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
Chapter Four - The Early
Struggles
All went well for a short while until matron Hind, who on finding
that she alone comprised the entire nursing staff, requested the
Committee to appoint a probationer nurse to help her, as she found
the work too much. Although it was customary for a probationer
nurse to work without pay for two years while training the request
was refused. With the refusal came the comment that the Committee
required a “working Matron” and not one who merely
expected to supervise! Matron Hind was duly sacked after
a few weeks and Matron Parkes was appointed at a salary of £35. Miss
Parkes, who had previously been employed at the hospital in Elan
Valley Village – the hospital which had been built when the
dams were being constructed – was a formidable lady who stayed
for thirty years and ruled the hospital with a rod of iron. She
was, however, greatly respected and much loved. As Matron
she was permitted to have a friend to stay, free of charge, for
six weeks in the year, any extension of that time the visitor would
be charged 15/- per week. She was also permitted to have
a friend to dinner for a payment of 8d.
In 1899, Miss Clara Thomas, who had been appointed President donated
the sum of £1,000 to the hospital funds, with the request
that it be invested to the best possible advantage. Miss
Thomas, together with many other affluent, local people, used to
purchase books of 5/- tickets, each ticket would enable a person
to have a seven day stay in the hospital. The tickets would
be given to the less well-off who required treatment and were unable
to afford the cost. Miss Thomas, in fact always purchased
enough tickets to cover hospital treatment for all her employees
on her vast estate, so that there was always a bed available for
them should they need hospital care.
The fact that most patients had to contribute towards their treatment
had a two fold affect:
However small the weekly charge it did go some way towards
paying for patient care and the daily running costs of the hospital.
Having to pay gave patients a feeling of dignity and a right
to expect treatment.
Modest increases, inevitably became necessary over the years,
and by 1946 the cost of a bed in a public ward was £3.10.0
per week and that in a private ward was 5gns.
The first Medical Officer appointed was Dr Baldock Fry, whose
services to the hospital were given “free and unremunerated”.
In the year ending December 1899, 29 patients had received treatment
in the hospital.
The following year 44 patients were admitted and the balance sheet
showed a deficit of £5. In spite of this Dr Baldock
Fry proposed that a ward of five beds be offered free of charge
to the War Office for the use of the soldiers convalescing from
the war in South Africa.
There were, of course, no operations performed, as the hospital
did not have a theatre, nor was there a Maternity Unit. Unless
complications were anticipated, all births took place at home,
so the hospital was primarily a convalescent home. With the
rapid rise in admissions there was a need for fundraising to be
increased; a town collection was undertaken, church and chapel
offertories were escalated, concerts were organised by Llew Buallt
and Dr Black-Jones,, although he was not at that time attached
to the Builth Hospital, and a successful Soiree was arranged by
the employees of Mr Thos. Lant.
Newspaper entries can tell a great deal about the hospital story
and in the absence of any official records they are a source of
much information as the following items show;
In 1903 54 patients had been treated during the year. No
deaths were recorded. The average stay for a patient was
21 days. Miss Clara Thomas, President, warned the Management
Board that a considerable sum of money would shortly be required
for a building extension. She hoped that the public would
continue their generous support in order to help with the noble
and humane work of the hospital committee. She further thanked
the matron for the satisfactory way in which the hospital was run
and said that no institution was more deserving of support and
sympathy. Local interest was increasing and people in the
immediate neighbourhood were making great claims on it. Only
12 patients treated during the previous year had been from outside
the “hundred” of Builth.
Rev H A Crosbie, Vicar of Builth was appointed Vice-President and
Mr David Williams, National Provincial Bank, was appointed Secretary.
Matron Parkes continued to rule over her hospital kingdom with
a firm but kindly hand. She was remember by Mrs Nancy Harris
of Llanfaredd, who was a ward maid at the hospital in 1914, as
being “very strict, but very fair”. Mrs Harris
recalled starting work at seven in the morning and having to scrub
all the wooden floors in the hospital on her hands and knees,
watched over by Matron Parkes. She worked all day, with only
an occasional cup of tea being supplied by Mrs Davies, the laundry
maid. No meals were supplied, but in Nancy’s words – “It
was a very nice job”. Each day, after leaving the hospital
Nancy went to work for the wife of Dr Black-Jones.
Matron Parkes’ reputation of being a bit of a martinet was
tempered by a benevolent side remembered by Mr Thom Meredith of
Llangammarch Wells. Tom, now aged 82, and recently a patient
in the hospital, recalls being a long stay patient at the age of
three. Miss Parkes send down to Builth for a selection of
children’s suits for him t try on. She selected a smart
velvet outfit which she gave to Tom. He wore this suit with
much pride, and still has the photograph which shows him wearing
it. Coincidentally, Tom is the nephew of Mrs Nancy Harris.
