ink provide details of the patients' discharge or death and the voluntary or temporary status of patients is indicated by the letters VP and TP respectively. Reference numbers of each patient are also given, allowing the user to cross refer to the relevant admission register for further information.

6251/4/ SERVICE PATIENTS 1916-1944
Details given include the general reference number, patient's name, type of admission order, admission date, age on admission, parish of residence, regimental particulars, date classified as Service, date of receipt of medical card, Ministry of Pension number and remarks.

6251/4/ INFORMAL PATIENTS 1960-1961
Details include whether the patient was previously under care for mental illness and date of last discharge, date of admission, general reference number, age on admission and date of birth, patient's name, mental category, nature of treatment, date of departure, regrading or death and address on departure or cause of death.

6251/4/ RECEPTION ORDERS 1907-1960
These include the date of admission, date of reception order, general reference number, name of patient, dates upon which the order was renewed and remarks. Each page relates to orders issued on one particular date over a period of years.

6251/4/ DISCHARGE REGISTERS 1907-1958

6251/4/ Discharges and Transfers Registers 1907-1931
The Clerk of the Asylum had to keep a record in these registers of all patients who were discharged or transferred in status from private patient to pauper or vice versa. The details included in each register comprise the date of discharge or transfer, date of last admission and the name of patient, stating whether private or pauper. If the patient was discharged the new address was given. If the patient was transferred to another asylum the name of that institution was noted. Medical details were only provided of those patients who were discharged 'recovered'.

6251/4/ Discharge Orders under Sections 72, 77 and 79 1910-1948
Discharge Orders were issued under sections 25, 72, 77 and 79 of the Lunacy Act, 1890, according to whether a patient was of pauper or private status. Under Section 25 the medical officer of the institution was able to discharge a pauper not recovered to a workhouse which had proper accommodation for lunatics. A pauper could also be discharged by the visiting committee upon the application of a relative or friend who could ensure that they would no longer be chargeable to any union, county or borough (Section 79). Private patients could be discharged on the written authority of the person upon whose petition the original reception order was made (Section 72). They could also be discharged by two visitors of the asylum acting on the written advice of the medical officer (Section 77).

6251/4/ Discharge Orders Under Section 25 1923-1958
Discharge Orders were issued under sections 25, 72, 77 and 79 of the Lunacy Act, 1890, according to whether a patient was of pauper or private status. Under Section 25 the medical officer of the institution was able to discharge a pauper not recovered to a workhouse which had proper accommodation for lunatics. A pauper could also be discharged by the visiting committee upon the application of a relative or friend who could ensure that they would no longer be chargeable to any union, county or borough (Section 79). Private patients could be discharged on the written authority of the person upon whose petition the original reception order was made (Section 72). They could also be discharged by two visitors of the asylum acting on the written advice of the medical officer (Section 77).

6251/4/ Discharges on Trial 1921-1956
These consist of lists of patients permitted to be absent on trial for a given period. They were submitted by the Medical Superintendent to the Sub-Committee of Visitors.

6251/4/ Departures registers 1931-1948
These record departures, discharges and transfers of voluntary, temporary and certified patients. They include details of the date of departure or transfer, the date of the last admission, the last serial status number of the patient in the civil register, the general register number, the patient's name, their mode of admission, their classification upon departure or transfer, their status upon admission and departure, their removal address, medical details and observations.

6251/4/ DISEASE REGISTERS 1907-1957

6251/4/ REGISTERS OF DEATHS 1907-1938
These provide details of the date of death, the date of the last admission, the number of the patient in the civil register, the name of the patient and whether they are private or pauper, their sex, age, the duration of their last attack of mental illness, the forms of their disorder on admission and at death, the principal and contributory causes of death and whether these were confirmed by a post-mortem.

6251/4/ POST MORTEM REGISTERS 1907-1955

6251/4/ PATIENTS' PROPERTY 1936-1955

6251/4/ CASE FILES 1907-1943

6251/4/ NUMERICAL RECORD BOOKS 1939-1946
These comprise daily patient numbers and are arranged by type of patient. These types include Rate Aided, Private and Criminal and Service and Ex-Service. Numbers recorded relate to admissions, departure, deaths; voluntary, temporary and certified patients and daily totals of these; number of days charged in accounts.

