Builth Cottage Hospital, A Centenary History 1897-1997, by Gwen Davies
Foreword
| Acknowledgements
| Prologue Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 |
Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Epilogue
The League of Hospital Friends, by Betts Pugh
Builth, Queen of the Wye, by Jim Davies
Foreword
Builth Cottage Hospital has touched the lives of every family in
our area; every home should have read this book. The Preface
expresses, beautifully, the reason for writing it and the League
of Hospital Friends wish to thank all those who have contributed
to it, especially the authors
Gwen Davies,
Betts Pugh
Jim Davies.
We are all deeply indebted to them.
Rosalind Thomas
President League of Hospital Friends.
Cefndyrys,
Builth Wells
Powys
October 1997
Acknowledgements
This book is the end result of a ten minute talk given to
a local history class in Builth, when students were asked to write
on a local subject which had not yet been researched in any depth. Thinking
that there would be a ready source of material available on the
Cottage Hospital, I chose this for my subject, only to find that
there was no official material available on the hospital from
the time it was opened in 1897 until it was absorbed into the National
Health Service in 1948. There are no minutes, no accounts
or documents of any kind to be found, and one must conclude that
all records have, at some time, been destroyed.
Anyone who has ever attempted to undertake any historical research
will know that once bitten by the bug, there is no turning back,
and the desire to delve more deeply into the subject took hold. The
following months were spent reading all the local newspapers dating
back to 1894, these revealed a wealth of information about the
early days of the hospital and I am deeply indebted to the Brecon
and Radnor Express and the Wellington Journal for reporting in
such detail, the Annual General Meetings of the Builth Cottage
Hospital in the early days.
Suddenly, the subject of the centenary came up, and the suggestion
that the material gathered could be used for the basis of a book,
was made.
My willingness to hand over the results of my research
to anyone willing to write such a book, fell on stony ground. Consequently,
I have attempted to do justice to this huge subject, myself. Mrs
Betts Pugh, kindly consented to write the history of the incomparable
League of Hospital Friends, and local historian, Mr Jim Davies,
has written about the Health of the District generally.
Without any official documentation to refer to, pre-NHS days,
I have had to reply heavily on the memories of local people, in
addition to newspaper reports, and I have been overwhelmed by the
willingness of those who have been so generous with their time
and have shared the memories, which have enriched the book. My
thanks are due too, to those who have spontaneously loaned precious
photographs, and I much regret that it was not possible to use
them all.
I am deeply indebted to Dr Meyrick Emrys-Roberts for his generosity
in allowing me to quote from his splendid book, The Cottage
Hospitals 1859-1990, and for his helpful advice.
I am also conscious of the debt of gratitude I owe to the following
people, for their always helpful interest and unfailing courtesy
which made my researches such a pleasure:
Mr
David Moore and his friendly staff at Brecon Museum.
The staff
at both Brecon and Llandrindod Libraries.
Mrs Bertha Hose at the Mansion House, Bronllys.
Ms Sue Stavrides
at St David’s Hospital, Carmarthen.
My thanks, too, to all those nurses, who have retired from or
are still working at Builth Hospital, and whose accumulated knowledge
and recall of times past, has added colour to the subject.
To Mrs Margaret Davies and the late Mrs Rose Phillips for their
wartime memories. To Glenys Davies, Ruth Griffiths, Barbara
Hamar, Mary Davies, Jill Osman, Senior Nurse Eurwen Roberts and
Hospital Administrator Janet Morgan who so cheerfully answered
all queries – and there were many! Betwyn Thomas,
Pat Thomas and Jim Davies for their memories of kitchen and garden
and Jennifer Harriss for her writing of the memorable Hospital
Centenary Fete.
I am grateful to Dr Roger Harriss and Dr Robbie Gibbins for allowing
me to quote from their work and to Dr Vivian Davies for his advice.
Special thanks must go to Dr Venn and Mrs Betts Pugh for their
willingness to answer my persistent questions in such a helpful
and courteous way. Also to Dr and Mrs Ken Pugh for their
memories.
Information on the ambulance service was supplied by Mr Howard Weale,
Mr David Brown, Cilmery and the present crew members of the local
ambulance service.
To the following who have so kindly loaned the photographs which
have added so much interest of the book, my grateful thanks, and
apologies to those whose paragraphs were much appreciated, but
not included:
Mrs Ceridwen Davies, Mr Robert Wall, Mrs Margaret Davies, Mrs
Grace Davies, the late Mrs Rhoda Lewis, Mrs Annie Cook, Mrs Margaret
Meredith, and Mr Gerald Morson.