At the end of the 1914-18 War, it was decided to build an operating
theatre as a Memorial to the local men who had died in the conflict
and as a thank offering for those who had been spared. This
was a tremendous undertaking and one which called for an enormous
of fund-raising, generous donations and a massive bank load.
It was finally completed, although the debt was not paid off until
1925 as a result of a mammoth garden fete held at Caerberis by
this time the home of Lord Swansea, who had been appointed President
of the Hospital Committee in 1924.
Builth Cottage Hospital was now more than just a convalescent
home but a real hospital in every sense, with the facility to undertake
operations.
A plaque commemorating the building of the operating theatre can
be seen on the left hand side of the main entrance. It reads,
THIS THEATRE WAS ERECTED IN LOVING MEMORY
OF THOSE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-18
AND AS A THANK OFFERING FOR THOSE WHO
WERE SPARED. “THEY SUFFERED GREATLY AND
ENDURED HEROICALLY THAT PAIN MAY BE
LESSENED AND HAPPINESS INCREASED. MAY
THEIR COURAGE INSPIRE COURAGE IN ALL WHO
ENTER HERE”
Also in the entrance hall can be seen a framed “scroll of
Honour” dated September 1st 1921 beautifully scribed by local
artist Berry George, with the names of all the local men who fell
in the Great War.
There was still no Maternity Ward at the hospital,
although the rule was to admit complicated cases, so one can imagine
the intense interest when on 4th April 1925, the first birth took
place. A baby girl was born to Mrs Albert Mason of Builth,
later of Cwmbach, with local midwife, Nana Roberts as she was known
in attendance. The baby was christened BRENDA CERIDWEN HELEN to
mark the special occasion, as the initials B.C.H. stand for Builth
Cottage Hospital. Mrs Mason eventually had 19 children including
two sets of twins.
Dr Baldock Fry, the first honorary physician, had been joined
at the hospital by Dr Spencer, a wonderfully eccentric character,
who wore a tall black hat and travelled to his patients on horseback. His
horses were kept in the stables at the back of “Maesycoed” in
Garth Road. Dr Spencer was a blunt, forthright man, well
remembered for his colourful language, but adored by his patients.
When Dr Fry retired, his practice was taken over by Dr Black-Jones,
who lived at “Tynyberllan”. His surgery and dispensary
were also run from there.
Dr Black Jones, prior to his moving to Builth had lived at Llangammarch
Wells. He had been a substantial fund raised for the hospital,
although for 21 years he had been physician at the Brecon War Memorial
Hospital. He was an enlightened and progressive man, deeply
concerned with all aspects of health in the area. He greatly
improved sanitation in Builth and brought medical standards up to “Grade
A” long before the Government of the day took action. He
took a great interest in local affairs and was appointed to be a
Magistrate and a Governor of Builth County School. He was a
pioneer of the Builth Electrical Supply and was instrumental in the
decision to provide treatment for smallpox sufferers. As a
committed Christian he was a faithful member of Horeb Congregational
Chapel and was regarded by all as a fine citizen.
In 1926, Dr Spencer retired and was followed by Dr Stephen Pugh,
who with hi family came to live at Maesycoed in Garth Road. The
arrival of the Pugh family marked the beginning of a great medical
dynasty in the history of North Breconshire.
Dr Stephen Pugh was a Missionary Doctor who had previous practiced
in India. He was an outstandingly, brilliant and gifted
doctor, meticulous in everything he did. He remained at the
Builth Hospital as honorary physician and surgeon until he retired
in 1948. This deeply caring and dedicated man, in tandem
with the newly opened operating theatre, performed almost miraculous
surgery, so much so that Builth Cottage Hospital was regarded by
many, as the best in Mid Wales. The name of Dr Stephen Pugh,
and that of his three sons who followed him into the practice remain
synonymous with the history of medicine in the North Breconshire
area.
Dr Pugh was a deeply religious man who always offered up a prayer
before performing an operation. He was completely dedicated
to his calling, his patients and to the hospital. It was said
by a member of his family that the only reading he took on holiday
were medical books. Always driven by his faithful chauffeur/gardener,
Mr Bowles, he was regarded with awe by the nursing staff. When
he arrived at the hospital to see his patients he would be met in
the hall by a nurse who would take his coat and hang it up. In
those days Doctors were all addressed as “sir” and no
member of staff spoke to a Doctor until spoken to first.
Dr Pugh operated on all his patients personally and there are many
people in the vicinity who have reason to be grateful to him for
saving their lives. It is said that, if it were not possible
for a patient to be brought to the hospital, owing to the house being
inaccessible, he would travel as far as possible by care and then
be taken by gambo to the patient when the operation would be performed
in the home. No patient of Dr Pugh’s was ever refused
admission to the hospital. If the wards were full, a bed would
be put up in the corridor.
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