6251/5/ NURSING RECORDS 1907-1968

6251/5/ Medical Journals 1907-1926
These are daily summaries of the number of patients in the hospital. They list those in seclusion, describing the period of and reason for the treatment. They also list those undergoing medical treatment and describe the nature of their bodily disorder. Deaths, injuries and violence among the patients are also recorded.

6251/5/ Matron's Journals 1953-1968
These detailed daily summaries provide much information about daily life in Long Grove Hospital and continue the practice of the Medical Journals, for which see above. Details are included of patient numbers, admissions, deaths, discharges, seclusion, casualties, operations, patients' employment, reasons for unemployment, recreational activities, incontinent patients, infectious cases, suicidal cautions, epileptics and open air treatment. Dietary information is also given. The journals include staffing information.

6251/5/ Night Sister's Report Books 1957-1963
These provide summaries by ward of patient numbers, the name of the duty nurse, times of visits, the lowest temperature recorded and visits by officers. They also include details of deaths, casualties, epileptic fits, noisy and restless patients, incontinent patients and special reports relating to particular patients and details of medication administered to them.

6251/5/ Prescription Registers 1935-1938

6251/6/ STAFF 1905-1960

Administrative / Biographical History

Long Grove Hospital opened in 1907 on land in Epsom acquired by the London County Council. It accommodated 2,149 patients. Between 1907 and 1948 it was administered by the Asylums Committee, later Mental Hospitals Committee, of the London County Council. During the Second World War the hospital received patients from Horton hospital which was used for treating military personnel. Files relating to some of these patients will be found under the reference 6251/4/128. Long Grove also received large numbers of Polish patients, of whom three hundred remained in 1951 (see 6251/1/1). On 5 July 1948 the hospital passed under the administrative charge of a Hospital Management Committee of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. It closed in 1992 and was replaced by a smaller unit at Tolworth Hospital managed by the Kingston and District Community NHS Trust.

Access Information

Records relating to named patients are closed to public inspection for 100 years from date of creation of record.

Acquisition Information

Transferred under the Public Records Act by the Records and Systems Manager of the Kingston and District Community NHS Trust in August 1994. Documents 6251/3/3, 6251/4/89, and 107, 6251/5/33-34 and 6251/6/1-2 were deposited by West Park Hospital, Epsom, in December 1994.

Other Finding Aids

An item level description of the archive is available on the Surrey History Centre online catalogue

Related Material

Further material held at Surrey History Centre includes:
6275, post-mortem examination book, 1964-1969;
6276, theatre programmes, historical notes and photographs, 1907-1982;
6289, magazines and film, 1938-1985;
6423, general registers, deaths and burials register, desk diaries, matorn's journals, female wards night report books, account book, staff registers, c.1907-1966;
6718, photographs and film of patient entertainments, c.1984-1999
7422, staff wages ledger, 1956-1957;
8336, adminsitrative records, publications and histories, press cuttings, 1907-2006;
8473, colour slides of artwork by an art therapy patient, c.1980;
8763, engineer's reports, photographs, history and magazine, 1903-1980s;
8989, press cuttings, 1973;
9445, volume of discharge on trial orders, 1918-1921;
9475, panoramic staff photographs, 1931 and 1935;
9776, alphabetical index to admission registers, 1907-1957;
10000, patient reception order, 1943;
Z/659, staff photographs, 1912-1914;
Z/667, photographs of a probationer nurse, 1932;
Z/689, photograph of hospital staff, 1927

Minutes of the Long Grove sub-committee of the London County Council Asylums Committee, later Mental Hospitals Committee, 1903-1948, are held by the London Metropolitan Archives under the reference LCC/MIN/1166-1194. Papers presented to the sub-committee between 1903 and 1936 were sent for salvage during the Second World War. The two volumes of papers which survive for the period 1936-1948 are held as LCC/MIN/1195 and 1196. A register of lunatics sent by the Bermondsey Board of Guardians for treatment at Long Grove is held by the LMA as BBG/540-558.

Other records relating to Long Grove Hospital are held with those of the King Edward's Hospital Fund for London at the London Metropolitan Archives under the reference A/KE/-. A copy of the full list of this deposit is held by Surrey History Service as REP 759. Abstracts from it which relate to Long Grove and other Epsom hospitals are held as REP 832. They include visitors' reports on the hospital for the years 1959, 1962 and 1967 as well as reports by the Catering Advisory Committee of the Fund relating to catering services at the hospital.