Mr Bert Thomas, Mrs Susan Davies, Mrs Ada Lewis, Mrs Meg Wickens,
Mrs Dianne Jones, Miss Lucie Meyhew, Mrs Kath Cameron, Mrs Betty
Fenn, Mrs Ruth Bagley, Mrs Molly Tomlins, Mrs Dawn Davies, Mrs
Lilian Jones and Mrs Isobel Pugh. I also thank Miss Verley
Jones for the original Contributory Scheme Card, Barbara and David
Snell who travelled to Cranleigh to photograph the first Cottage
Hospital and Brenda Ceridwen Helen Morgan (nee Mason) for the information
regarding her Christian names.
For the helpful advice and much encouragement thanks are due to
Dr Sandy Cavenagh, of Brecon and the Hon Antony Lewis, Chairman
of the Powys Health Care NHS Trust.
I am most deeply indebted to Mrs Ruth Bidgood for her generosity
in the giving of her time to proof read and correct my somewhat
eccentric punctuation and to Dr Shaun Richards for his help.
I acknowledge, with gratitude, permission to use photographs,
the property of Mr Ernie Husson, Marina Gallery, Llandrindod Wells.
Lastly, but my no means least, my appreciative thanks to husband
Colin, who has acted as chauffeur, driving to libraries, hospitals
and museums in many parts of the country, who has waded through countless
newspaper reports and NHS record, and above all has cooked superlative
meals to enable me to pound away on typewriter and computer, for
the past two years.
Many
thanks to all.
Gwen Davies
1997
The proceeds for the sale of this book will be given
To the Builth League of Hospital Friends
(Registered Charity).
Prologue
In the mid nineteenth century the sate of nursing
and medical care in the rural areas of Britain was parlous. There
were, of course, the large hospitals such as St Bartholomew’s,
St Thomas’ and the Bethlehem Hospital for the mentally sick,
they were all in London, but in rural areas and in the rapidly
growing new towns the need for a local hospital was urgent. Amputations
were performed at home, often on the kitchen table and, pre 1845,
without the benefit of anaesthetic, apart from a generous intake
of alcohol. The well off were fortunate in that they had
soft beds, warm houses, good food servants to wait on them when
they fell sick, but the poor, fearful of losing their jobs, kept
on working until they could no longer continue. They remained
ill in their overcrowded, dimly lit, cold cottages, with little
sanitation, inadequate food, and no medication, until taken to
the workhouse – a prospect viewed with dread if only for
the stigma attached, the only release from their misery being death.
Workhouses, where they existed, provided a limited hospital service
for their sick inmates, as illustrated by a description of workhouse
nursing in 1867:
“The nurses in the workhouses were often paupers themselves,
as when they came of an age to leave, they were kept on as nurses. They
were mostly unreliable, inefficient and untrustworthy and were
prone to take for their own use the stimulants prescribed for the
patients, especially if of an alcoholic nature. They were,
of course, unpaid, uneducated and tainted in character and if asked
to assist with even a minor operation the often ran away.”
However, in 1845 came the arrival of anaesthetics and, shortly
afterwards under the leadership of Florence Nightingale, a much
higher standard of nursing care was introduced. The Pauper
Nurses from the workhouses were replaced by paid, qualified nurses
trained at the Nightingale Training School and the paupers were
given menial tasks, such as scrubbing and cleaning only; although
some of the more intelligent of them were trained under the supervision
of the Nightingale Nurses. The experiment of introducing
these trained nurses into workhouse was initially used only in
London and Liverpool and the dismal situation in the rural areas
remained the same.
The lack of medical facilities in the countryside had concerned
a great many people for some time, but, as with so many momentous
happenings, it was a small incident which proved to be the catalyst
which was to lead to the “Cottage Hospital Movement”.
In 1859, in Cranley (now Cranleigh) in Surrey, there lived a medical
practitioner by the name of Mr Albert Napper. His concern about
the lack of facilities for his sick patients was shared with the
local Rector, the Rev. J H Sapte. One day, while these two
gentlemen were talking about this very subject, a major accident
occurred resulting the victim having to be carried into the nearest
cottage where Mr Napper performed an amputation. He was assisted
by the local policeman and a druggist who promptly fainted. The
incident so moved the Rector that he immediately offered Mr Napper
the use of a small cottage, rent free, to be used as a hospital. The
dwelling was cleaned, whitewashed throughout, simply furnished, and
became known as the “Village Hospital”. This building
can still be seen today where it has been incorporated into the
present hospital at Cranleigh. It had four beds, one trained
nurse and a woman to clean. A charge of 5/- per week had
to be made, which was a considerable sum in the days when it often
represented half a labourer’s weekly wage. But as one
patient said; “When I’ve paid the money I do know I
have the right to ring the bell”.
The spread of these establishments took off rapidly, with every
town and village wanting to have their own hospital, some calling
them “Village Hospitals”. Eventually the name “Cottage
Hospital” took precedence and the “Cottage Hospital
Movement” was recognised as being one of utmost significance
in the history of medical care. There was, of course, no
money available from the Government as there is today, each hospital
being financed from local sources, relying a great deal on patronage,
with the local gentry often supplying the land, and professional
people contributing to endowment funds. Nurses had to buy
their own uniforms and pay for their training. Initially
the “Village Hospitals” were mainly limited to six
beds, as it was felt that patients, used to small cottages, would
feel more at home and recover quicker ins simple surroundings and
small rooms.
The movements continued apace in England and Wales but was not
until 1897, almost forty years after Mr Albert Napper opened his
hospital in Cranleigh, that the people of Builth and District could
say that they too had their own “Cottage Hospital”.
Builth in the latter half of the nineteenth century was a comparatively
prosperous town. Agriculture, the main industry, was flourishing,
the subsidiary trades of flannel making and tanning were thriving
and tourism was increasing. The discovery of mineral waters
at the Glanne Wells and Park Wells, combined with the coming of
the railway, had brought an influx of visitors to the town in unprecedented
numbers. The 1870’s had seen the building of both the
Strand Hall and the Market Hall and Assembly Rooms. Llew
Buallt and Mr A P Morgan were bringing musical honours to the town
with their choirs. Builth was in its heyday, but the one
thing it did not have was a hospital.
The lack of a hospital concerned a great many people in the town
but none more so that Mr John Davies, a Wine and Spirit Merchant,
and one of the most successful and prominent business men in Builth. John
Davies has been sadly neglected by the many people who have cause
to be grateful to him and his name scarcely figures in the list
of benefactors to the area. But, as one who played a significant
part in the town receiving two of its major establishments, namely
the “Cottage Hospital” and the “Market Hall and
Assembly Rooms” (now the Wyeside Arts Centre), it is right
that something of his life, albeit briefly should be known.
John Davies was born in Builth in July 1831, the son of William and
Catherine Davies of the Lion Hotel. In 18 53, in St Mary’s
Church, he married Mary Anne Powell, the daughter of James Powell,
a Saddler in the town. In the 1850’s he took over from
his father as proprietor of the Lion Hotel. John and Mary did
not have any children and sadly, Mary died in October 1864 at the
early age of 32. John
ran a successfully Wine and Spirit business, involved himself in
all aspects of public life in Builth and in 1876 became Chairman
of the “Builth Public Hall and Market House” committee
responsible for building the Market Hall complex.
In 1878 we find him living at 1, Wye Terrace, (now Castle Street)
with his late wife’s two younger sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret
Powell who had been living in his household since childhood.
The Census of 1891 reads –
JOHN DAVIES, 1 Wye Terrace, Wine Merchant. Age 59
Margaret Powell, Sister-in-law. Shop Assistant. Age
45
Elizabeth Powell, Sister-in-law. Shop Assistant. Age
43
Emily Davies, Servant. Age 17.
John Davies, always mindful of the welfare of the town, had long
expressed the wish that Builth should have its own hospital, but,
unfortunately, in 1983, he died at the age of 62 before he put
these thoughts into action or even in writing. Having no
children of his own, and after making various legacies to nephews
and nieces, he left the bulk of his money to his sisters-in-law,
Margaret and Elizabeth Powell, for whom he had a great affection.
The two spinster ladies were of a shy and quiet disposition; they
had no need of a great deal of money. The did wish to carry
out the spoken wishes of their late brother-in-law. And so,
although not legally bound to do so, as there was nothing mention
in his Will, out of the money John left them, they set aside the
sum of £6,000 to build and endow a hospital for Builth and
District.
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